Latest news with #racialHatred
Telegraph
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Drug-addict Hamas supporter called for Jews to be ‘burnt alive'
A Hamas supporter with a £600-a-week cannabis habit has been jailed after calling for Jews to be 'burnt alive'. Zakir Hussain, 29, used the social media site X to write a spate of anti-Semitic posts over a three-month period. Hussain first posted on November 3 2023, less than a month after the Oct 7 Hamas attacks in which more than 1,000 Israelis were killed. He wrote: 'Hezbullah come quick finish them like rodents.' Later that month, Hussain wrote: '7 October was a beautiful day, Jews stop hiding.' On December 25 2023, he commented: 'October 7 was a beautiful day', 'In the UK, we are hunting them for fun' and 'Go on Hamas, finish them and maybe we can find the beheaded urine babies'. The posting continued into January last year, when Hussain wrote on January 5: 'I'm in London, any Jew out there come out and stand up for your religion.' Four days later he posted: 'Wish it was more in that festival slaughter them IDK terrorists, burn them alive' in reference to the Oct 7 attack. He also wrote: 'Long live Hamas, Hezbollah' and ' Hamas, Houthi, Hezbollah finish these little rats.' 'Burn them alive' His final post came on Jan 10, when he wrote: 'Burn them alive, no religion can abuse children the way they do.' Hussain, of no fixed address, admitted four counts of expressing support for a proscribed organisation and seven counts of stirring up racial hatred between November 3 2023 and January 10 last year. He was jailed for five years and eight months, with an extended period on licence of three years. Judge Anthony Leonard KC said a pre-sentence report revealed Hussain was spending £600 a week on cannabis at the time of the offences. Hussain refused to give his PIN to police but, once they got into his phone, they found still images 'indicative of a mindset that was supportive of Hamas'. 'You are not being punished for your sympathy but for what your posts may have garnered in support for a proscribed organisation,' the judge said. Hussain believed 9/11 was a planned attack that the US government knew about and allowed to happen, the court heard. Judge Leonard told Hussain he had 'focused on hate speech instead of educating yourself'. Hussain, wearing a green T-shirt, waved to the public gallery as he was led to the cells.
BBC News
20-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Man faces prison for encouraging asylum hotel violence
A man who called for hotels housing asylum seekers to be burned down amid unrest at an anti-immigration demonstration is likely to face imprisonment, a judge has said. Joseph Haythorne, 26, posted on X on 4 August just as a protest outside the Holiday Inn Express, in Manvers, Rotherham, began to descend into Crown Court heard on Friday that Haythorne's post, from an anonymised account, was viewed by 1,100 people before he deleted an engineer from Ashford, Surrey, admitted publishing material intended to stir up racial hatred at a previous hearing and will be sentenced on Tuesday. Laura Marshall, prosecuting, said the post had included a link to a now-deleted post by the "perhaps divisive figure" Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy said the defendant's full post read: "Go on Rotherham. Burn any hotels [with asylum seekers]." 'Momentary lapse' Ms Marshall said the case had some similarities with the case of Lucy Connolly, who was jailed last year for calling for "mass deportation now", adding "set fire to all the... hotels [housing asylum seekers]... for all I care".The barrister also referenced the cases of Jordan Parlour and Tyler Kay, who both encouraged people on social media to attack Brasoveanu, defending Haythorne, said he posted the comment in a "momentary lapse of judgement which he regrets every day".She said there was no evidence he had deeply rooted views about immigration issues and was "more interested in football than politics".The barrister said a medical report concluded that his struggle with depression could have exacerbated his reaction to social media content about the murder of three girls in Southport and posts by the controversial influencer Andrew Tate. However, the Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, told the court: "Somebody who is looking at Andrew Tate's social media posts, and then taking these actions, is not suffering from a momentary lapse of judgement."He called Haythorne's post "vile" and "dreadful racist nonsense", saying it "inflamed the situation - almost literally" at the hotel."He's tweeted this racist rubbish, 1,100 people see it in 17 minutes before he realised it was dreadful and then he takes it down."And, unfortunately, the damage is done."Judge Richardson told Haythorne: "I am reasonably confident that you will be going to prison."It is, however, very important that I calibrate this sentence with great care."Additional reporting by PA Media. Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North
Reuters
12-06-2025
- Reuters
Vandals daub swastikas on Jewish gravestones in Moldova
CHISINAU, June 12 (Reuters) - Vandals daubed swastikas and other Nazi symbols and damaged more than 50 gravestones in the Jewish cemetery in Moldova's capital, officials said on Thursday. Forensic experts and prosecutors on Thursday sealed off the cemetery in Chisinau, once a thriving centre of Jewish culture in the Russian empire. A criminal case was opened on grounds of desecration and inciting racial hatred but no further details were provided on the incident. The cemetery was also vandalised in 2020, when 42 headstones were damaged and 30 daubed with paint. Home to 200,000 Jews a century ago, Moldova now has about 5,000. A notorious anti-Jewish pogrom in Chisinau in 1903 killed 49 people, injured 600 and destroyed hundreds of Jewish homes and shops in the city.
Daily Mail
08-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Salman Rushdie warns people are 'too eager to prohibit speech they disapprove of' as acclaimed author cautions against 'slippery slope' of cancel culture
Salman Rushdie has railed against those who attack free speech as he hit out at those that were 'too eager' to slap down voices they disapprove of. The Satanic Verses author, 77, warned of the 'very slippery slope' of cancel culture and urged to 'trust the audience to be able to make up their own minds'. Sir Salman issued the stark statement last week at the Hay Festival in Wales. In comments reported by The Observer, when asked about free speech, the Indian-born British author declared: 'I'm in favour of it.' And he also posed a question about the Lucy Connolly case, the wife of Conservative councillor Ray Connolly, who was handed a 31-month sentence after admitting posting an online rant about migrants hours after killer Axel Rudakubana murdered three young girls on July 29 last year. 'Here in Britain, we have the Race Relations Act, which makes it against the law to make racist statements. In the United States, there is the power of the First Amendment, which is why American racists are able to openly say what they have to say, and they're not prosecuted. 'The question is: which do you prefer?,' Sir Salman said. The 42-year-old former childminder deleted her post after four hours, but was arrested in August and pleaded guilty to a charge of inciting racial hatred in October. Mrs Connolly deleted her post and blamed it on 'a moment of extreme outrage and emotion' when she was acting on 'false and malicious' information She last month lost her appeal against her sentence, meaning she faces serving another eight months behind bars. It sparked a free speech row with Donald Trump ally and political commentator Charlie Kirk saying he was going to raise Connolly's case with the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Sir Salman last month said he was 'over' the horrific knife attack which left him blind in one eye after his attacker was jailed for 25 years. Hadi Matar, 27, was sentenced for attempted murder after he repeatedly stabbed the author on stage during a lecture in New York in 2022. Sir Salman recently told Radio 4's Today programme that he was 'pleased' the man who set out to kill him had received the maximum possible prison sentence. But he wishes to move on from the terrifying ordeal and focus on his new book coming out later this year. He also highlighted the ever increasing role AI is playing in society, and warned authors would be 'screwed' if the technology ever learned how to write a funny book. Speaking at the Hay Festival, he said: 'The machine can absorb a million jokes but it can't make one up, because you only get a version of the million old jokes. Hadi Matar, 27, was sentenced last month to 25 years for attempted murder after he repeatedly stabbed the author on stage during a lecture in New York in 2022 'Unfortunately, however, this thing learns very fast.' The award-winning Midnight's Children writer was left blind in one eye in the knife attack, had damage to his liver and was paralysed in one hand caused by nerve damage to his arm. The event had tight security, with sniffer dogs and bag searches. Once Sir Rushdie entered the stage to an audience of applause, he joked: 'I can't see everyone - but I can hear them.' Although he said he felt 'excellent' he added there 'were bits of me that I'm annoyed about, like not having a right eye. But on the whole, I've been very fortunate and I'm in better shape than maybe I would have expected.' Last year, he published a memoir called Knife about the ordeal, which he said was his way of 'fighting back'. It comes decades after the publication of his novel The Satanic Verses which made him the target of death threats as some Muslims consider blasphemous for its portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad. A short story collection called The Eleventh Hour is set to be released by the author in November.
Telegraph
27-05-2025
- General
- Telegraph
Lucy Connolly's supporters should be wary of framing her as a martyr
SIR – Once again, Jonathan Sumption is the voice of reason ('The case of Lucy Connolly shouldn't distract the defenders of free speech', Comment, May 2 7). I find it impossible to have any sympathy for a person who, like Lucy Connolly, advocates violence – no matter the circumstances. Her supporters have a just cause but the wrong martyr. Peter Little Herne Bay, Kent SIR – In calling Lucy Connolly's punishment for inciting racial hatred 'an attack on freedom of thought', D S A Murray (Letters, May 27) has rather missed the point. If Mrs Connolly had kept the thought to herself, there would have been no punishment. Her crime was to disseminate it using social media. John Pini KC Stamford, Lincolnshire SIR – In dismissing Lucy Connolly's case as clear-cut, I believe Lord Sumption is wrong. Judges use nuance and context as tools for passing judgment. Furthermore, swearing and strong language are part of the way we communicate. I would suggest that what Mrs Connolly wrote was not intended to be taken literally; rather, she was expressing her anguished state of mind, having previously lost a child of her own, among other possible factors. The state has no business in withdrawing her freedom. Marcus Lawrence Hillingdon, Middlesex SIR – The system has not made an example of Lucy Connolly. It has made a martyr of her. P J Carroll London SW17 SIR – In his attempted justification of the lengthy prison sentence handed to Lucy Connolly as a result of her unwise tweet, Lord Sumption evades the principal point. It is not that she is a free-speech martyr. Rather, the problem is the disproportionate length of her sentence, compared with some of those handed to people who have committed actual physical violence. Furthermore, the system wishes to keep her locked up when others whose crimes are more serious are released on licence to preserve their family relationships. William Tarver Wokingham, Berkshire SIR – Few would disagree with Lord Sumption that Lucy Connolly committed a serious offence, albeit in a fit of anger. Who can doubt that there have been similar intemperate, perhaps naïve, tirades elsewhere, including online? It is just that the severity of her sentence seems disproportionate. Paul Meredith Sevenoaks, Kent
