Man posted 'all soldiers should die' Facebook update, court told

[Jazzy]

A man posted an offensive message on Facebook following the deaths of six British troops stating that ''all soldiers should die and go to hell'', a court heard today.



Azhar Ahmed, 20, admitted what he wrote was ''unacceptable'' in the status update on the social networking site after reading about the deaths of the soldiers in March has told a court.



The six soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) in the deadliest single attack on British forces in Afghanistan since 2001.



Today Huddersfield Magistrates Court heard Ahmed posted his message two days after the deaths.



It said: ''People gassin about the deaths of Soldiers! What about the innocent familys who have been brutally killed [all sic].



''The women who have been raped. The children who have been sliced up!

''Your enemy's were the Taliban not innocent harmful [sic] familys [sic].



''All soldiers should DIE & go to HELL! THE LOWLIFE F****N SCUM!



''gotta problem. go cry at your soldiers grave and wish him hell because thats where he is going.''



Ahmed told the court he immediately started to receive critical comments on his page and realised the second half of his post was ''unacceptable''.



But he denied it was ''grossly offensive'', telling a district judge he thought it would have been ''upsetting'' and caused ''distress''.



The trial continues.

Full article



What do you think would be just punishment , if any, for this?

 

[Raven]

Flown to Death Valley and dumped in front of the Taliban.

 

[Jazzy]

Flown to Death Valley and dumped in front of the Taliban.

Sounds good to me!

 

[Sinon]

To be honest, I don't think anything should be done. He posted something on Facebook, big deal. I've seen a ton of offensive crap on there, but I don't see why this is such a big deal.

 

[Fatal Dawn]

I would agree that the message was in poor taste. For what it's worth, he did issue an apology after recognizing the nature of his words. Beyond that, it is unclear to me what actions need to be taken. Can't you just report the offensive post and move on? Taking legal action because of what someone says on Facebook doesn't seem to be worth the trouble and would have strong implications on freedom of speech.

 

[Jazzy]

~Update~



A teenager has been found guilty of posting an offensive Facebook message following the deaths of six British soldiers in Afghanistan.



Link

 

[Evil Eye]

What do you think would be just punishment , if any, for this?

None. What he said was rather nasty, but we don't go to court either when we ban someone for flaming.

Put him in a locked room with a bunch of large, patriotic men and let him say whatever he wants.

Yes, because that's justice and freedom for all.

Taking legal action because of what someone says on Facebook doesn't seem to be worth the trouble and would have strong implications on freedom of speech.

Exactly, although I guess freedom of speech doesn't exist anyway.