A website designer was convicted yesterday of stirring up racial hatred during a protest by Muslims over cartoons of the prophet Muhammad.

Mizanur Rahman, of Palmers Green, North London, carried placards that called for non-Muslims to be “annihilated” and “beheaded” as he addressed more than 300 protesters outside the Danish Embassy in London on February 3.

Rahman, 23, who wore white robes and a cap throughout the five-day trial, claimed that he had got “carried away” in front of the crowd and said he was a “nobody” whose words no one would take seriously, the Old Bailey was told.

The protest came as part of a worldwide reaction to the publication of the cartoons in a Danish newspaper the previous September and then reprinted in French, Spanish and German newspapers.

Rahman was filmed brandishing two placards as the crowd left Regent’s Park Mosque and made its way through Central London to the Danish Embassy in Sloane Street, Knightsbridge.

The placards read “Annihilate those who insult Islam” and “Behead those who insult Islam” Members of the “angry” and “volatile” crowd of men, women and children also held up other placards.

Outside the Danish Embassy, Rahman was also filmed addressing the crowd through a loudhailer. He made references to the Mujahidin and called for the destruction of British and American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was heard to say: “We don’t want to see them in Baghdad, in Iraq any more. We want to see them coming home in body bags.

“We want to see their blood running in the streets of Baghdad. We want to see the Mujahidin shoot down their planes like we shoot down birds.” He told the crowd: “We want to see their tanks burn just like we burn their flags. We want to see them and their freedoms destroyed. We want to see all of them removed from our Muslim lands.” He went on: “They don’t deserve to live, they don’t deserve anything in this world. Oh Allah, we want to see another 9/11 in Iraq, another 9/11 in Denmark, another 9/11 in Spain, in France, all over Europe. Oh Allah, destroy all of them.”

Rahman then ended his speech chanting along with the crowd. “There is only one God Allah, Muhammad is his messenger. Bomb bomb France, bomb bomb France, nuke nuke France, nuke nuke France.”

David Perry QC, prosecuting, told the court that the right to freedom of speech and expression and to peacefully protest did not stretch to the right to encourage or incite others to murder. He told the jury that it was not a trial of Islam but of the words Rahman had used.

The words were unambiguous; they were “ordinary English words with ordinary English meaning - kill.”

The jury could not agree on a second charge of inciting murder and the Crown Prosecution Service will say on Monday whether it will seek a retrial.

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