UK Muslim guilty of soliciting murder at protest

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

Umran Javed, 27, was also convicted at a 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 and will be sentenced at a later date.

Prosecutors said there was no doubt Javed had intended to incite murder and racial hatred.

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

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

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

The cartoons first appeared in a Danish newspaper and unleashed a storm of protests in the Islamic world. At least 50 people were killed as Muslims rioted in the Middle East and Asia.

Politicians welcomed the verdict, saying it enforced necessary limits on freedom of speech.

''This case has shown that there are, in some extreme cases, legitimate limits to freedom of expression in any liberal law-abiding society,'' said Nick Clegg of the opposition Liberal Democrats.

David Davis, of the opposition Conservative Party, said the prosecution was ''entirely proper''.

''Everybody should understand that whilst Britain is a tolerant society, it should never tolerate threats of violence or death from any quarter under any circumstance,'' he said.

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.

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

He was remanded in custody.

REUTERS SRS PM0032