SENIOR lawyers have defended their decision not to bring a more serious charge against a British Muslim who daubed graffiti on a war memorial.
Tohseef Shah, 21, of Norton Road, was let off with a conditional discharge, and ordered to pay £500 in compensation and £85 court costs after spraying the words ‘Islam will dominate the world, Osama is coming’ on the memorial outside Burton College in December.
Burton magistates handed Shah the minor sentence for admitting a charge of criminal damage after prosecutor Andrew Bodger told them the graffiti was ‘not racially or religiously motivated’.
Photographs of the graffiti as well as Shah’s mobile phone records had been sent to Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) headquarters in London, but it was decided there was not enough evidence to suggest he was an extremist.
A CPS spokesman defended its decision saying: “The conclusion in this case was that there was insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of a conviction.
“While it was appreciated that what was sprayed on the memorial may have been perceived by some to be part of a racial or religious incident, no racial or religious group can be shown to have been targeted.” News of Shah’s crime – committed on December 10, last year – and the resultant sentence hit the headlines in most national newspapers across the country following the Mail’s story. Almost all of the comments called for him to be jailed and the uproar has led to others condemning what they perceive as the ‘unfairness’ within the Muslim community.
Tanweer Ahmad Dar wrote on the Mail’s website: ‘The Muslim Community completely condemns Tohseef Shah’s actions. For every one individual extremist misrepresenting Islam, there are hundreds and thousands of British Muslims making positive contributions to a peaceful and harmonious society by adhering to the true teachings of Islam’.
Shah’s solicitor, Mumtaz Chaudry, said that despite the overtones of the graffiti, his client was not an extremist, but an ‘ordinary guy’ who had ‘made a mistake’.
He said: “This is nothing to do with his religious beliefs, his family’s beliefs or his cultural beliefs. He is just an ordinary guy.
“He has no extremist views, his action doesn’t help the bad reaction in the community. It was a stupid mistake and he is determined not to repeat it.”
