UK } Young Muslim Say in Court ‘His Duty' in Threatening with Death Gay People
Press Association
Kabir Ahmed, 28, denies stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation, the first UK prosecution of its kind. Photograph: Rui Vieira/PA
A 28-year-old man has told a court he felt he was doing his duty as a Muslim by handing out leaflets alleged to have been threatening to gay people.
Kabir Ahmed said he handed a leaflet called "Death Penalty?" to a passing policeman and put them through letterboxes around the Madeley Street area of Derby in July 2010 because he was spreading the word of God as taught through Islam.
He said: "My intention was to do my duty as a Muslim, to inform people of God's word and to give the message on what God says about homosexuality."
Ahmed, who is married with a nine-month-old daughter, is on trial at Derby crown court charged with stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation, in the first prosecution of its kind since legislation came into force in March 2010.
At the opening of the trial last week the jury of seven men and five women were shown the Death Penalty? leaflet, which shows an image of a mannequin hanging from a noose and saying homosexuality is punishable by the death penalty under Islam.
The leaflet states: "The death sentence is the only way this immoral crime can be erased from corrupting society and act as a deterrent for any other ill person who is remotely inclined in this bent way."
It continues: "The only dispute amongst the classical authorities was the method employed in carrying out the penal code," and then goes on to offer burning, being flung from a high point such as a mountain or building, or being stoned to death as suitable methods.
Prosecutor Bobbie Cheema told the court the leaflet was not educational or informative but was simply "threatening, offensive, frightening and nasty".
Four other Derby men – Ihjaz Ali, 42, Mehboob Hussain, 45, Umar Javed, 38, and his brother Razwan Javed, 28 – are also charged with the same offence. All five deny the charge.
Giving evidence to the court on Monday, Ahmed said he had handed one of the Death Penalty? leaflets to PC Stephen Gregory on 2 July as he was passing the Jamia Mosque in Rosehill Street following Friday prayers.
Ahmed told the court he said to the officer: "Something along the lines of 'Is everything OK?' and he said something like, 'Yes, fine,' and I said 'I'm not trying to offend anyone.'"
Ahmed's barrister, Zacharias Miah, asked him whether, if Gregory had told him he was doing something wrong, he would have handed over the bag of leaflets. Ahmed replied: "Of course, without a shadow of a doubt."
He also told the court he felt it was his duty as a Muslim to inform and advise people wherever they may be committing sins, and that he would be failing if he did not.
"My duty is not just to better myself but to try and better the society I live in," he said. "We believe we can't just stand by and watch somebody commit a sin, we must try and advise them and urge them to stay away from sin."
Ahmed said he had studied the texts of many religions, including the Bible and the Torah, to compare what Islam says about subjects such as drugs, alcohol, prostitution and relationships.
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