Subhaan Younis: 60 days jail for showing a video on his mobile phone : Simon Perry: Schemes, dreams & trivia

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Subhaan Younis: 60 days jail for showing a video on his mobile phone

28th September 2005 by Simon

I read, with total disbelief, a story on the BBC news site today.

Last September, a 23 year old man, Subhaan Younis, showed a piece of video on his mobile phone to someone working in a shop in Glasgow.

He was found guilty of a breach of the peace just over a month ago. Today he was sentenced to 60 days in prison.

The video was of a beheading of a hostage in Iraq. If it’s the video I’ve seen, it is incredibly disturbing, disgusting and I can see why somone would object to seeing it. The hostage is beheaded with a large knife. Not in a single large swipe, but effectively sawn off.

Of course you can question the reason why he thought anyone would want to see it. Perhaps it was the foolishness of youth - wanting to shock. It’s possible that it was something more sinister. Of the reports I’ve read, it’s far from clear.

How can someone be sent to prison for this?

If someone walks up to you and suggests you watch a video of fluffly sheep gamboling in a field which turns out to be a beheading, you turn your head, say yuck, walk away and possibly tell them what you think of them.

You’ve seen may be 1, 2 or 3 seconds of it. That image may well stay with you for a while, but would probably soon fade. If someone was to ask you to watch a mobile phone video, you’d think twice.

What is happenen to the UK that someone can be sent to prison for 2 months this?

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