Cartoon protests 'just slogans'

Umran Javed denies soliciting murder and stirring up racial hatred
BBC
Jan. 03, 2007

A British Muslim accused of calling for the murder of American and Danish people says chants he shouted against the two countries were "just slogans".

Umran Javed, 27, of Birmingham, had said "Bomb, bomb Denmark, bomb, bomb USA", at a London rally against Danish cartoons depicting Prophet Muhammad.

"I regret saying those things. I do not want to see Denmark and the USA being bombed," he told the Old Bailey.

He denies soliciting murder and inciting race hate on 3 February 2006.

The cartoons were reproduced in some European countries after their original publication in Denmark.

The prosecution says Mr Javed, of Washwood Heath Road, used a loud hailer to address about 40 people outside the Danish embassy in Sloane Street, Knightsbridge.

He is then said to have continued with his speech as the crowd were joined by between 200 and 300 other Muslims who had marched from the central mosque in Regent's Park.

Mr Javed - a married man with a young child - was recorded on video by the police and arrested later.

"I regret saying these things," Mr Javed told the court.

"I understand the implications they have but they were just slogans, sound bites," he said.

'No threats'

Mr Javed told the court he had become carried away with emotion and was now disappointed with himself.

"Never, ever did I have in my mind to threaten anybody, any nationality.

"Never did I intend to discriminate against any particular race."

The prosecution also alleges that, in a reference to the dead Iraqi al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Mr Javed is said to have told the crowd that Denmark should watch its back, because he was "coming back".

On Tuesday, prosecutor David Perry QC told the court: "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."

The trial was adjourned to Thursday.