Couple face charges for calling Prophet Muhammad a "warlord"
.................DUBAI: Two British hotel owners face criminal charges for taunting a Muslim woman staying at their hotel by comparing the headscarf she was wearing to "bondage" and insulting the prophet of Islam, British press reported on Tuesday.
The incident took place in March at the Bounty House Hotel in Liverpool when the unnamed Muslim guest came down to breakfast wearing a hijab, or headscarf, for the first time in her four-week stay, shocking hoteliers Ben,
53, and Sharon,
54, Vogelenzang.
The Vogelenzangs are reported to have started a debate with her about Islam and went on to call Prophet Muhammad a "warlord" and described the hijab as a form of bondage.
Months after the incident the guest complained to the police and the couple were charged with using "threatening, abusive or insulting words" which were "religiously aggravated," the Daily Mail reported.
The couple denied the charges and said the guest challenged their Christian beliefs and said they were just defending themselves. The couple face a hefty fine of £
5,000 (around $
8,000) and a criminal record if they are convicted.
"Robust exchange"
The Muslim woman had been staying at the hotel while receiving treatment at a local hospital, which regularly refers outpatients to them.
The Vogelenzangs, who have been running the hotel for six years, say they have already lost
80 percent of their bookings and have been forced to put their hotel up for sale as the hospital has stopped referring outpatients due to the bad publicity.
The couple are receiving financial support from the Christian Institute and have been warned not to talk about the case until it reaches court in December.
But the institute's spokesman, Mike Judge, told the British press he believed the treatment of the Vogelenzangs was "heavy handed."
"Nobody was being threatened and while the Vogelenzangs were fully aware that a robust exchange had taken place and the woman had been perhaps a little offended, they were shocked when the police became involved," Judge was quoted by the press as saying.
"If someone is in a discussion and they don't like what they are hearing, they can walk away," he said.
"We feel their treatment has been heavy handed and it is not in the public interest to go ahead with this prosecution. People see the police standing by when Muslims demonstrate holding some pretty bloodthirsty placards, but at the same time come down hard on two Christians having a debate over breakfast at a hotel," he said.
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