Men charged for cartoon protest

2006-03-16 07:30

London - Three men are due to appear in court charged with alleged offences linked to a protest in London against European newspaper cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad, police said on Wednesday.

They were among five suspects arrested earlier in the day. The two other men, aged 39 and 23, have been given bail and must return to a central London police station on April 19 pending further investigations, a police spokesman said.

One of the men charged, Uman Javed, is accused of soliciting murder and using words likely to stir up racial hatred.

The 26-year-old from Washwood Heath Road, Birmingham, West Midlands, was remanded in custody to appear at Bow Street Magistrates' Court on Thursday.

Abdul Rahman Saleem, 31, of Mellish Street, east London, has also been charged with using words likely to stir up racial hatred.

Finally, Omar Zaheer, 26, of Derwent Road, Southall, west London, has been charged with racially aggravated disorderly behaviour and disorderly behaviour.

Both Saleem and Zaheer were bailed to appear at Bow Street magistrates' court on March 31.

The charges followed a police investigation into a protest on February 3 outside the Danish embassy in London where placards were brandished with messages calling for the "massacre of those who insult Islam."

The cartoons, including one with the prophet dressed as a suicide bomber, were first published in a Danish newspaper last year before reappearing in other European newspapers.

- AFP