Seven protesters charged over anti-Army demo refuse to stand for judge in court



Seven Muslim protesters accused of screaming insults at soldiers during an Iraq homecoming parade refused to stand for a judge yesterday.

The men are alleged to have shouted 'murderers', 'rapists', 'terrorists' and 'baby killers' while waving placards at the 2nd Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment marching through Luton.

At the town's magistrates' court, they denied using threatening, abusive, insulting words and behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm and distress to others.



Protesters: (from left to right) Jabair Ahmed, Shajjadar Choudhury, Ziaur Rahman, Jalal Ahmed, Munim Abdul and Yousaf Bashir arrive at Luton Magistrates' Court

After refusing to stand they were threatened with being found in contempt of court by a clearly angry District Judge Carolyn Mellanby.

They insisted it was a 'grave and cardinal sin' to show anyone other than Allah respect by standing.

Eventually, a compromise was reached where they would enter the court after her during the trial, which is expected to last six days. The maximum penalty each of the men can receive is a £1,000 fine.



The defendants were given an extra 20 minutes on top of their lunch break to go to pray at a mosque a few minutes' walk away.

A separate 'quiet' room has been set aside for their regular prayer intervals for the rest of the week. The seven accused men are Munin Abdul, 28, Jalal Ahmed, 21, Jabair Ahmed, 19, Yousaf Bashir, 29, Shajjadar Choudhury, 31, Ziaur Rahman, 32, and white Muslim Ibrahim Anderson, 32, all from Luton.

They are alleged to have chanted: 'British army murderers', 'British soldiers burn in hell' and 'Baby killers shame on you'.



The Muslim protesters brandished banners calling British soldiers 'butchers' during the parade

Trouble flared on March 10 last year as the regiment - known as the Poachers - marched to a meeting with the Duke of Gloucester, the regiment's colonel-in-chief, and local dignitaries in Luton town centre.

They had just returned from a second tour of duty in Iraq, and had previously fought in Afghanistan. The battalion has lost 12 soldiers in both campaigns. The soldiers are based in Germany, but Bedfordshire is one of the regiment's main recruiting grounds.

Avirup Chaudhuri, prosecuting, said a group of peaceful anti-war protesters arranged with the police that they would assemble at a specific point on the route, but a splinter group went elsewhere to voice dissent.



When their abusive protest started there was a furious reaction from members of the public. Although the chants were aimed at the regiment, it is the members of the public supporting them that the prosecution say were caused alarm and distress.



Mr Chaudhuri said police twice had to form a barrier around the protesters to protect them. At one point it is alleged pieces of bacon were thrown at the Muslims while there were shouts of 'go and have a shave' and 'Bin Laden's wife is a whore'.

The court heard that defendant Bashir had suffered two attacks on his home since the protests. In one of these his car was firebombed and completely burnt out.



Proud: The Royal Anglian Regiment, marching along Watford High St in Luton

Despite the nature of the allegations against them the seven men did not appear in the dock because they are not charged with an imprisonable offence and are not in custody. When they refused to stand, Judge Mellanby said: 'It is procedure that all people stand when I come into court. I am asking them to defer to conventional practices in respect to the court. I'm not asking them to stand for me.'

Neil Mercer, defending Abdul and Rahman, said: 'In Muslim countries it is a grave and cardinal sin to show respect in this way to anyone other than God himself. Their reasons would be the same if it was the Queen, with respect.'

He added: 'It is an important religious observance which, if they break, they find themselves in mortal sin. They cannot make a show of respect to a human being, whoever that human being is, whether it is the Queen or the Lord Chief Justice or an imam.'

