People found guilty of hate speech in UK can face seven-year jail

LAHORE: If any person is found guilty of hate speech against another person or group on the grounds of race, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, colour, ethnic origin and religion, the United Kingdom does have laws like the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act of 2008 that forbid verbal abuse, written speeches, harassment, gestures or incitement of abhorrence on the grounds of sexual orientation.
Under the UK laws, the penalties and fines in this context would vary depending on the case but imprisonment is an option for those for guilty of this crime. Anyone who does use threatening or abusive behaviour in this way can face up to seven years in prison, which is the maximum sentence.
Fines can also be added to prison sentences or applied solely. A number of people in the UK have been arrested and found guilty of various forms of this type of offence.Over the years, numerous people have been hand-cuffed, convicted and fined in Britain after they had pleaded guilty of religious incitement. On April 26, 2004, a British politicianPaul Weston, who was the co-founder and leader of the Liberty Great Britain party and candidate for member of the European Parliament, was arrested after making a hate speech about Islam and for wrongly quoting country’s former premier and World War II hero Winston Churchill during the course of airing his racist remarks against Muslims. However, charges against him were later dropped.
In October 2001, a man called Harry Hammond was charged for speaking against homosexuality and Lesbianism. In April 2002, a magistrate had convicted Hammond, fined him £300, and ordered him to pay costs of £395.
In April 2010, another man Harry Taylor was given a six-month term of imprisonment suspended for two years.The court order had also banned him from carrying religiously offensive material in a public place and had ordered him to perform 100 hours of unpaid work.He was also ordered to pay £250 costs. Taylor was charged because he left anti-religious cartoons in the prayer-room of Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport on three occasions in 2008