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To:    Guardian CiF
Re:  
Dealing with intimidation in the name of Allah
Date: Sunday 22 July  07

 

In response to article, "The folly of jailing fools", on the jailing of Muslim protestors, by Edward Pearce
Link to article and thread at The Guardian.

My immediate response on learning of the 6-year sentence was that it was much to harsh, even if they are paroled after 3 years.

On the other hand, the threats they made in public were totally unacceptable, and the court had to make that absolutely clear.

A 2-year suspended sentence is what I would have given them, while making the point that this was a warning not just to them, but to everyone else, that in future such threats would almost certainly incur a custodial sentence.

It is very difficult (i.e. impossible) to know how best to respond to such behaviour without knowing well those involved. I wonder how well the judge who sentenced them to 6 years knew them?

My spontaneous response to seeing them making their threats on TV was to think that they simply do not belong in this country - born here or not - and if that was how they really felt, and would go on feeling, they should be returned to where they or their parents came from, countries where that kind of behaviour, in defense of Islam, at least, presumably is more acceptable.

It is worth remembering that Christianity used to defend and assert itself through physical intimidation, as all too many Muslims seek to defend and assert Islam now - but that was back in the middle ages. I was horrified at the number of British Muslims who supported or defended the fatwa against Salman Rushdie.

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