Muslims behind ‘gay-free zone’

One of the perpetrators of a hate campaign in which stickers declared London’s East End a ‘gay-free zone’ has been convicted and fined the equivalent of $250.

CCTV cameras caught Mohammed Hasnath putting up four of the stickers, and he admitted g

iving them to other young Muslims to put up.

He claimed other Muslims gave him the stickers and estimated that hundreds had been put up in the area.
The stickers carried the phrase “Arise and warn and fear Allah: Verily Allah is severe in punishment”, with a picture of the gay flag inside a black circle with a line across it and the words “gay-free zone”.

Jack Gilbert, co-chair of GLBT group Rainbow Hamlets and a member of a nearby synagogue, said the stickers reminded him of signs the Nazis had put up in Germany.

“When I see that sticker, I see the signs my mother saw in the 1930s which actually carried less suggestion of punishment,” he told the court.

Gilbert had initially wanted to believe the stickers were the work of British nationalists wanting to stir up animosity against British Muslims.

Hasnath pleaded guilty to the public order offence of using threatening or abusive words or behaviour.