Crackdown on Free Speech in Britain (II)

I have written previously about the case of Anthony Bamber, arrested and charged for producing a leaflet which blamed Muslims for the heroin trade. In some areas of Britain, this is largely true, but of course that isn't what is important here.

Today, Mr Bamber pleaded not guilty to 'stirring up religious hatred':

A man has denied trying to stir up religious hatred by sending out leaflets which claimed Muslims were responsible for the heroin trade.

Anthony Bamber, 53, of Greenbank Street, Preston, Lancashire, appeared before Preston magistrates accused of distributing the pamphlets.

Mr Bamber pleaded not guilty to incitement to commit religious hatred.

Colin Gibbs, prosecuting, said the leaflets were distributed across North Yorkshire, Cumbria and Lancashire.

He said: "Mr Bamber was the writer and printer of these leaflets, which sent out his ideology that all Muslims should be held to account for the heroin trade.

"They were threatening and intended to stir up religious hatred. Many people who received them thought it was a criminal offence and contacted the police, which led to his arrest."

Mr Bamber is due to return to the court on 9 September.

As Mr Bamber awaits his fate, I stumbled across this story from 5th August 2009, which only made the BBC's local pages:

Jamil Hussain and Mobeen Ahmed were drug dealers

Two men described as being "at the top of an evil pyramid" of drug dealers who tortured their runners to make sure they obeyed, have been jailed.

Jamil Hussain, 35, and Mobeen Ahmed, 26, both of Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, admitted wounding and and conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.

Hussain was jailed for 14 years and four months and Ahmed for 13 years and six months.

Police said the men led a crime group in Staffordshire and Derbyshire.

After the sentencing at Shrewsbury Crown Court police said they had been alerted to the gang when a member of the public found a suspicious package in a garden in Burton.

Det Sgt Bev Hunt said: "From that information, we were able to build up a detailed picture of the offenders' involvement in drug dealing throughout the Burton and Swadlincote areas and uncover the horrific level of violence used to enforce their grip on their illegal business."

She added that the pair, both of Belvedere Road, had trafficked a "vast amount" of heroin and crack cocaine and kept control of their street runners by threatening and torturing them.

Two more men, Omar Ahmed, 26, and Tanveer Gulistan, 30, from Liverpool, were each jailed for three years - Ahmed for conspiracy to supply drugs and and Gulistan for supplying drugs.

Nothing to see here - move along.