Brody's Notes... British Muslim Adolescent May Face Possible Hate Crime Offences

By Brody Levesque - Washington DC | London, UK -- Crown Prosecutors are considering bringing possible hate crime charges against 19 year old Mohammad Hasnath of Blair Street, in the Towers Hamlets located in London's East End at Lemouth Crossing.

Hasnath was arrested last week with inciting anti-gay hatred after he had posted anti-gay stickers at the Bow Church DLR station and three other locations in the East London metro area last February.

Hasnath was charged in a separate case in March with religiously aggravated criminal damage for a series of vandalism against outdoor billboards along New Road in Whitechapel after allegedly painting burkas onto posters of women. Hasnath and two others, Ricardo McFarlane, 24, of Titmuss Avenue, Thamesmead and a 17-year-old man are all charged with six counts of the offence.

Vandalism In Whitechapel

According to charging documents in the Thames magistrates' court; 'posters along New Road were painted on and the faces of women on some were daubed out.' Additionally there was £100 worth of damage to a window.

PinkNews reported that a Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said: 

“We can confirm that Mohammed Hasnath has been charged under section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 in relation to an allegation that he posted offensive stickers at Bow Church DLR station. He will appear at City of Westminster magistrates court on June 1st.
This case has now been referred to the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division to consider whether a section 29C (1) of Public Order Act 1986 offence should be added. This offence is committed if a person uses threatening words or behaviour, or displays any written material which is threatening, if they intend thereby to stir up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation.”

Prosecutors had originally charged Hasnath under Section 5 of the Public Order Act with displaying threatening, abusive or insulting material within the sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress.
Local LGBTQ activists protested that those charges were not adequate in addressing the severity of Hasnath's offence. Rainbow Hamlets, the East London LGBT equality rights organisation group, complained to the Crown Prosecution Service noting that the charge against Hasnath was “only one step up from bill-posting."

RH spokesman Jack Gilbert told PinkNews:

“To us, the stickers represented a deliberate attempt to undermine community cohesion in Tower Hamlets; they have had a deeply divisive effect upon the entire LGBT community and we do not believe that the CPS has given due consideration to the wider range of charging options available to them.”

Thursday, a spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service in a statement released to the media said the service was now considering charging Hasnath with the offence of stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation, which comes under Section 29C (1) of Public Order Act 1986.

“We can confirm that Mohammed Hasnath has been charged under section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 in relation to an allegation that he posted offensive stickers at Bow Church DLR station. He will appear at City of Westminster magistrates court on June 1st.
This case has now been referred to the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division to consider whether a section 29C (1) of Public Order Act 1986 offence should be added. This offence is committed if a person uses threatening words or behaviour, or displays any written material which is threatening, if they intend thereby to stir up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation.”

The new offence came into law in March last year and has only been used once, in the case of five men from Derbyshire who were accused of distributing an anti-gay leaflet.
While a conviction under Section 5 of the Public Order Act carries a maximum fine of £1,000, a Section 29C offence carries a maximum of six months imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine at the Crown Court. - PinkNews UK