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Fined only £50
£50 insult to Britain's war dead: Veteran's fury as poppy burner enjoying a life on benefits gets paltry fine and mocks soldiers
By Emily Andrews
Last updated at 2:06 PM on 8th March 2011
Despite saying he would pay more for a parking fine, Choudhury said he would not pay up
As a British citizen, Emdadur Choudhury enjoys benefits including a free council flat and almost £800 a month state handouts.
Yesterday he laughed at justice as he was handed a paltry £50 fine for setting light to poppies on Remembrance Day and yelling ‘British soldiers burn in hell’.
After hearing his penalty, which outraged war veterans, the 26-year-old father of two declared: ‘I don’t have any respect for British soldiers, and if they lose a limb or two in Afghanistan then they deserve it. You expect me to feel sorry for them? Of course I don’t.’
Emdadur Choudhury, who didn't bother to attend the hearing yesterday, claimed the charge levelled against him was 'ridiculous'
Choudhury, from Bethnal Green, East London, was found guilty of using threatening or abusive words or behaviour by District Judge Howard Riddle, following a one-day trial last month.
The maximum fine possible was £1,000, plus legal costs, and Judge Riddle said he had no doubt Choudhury had set out to shock and offend. Yet he fined him only £50, plus a £15 victim surcharge.
Although Choudhury sneered that he would have been fined more than £50 for a parking offence, he is refusing to pay. However the bill will be picked up by his ‘good friend’ Anjem Choudary, the notorious firebrand preacher.
SO WHY WAS HE JUST CHARGED WITH A PUBLIC ORDER OFFENCE?
Emdadur Choudhury was charged with an offence under Section 5 of Public Order Act 1986. Under the act, a person is guilty of an offence if they use either, threatening abusive or insulting words, disorderly behaviour, or display any writing, sign or visible representation that he threatening or insulting.
The maximum sentence for this offence is six months, while the highest fine imposable by a court is £1,000. The judge could also have imposed a community sentence such as unpaid work. However because the defendant is understood to have no prior criminal convictions, the judge would not have considered a custodial sentence.
Choudhury could also have been charged under Section 31 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, which is racially or religiously aggravated public order offence. This offence also carries a maximum sentence of six months, but the level of fine can reach £2,500.
The defendant could also have faced charges of an incitement or racial hatred under the Public Order Act.
This offence relates to deliberately provoking hatred of a racial group. Among the offences listed as arrestable are making inflammatory public speeches and inciting inflammatory rumours about an individual or an ethnic group.
Choudhury, whose parents are Bangladeshi immigrants who came to Britain for a better life, was a leading member of a demonstration by the so-called Muslims Against Crusaders on November 11.
During the two-minute silence he was caught on camera unfurling several large plastic poppies and dousing them in petrol before setting them alight.
The protesters, who had gathered near the Royal Albert Hall close to the finish of a charity walk to commemorate service personnel, also repeatedly yelled ‘Burn British soldiers, burn in hell’.
Choudhury and his co-accused Mohammed Haque, 30, who was cleared of the same charge for lack of evidence, could not even be bothered to attend Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court for the verdict.
The court heard that Choudhury works part time as a satellite engineer and earns £480 a month. He also receives a monthly total of £792 in state benefits, comprising £240 working tax credit; £432 child tax credit and £120 a month child benefit.
Judge Riddle said: ‘Shocking and offending people is sometimes a necessary part of effective protest. Here, an obvious consequence of this process was to show disrespect for dead soldiers.
‘The two-minute chanting, when others were observing a silence, followed by a burning of the symbol of remembrance, was a calculated and deliberate insult to the dead and those who mourn or remember them. If the memory of dead soldiers is publicly insulted at a time and place where there is likely to be gathered people who have expressly attended to honour those soldiers, then the threat to public order is obvious.
‘Here it is hard to imagine that a public order disturbance was not intended.’
Choudary was caught on camera unfurling several large plastic poppies on the ground before burning them at the end of the two-minute silence to honour the war dead
Later, in a park near his home, a defiant Choudhury said: ‘The poppy disgusts me – it’s not to do with World War One or World War Two veterans, it’s all about raising money for soldiers injured in the wars now.
‘I’m not being disrespectful for burning it, I’m being honourable. It’s all about shock and awe, to get these soldiers out of Muslim lands.’
Asked if he would do it again, he replied laughing: ‘You’ll have to find out next time, won’t you? The only reason I even got a fine is cos it’s politically motivated. I would have got a bigger fine for a parking ticket than this.
District Judge Howard Riddle made the decision to impose the fine on Choudhury, something that left Shaun Rusling and fellow veterans 'disgusted'
‘It’s my freedom of speech and I’m exercising that. I’m being persecuted for it. This fine, I will wear it as a badge on my shoulder. I did it for Allah. I did it to raise awareness that these so-called soldiers are the criminals. They are the ones who should be tried for war crimes.’
Sinisterly he promised that he had ‘2,000 youths who will follow me and do whatever I tell them – you don’t want another Afghanistan here do you? We want Sharia law in this country, and Inshallah [God willing] we will get it’.
Shaun Rusling, of the National Gulf War Veterans and Families Association, said: ‘I think the British people would be disgusted with the sentence handed out.
Remembrance Day is very special for those in the Armed Forces, when we remember those who have lost their lives for freedom and fighting for their country.
Mohammad Haque (left) and Emdadur Choudhury (right) pictured yesterday. Choudhury was convicted of a public order offence after he burned a poppy on Armistice Day and fined £50. Fellow defendant Haque was found not guilty of the same offence
‘It is a personal insult to all of them. I am personally insulted, any veteran would be personally insulted by them burning a poppy. I don’t think it is an acceptable sentence at all.’
A spokesman for the Royal British Legion said: ‘The poppy is the symbol of sacrifice and valour. It offers everyone an opportunity to reflect on the human cost of conflicts past and present.
‘The two-minute silence is a time for such reflection, and not for political protests or public disorder. We are confident that this is understood and supported by most people.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz1G5rUEH00
By Emily Andrews
Last updated at 2:06 PM on 8th March 2011
Despite saying he would pay more for a parking fine, Choudhury said he would not pay up
As a British citizen, Emdadur Choudhury enjoys benefits including a free council flat and almost £800 a month state handouts.
Yesterday he laughed at justice as he was handed a paltry £50 fine for setting light to poppies on Remembrance Day and yelling ‘British soldiers burn in hell’.
After hearing his penalty, which outraged war veterans, the 26-year-old father of two declared: ‘I don’t have any respect for British soldiers, and if they lose a limb or two in Afghanistan then they deserve it. You expect me to feel sorry for them? Of course I don’t.’
Emdadur Choudhury, who didn't bother to attend the hearing yesterday, claimed the charge levelled against him was 'ridiculous'
Choudhury, from Bethnal Green, East London, was found guilty of using threatening or abusive words or behaviour by District Judge Howard Riddle, following a one-day trial last month.
The maximum fine possible was £1,000, plus legal costs, and Judge Riddle said he had no doubt Choudhury had set out to shock and offend. Yet he fined him only £50, plus a £15 victim surcharge.
Although Choudhury sneered that he would have been fined more than £50 for a parking offence, he is refusing to pay. However the bill will be picked up by his ‘good friend’ Anjem Choudary, the notorious firebrand preacher.
SO WHY WAS HE JUST CHARGED WITH A PUBLIC ORDER OFFENCE?
Emdadur Choudhury was charged with an offence under Section 5 of Public Order Act 1986. Under the act, a person is guilty of an offence if they use either, threatening abusive or insulting words, disorderly behaviour, or display any writing, sign or visible representation that he threatening or insulting.
The maximum sentence for this offence is six months, while the highest fine imposable by a court is £1,000. The judge could also have imposed a community sentence such as unpaid work. However because the defendant is understood to have no prior criminal convictions, the judge would not have considered a custodial sentence.
Choudhury could also have been charged under Section 31 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, which is racially or religiously aggravated public order offence. This offence also carries a maximum sentence of six months, but the level of fine can reach £2,500.
The defendant could also have faced charges of an incitement or racial hatred under the Public Order Act.
This offence relates to deliberately provoking hatred of a racial group. Among the offences listed as arrestable are making inflammatory public speeches and inciting inflammatory rumours about an individual or an ethnic group.
Choudhury, whose parents are Bangladeshi immigrants who came to Britain for a better life, was a leading member of a demonstration by the so-called Muslims Against Crusaders on November 11.
During the two-minute silence he was caught on camera unfurling several large plastic poppies and dousing them in petrol before setting them alight.
The protesters, who had gathered near the Royal Albert Hall close to the finish of a charity walk to commemorate service personnel, also repeatedly yelled ‘Burn British soldiers, burn in hell’.
Choudhury and his co-accused Mohammed Haque, 30, who was cleared of the same charge for lack of evidence, could not even be bothered to attend Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court for the verdict.
The court heard that Choudhury works part time as a satellite engineer and earns £480 a month. He also receives a monthly total of £792 in state benefits, comprising £240 working tax credit; £432 child tax credit and £120 a month child benefit.
Judge Riddle said: ‘Shocking and offending people is sometimes a necessary part of effective protest. Here, an obvious consequence of this process was to show disrespect for dead soldiers.
‘The two-minute chanting, when others were observing a silence, followed by a burning of the symbol of remembrance, was a calculated and deliberate insult to the dead and those who mourn or remember them. If the memory of dead soldiers is publicly insulted at a time and place where there is likely to be gathered people who have expressly attended to honour those soldiers, then the threat to public order is obvious.
‘Here it is hard to imagine that a public order disturbance was not intended.’
Choudary was caught on camera unfurling several large plastic poppies on the ground before burning them at the end of the two-minute silence to honour the war deadLater, in a park near his home, a defiant Choudhury said: ‘The poppy disgusts me – it’s not to do with World War One or World War Two veterans, it’s all about raising money for soldiers injured in the wars now.
‘I’m not being disrespectful for burning it, I’m being honourable. It’s all about shock and awe, to get these soldiers out of Muslim lands.’
Asked if he would do it again, he replied laughing: ‘You’ll have to find out next time, won’t you? The only reason I even got a fine is cos it’s politically motivated. I would have got a bigger fine for a parking ticket than this.
District Judge Howard Riddle made the decision to impose the fine on Choudhury, something that left Shaun Rusling and fellow veterans 'disgusted'
‘It’s my freedom of speech and I’m exercising that. I’m being persecuted for it. This fine, I will wear it as a badge on my shoulder. I did it for Allah. I did it to raise awareness that these so-called soldiers are the criminals. They are the ones who should be tried for war crimes.’
Sinisterly he promised that he had ‘2,000 youths who will follow me and do whatever I tell them – you don’t want another Afghanistan here do you? We want Sharia law in this country, and Inshallah [God willing] we will get it’.
Shaun Rusling, of the National Gulf War Veterans and Families Association, said: ‘I think the British people would be disgusted with the sentence handed out.
Remembrance Day is very special for those in the Armed Forces, when we remember those who have lost their lives for freedom and fighting for their country.
Mohammad Haque (left) and Emdadur Choudhury (right) pictured yesterday. Choudhury was convicted of a public order offence after he burned a poppy on Armistice Day and fined £50. Fellow defendant Haque was found not guilty of the same offence‘It is a personal insult to all of them. I am personally insulted, any veteran would be personally insulted by them burning a poppy. I don’t think it is an acceptable sentence at all.’
A spokesman for the Royal British Legion said: ‘The poppy is the symbol of sacrifice and valour. It offers everyone an opportunity to reflect on the human cost of conflicts past and present.
‘The two-minute silence is a time for such reflection, and not for political protests or public disorder. We are confident that this is understood and supported by most people.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz1G5rUEH00
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