Strasbourg: A Frenchman was due
to go on trial tomorrow for inciting racial hatred after
posting an Internet video of himself burning a Quran and then
urinating on it "in the name of freedom."
He was arrested last October after posting the video
of himself wearing a devil mask and tearing pages from the
Islamic holy book before setting it on fire and -- after
several minutes -- urinating on it to extinguish the flames.
Police made the arrest after local Muslim leaders in
Strasbourg reacted with outrage at the video which identifies
the maker as a 30-year-old from a suburb of the eastern city.
The director of Strasbourg`s main mosque, Abdelaziz
Choukri, said he alerted authorities and had spoken to the
author of the video who told him he acted "in the name of
freedom."
The burning of a copy of the Quran by a pastor in the
United States last month has sparked protests across
Afghanistan that killed at least 24 people, including seven UN
staff.
PTI
