A judge in the United Kingdom called a defendant a “sad loner” as he sentenced him to 18 months imprisonment after a jury found him guilty of inciting religious hatred against Islamic people.
Louis Ryan Duxbury, 22, of York, was found guilty in November after a 17-minute Facebook video he posted in 2017 was found to have content that called for violence against Muslims. In the video, which was posted after a series of violent terrorist attacks in the U.K., Duxbury called for Muslims to be “wiped off the face of the earth.”
Also a student at St. John University in York, Duxbury was arrested after fellow students reported the video to police. He has also been expelled from the school and evicted from his rented apartment as a result of the video and trial. Duxbury claimed his “rant” was an exercise of free speech and that he intended his incendiary comments only against violent extremists, not all Muslims.
Barrister for Duxbury Glenn Parsons said, “The full force of those 17 minutes nearly two years ago have been brought home to Louis Duxbury.” The former student also described himself as tolerant of a multicultural society and apolitical. He denied that the video was a call to arms.
Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, however, felt the video could encourage violence against Muslims and ordered Duxbury to jail. “It has been a multiracial and multi-faith island for thousands of years and will continue to be so,” he said on the day of sentencing. “We have to live together in harmony because otherwise, mayhem follows. I think you are a bit of a sad loner, but you have to go to prison.”
