UK Muslim guilty of soliciting murder by bombs call

LONDON, Jan 5 (Reuters) A British Muslim was convicted today of soliciting murder by calling at a London protest for the United States and Denmark to be bombed.

Umran Javed, 27, was also convicted at the London court of inciting racial hatred during the protest last February against the publication of cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammad. He faces a jail sentence.

Javed had told the trial he regretted his actions and had been carried away during the demonstration outside the Danish Embassy.

The cartoons first appeared in a Danish newspaper.

But prosecutors said there was no doubt he had intended to incite murder and racial hatred.

The jury of seven men and five women took seven hours to convict Javed, who shook his head as he learned his fate.

As the verdicts were handed down there were cries of protest from an unidentified man in the courtroom's public gallery.

''I curse the judge, I curse the court, I curse the jury, all of you,'' the man shouted.

During the trial Javed said he had not intended to say anything at the protest until a megaphone was thrust into his hands.

''I regret saying these things, they were just soundbites, slogans,'' he said.

The demonstration -- where some protesters waved placards praising the 2005 London bombings by four British Islamists which killed 52 people -- attracted widespread condemnation.

''If you shout to your audience 'bomb, bomb Denmark, bomb, bomb US', there is no doubt what you intend your audience to understand,'' said prosecuting lawyer David Perry.

Javed had travelled from his home in Birmingham, central England, to take part in the demonstration.

He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced at a later date.

REUTERS PB KN2303