Street Preacher Arrested for ‘Love Muslims, Hate Islam, Jesus is Love and Hope’ Sign Loses Legal Battle
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A street preacher who was arrested and jailed by police for peacefully holding up a sign that read “Love Muslims, Hate Islam, Jesus is Love and Hope” has lost a legal battle, with a judge ruling that his arrest was not unlawful. According to a press release from Christian Concern:
Mr Sleeper, 58, was arrested outside Southwark Cathedral on 23 June 2017 under controversial section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 for causing “harassment, alarm and distress”, for displaying a sign which read:
The arrest was captured on police body cam footage. Mr Sleeper was held in a police cell for 13 hours.
Weeks earlier, on 7 June 2017, on London Bridge and at Borough Market, which is adjacent to Southwark Cathedral where Mr Sleeper was protesting, Islamic terrorist attacks had taken place, killing eight people and injuring 48.
Mr Sleeper was later released without charge. He then sued the police for wrongful arrest and false imprisonment. He failed in his original action against the police but was given permission to appeal.
High Court Justice Sweeting denied the appeal and apparently the notion that one can “hate the sin and love the sinner.” Commenting on the inconsistent and arbitrary policy, Sleeper shared in a statement:
“When I went to Southwark, I was appalled by the violence that had been seen on London’s streets weeks earlier and it was clear that Islamic ideology motivated the violence. I was peacefully and calmly protesting the ideas behind the attacks and pointing to Jesus as the only hope in the middle of the tragedy and fear.
“How I was treated was completely wrong. The police have never apologised and continue to believe that what they did was right. Recent events in London following the conflict in the Middle East has exposed that anyone protesting Israel and calling for violence would not be treated as I was by the police.”
Andrea Williams, the chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, the firm representing Sleeper, echoed his concerns and noted the chilling effect this would have on free speech.
“The police body cam footage reveals clearly how Islam is policed contrasted with how Christian street preachers are dealt with. There was no sense of proportion or attempt to understand what Ian Sleeper was trying to do on that day. To put Ian Sleeper in a cell for over thirteen hours was totally disproportionate.
“What happened to Mr Sleeper in 2017 has been prophetic for what we now see on London’s streets during pro-Hamas protests. The police have upheld the right for Islamic protestors to call for genocide without interference, and anyone who counter-protests and disagrees faces the full force of the law.
“Ian explicitly said love Muslims. He meant it – everything about his character and experience says as much. He is a dedicated and effective evangelist who understands that Islam gets in the way of people finding God and experiencing eternal life.
“But judges perversely found that he didn’t mean ‘Love Muslims’ – that he was trying to incite hatred towards them.
“How can you be free to criticise Islam in public if the words you mean and explicitly say are ignored in the courts?”
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Street Preacher Arrested for ‘Love Muslims, Hate Islam, Jesus is Love and Hope’ Sign Loses Legal Battle
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