A Muslim protester called for the bombing of Denmark and the United States during a demonstration against the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, the Old Bailey was told yesterday.
Umran Javed is accused of soliciting to murder unbelievers and Danes and Americans, and of inciting racial hatred, in a speech outside the Danish Embassy in Central London in February last year.
Police video of the protest, played to the jury, showed Mr Javed, 27, leading chants of “Bomb, bomb USA. Bomb, bomb Denmark”. Officers in charge of monitoring the demonstration told the court that they did not arrest any of the protesters on the day because of fears that it would lead to violence.
Mr Javed, a British citizen, of Washwood Heath, Birmingham, said in the speech that the Western world would pay a heavy price for declaring war on Allah and the Prophet Muhammad.
He said that “disbelievers” should learn from the murder of the Dutch film-maker Theo van Gogh, who had made a film critical of Islam. Mr Javed also referred to the slaughter of the Jews of Khaybar, which is recorded in the Koran.
Mr Javed told the crowd that Denmark should watch its back because “Zarqawi was coming back”, a reference to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the dead al-Qaeda leader in Iraq.
David Perry, QC, for the prosecution, said that Mr Javed appeared to be one of the leaders of the protest and used a loud-hailer to address the crowd.
“He addressed the crowd in terms which encouraged killing and incited racial hatred.”
Mr Perry said that the words used were plainly criminal. “The words used were straightforward and plain. If you shout out ‘Bomb, bomb Denmark; bomb, bomb USA’, there is no doubt about what you intend your audience to understand.
“The prosecution case is that the defendant was clearly encouraging people to commit murder — terrorist killing.”
Mr Perry told the court that the case was not about freedom of assembly or freedom of speech. He said that even a society that enjoyed freedom of speech had to have rules.
“It is not about freedom of expression, but it is not surprising there are rules against encouraging others to kill or incite racial hatred.”
Mr Javed had continued with his speech as the crowd of about 50 demonstrators outside the Danish Embassy in Knightsbridge were joined by 200-300 other Muslims, who had marched from the central mosque in Regent’s Park.
The cartoons had been published originally in Denmark and later reproduced in newspapers across Europe, but not in the United States. Mr Javed condemned the cartoons as dishonouring the Prophet and accused “non-believers of declaring war against Islam and the Muslim community”, Mr Perry said. “He said disbelievers would pay a heavy price . . . and said Denmark would pay with blood.”
When police searched Mr Javed’s home six weeks after the protest, they found a pamphlet titled Kill Them by the Sword Wherever They Are.
The pamphlet made a case for why those who insulted the Prophet Muhammad should be killed, and criticised Muslims who called for only an apology for the cartoons.
Police seized nine other documents from Mr Javed’s home with titles including The Ruling Regarding Killing Oneself to Protect Information, The First 24 Hours of the Islamic State and Britain and America — Enemy Number One of Islam.
When officers returned to the home two days later to collect copies of the same documents, Mr Javed’s wife said that she had destroyed everything touched by the police because they were “unclean”.
Mr Perry told the jury that the police had decided not to arrest people at the embassy protest, during which the Danish flag was burnt, because of the fear that it could lead to violence.
Some of the protesters carried placards calling for the beheading of those who insulted Islam and referring to the July 7 London bombers as the “Fantastic Four”. Superintendent Roger Gomm, of Scotland Yard’s Public Order Branch, told the court that there had been a decision not to make arrests at the demonstration because of the risk that it would trigger violence.
Instead, the police relied on teams of officers with video cameras to collect evidence that could be used for a prosecution, he said.
Chief Inspector Claire Weaver, who was in command of policing at the embassy demonstration, said: “Knowing the history of what led to the demonstration and what had happened in other countries, and the potential for quite serious disorder, no arrests had been made and I did not authorise arrests.”
Mr Javed denies soliciting or encouraging people to murder people who do not believe in the Islamic faith and American and Danish nationals. He also denies stirring up racial hatred.
The trial continues.
‘You will pay with your blood’
'My dear Muslim brothers and sisters, we need to understand why we are here today. To declare that we will not stand for what Denmark did . . . We will not stand for what France, for what Europe, for what the whole of the disbelievers and the Western world are united for.
You have declared war against Allah and his Messenger. You have declared war against the Muslim community, for which you will pay a heavy price. Take lesson of Theo van Gogh. Take lesson of the Jews of Khaybar. Take lessons for what you can see, for you will pay with your blood. Denmark, you will pay. Denmark, you will pay, you will pay. With your blood, with your blood, with your blood. Bomb, bomb Denmark. Jihad is the path of God.
Democracy, hypocrisy. Democracy go to hell. Denmark go to hell. Freedom go to hell. Bomb, bomb Denmark. Denmark watch your back. Zarqawi is coming back. Bomb, bomb USA. Bomb, bomb Denmark'
