Islamist jailed for threats against Danish PM

COPENHAGEN, Aug 17 (Reuters) A leader of the Danish offshoot of Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir was sentenced to three months in prison by a Copenhagen court yesterday for threatening Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Fadi Abdullatif, the spokesman of Hizb ut-Tahrir (''Party of Liberation'' in Arabic), was found guilty of threatening Rasmussen in fliers distributed in 2004 calling for the elimination of Western leaders who would prevent Muslims from joining the insurgency in Iraq, a court official said.

Abdullatif was also found guilty of breaking anti-racism laws by calling for the killing of Jews on the Islamist organisation's Danish Web site.

Abdullatif has appealed the decision of the Copenhagen municipal court, Danish media reported.

In 2004, the director of public prosecution in Denmark ruled that Hizb ut-Tahrir was legal in the country, despite demands from several political parties to ban the organisation.

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