From The Birmingham Mail
A TOP Tory Muslim, found guilty of racial harassment, claims he is being “persecuted” after a request to postpone his community service during Ramadan was refused.
Gulfram Khan, from Handsworth Wood, Birmingham, was ordered to carry out 270 hours community work after admitting racially abusing an Irish policeman – and a second offence of harassing a judge.
The sentence means the 43-year-old, who once met former Conservative leader Michael Howard, should complete eight hours unpaid work every Wednesday until December.
But the father-of-two asked West Midlands Probation Service for a two-hour break throughout Ramadan – the month-long religious ceremony which bans Muslims eating and drinking during daylight – as he feared he would lack enough energy.
His demand was turned down, leading the Aston-born Conservative to accuse the service of being “prejudiced against people of Islamic faith”.
Mr Khan said: “I asked for a couple hours rest each week so I could carry on the community work as normal. But they flatly refused and said I must complete my hours by December.
“Yet I work in the evenings and find it quite tiring during Ramadan because I can’t eat or drink for hours on end. I’ve spoken to other Muslim lads about the situation. We’re not frightened to do our community service, we are happy to do it but feel a sense of persecution. We can’t do community service on Christmas Day because the offices are shut. So why should there be a different rule for Muslims? I’m standing up for myself and other Muslims who are being persecuted at this time of year.”
Mr Khan, who lives with wife Nasrin, aged 37, and their children Ayesha, aged 13, and nine-year-old Khalid, was given 120 hours community work after racially abusing an Irish police officer – who, he claims, had discriminated against his family.
The Indian takeaway boss says he received the additional 150 hours after losing his temper with a judge presiding over a financial management hearing at a ­Birmingham civil court.
West Midlands Probation Service was unavailable for comment last night.
But a spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: “I would have thought they might allow him to defer some hours. . . In exceptional circumstances, the probation service can look at whether to adapt the hours to reflect a change in circumstances of the offender.”
The correct response by the Ministry of Justice spokesman (who was almost certainly a woman, btw) is that MOJ cannot comment on a decision made by the Probation Service but if Mr Khan makes a formal complaint it will be looked at under the proper procedure. But there are very few left there who know how to do things properly.
When I first saw this I thought it contrasted rather with the comments of head of the Union for the Communities and Organisations of Islam in Italy (UCOII), Mohamed Nour Dachan, on the subject of the manager of Inter Milan, Jose Mourinho, when he substituted Sulley Muntari during a match saying
"Muntari had some problems related to Ramadan - perhaps with this heat it's not good for him to be doing this fasting.  Ramadan has not arrived at the ideal moment for a player to play a football match." He did go on to say that he appreciated that the fasting was for a religious purpose.
"I think Mourinho should talk less," Dachan told La Repubblica. "A player who practices Islam does not perform less on the pitch. We know that medicine in Sport and mental stability, and psychology make players perform well."
Of course Khan and the other Muslim offenders of Birmingham may not be young, fit, highly trained athletes like footballers. How old is he? So I called up the news report from Birmingham Mail when he was convicted and senteced 3 weeks ago. He is 43.
Again The Birmingham Mail
A MAN who bombarded a police officer, a member of court staff and a barrister with racist abuse has been branded an “arrogant fool” by a Birmingham judge.
In passing a 40-week jail sentence suspended for two years, Judge William Davis QC said he was bound by the ruling of a previous judge telling Gulfram Khan “I can do no more than impose a suspended sentence because that is what you were promised.”
Khan, 43, of Wood Lane, Handsworth Wood, who had previously admitted a charge of harassment, was also ordered to do 120 hours’ unpaid work.
Claire Harris, prosecuting, said that the defendant, after being stopped by an officer and receiving a summons for a driving matter, had made racist remarks about the officer, who was of Irish origin, on numerous occasions. She said these included making references to the Irish potato famine, suggesting he and his family led a criminal lifestyle and calling him a “plastic paddy”.

  Miss Harris said Khan also had a previous conviction relating to abusive calls he made to a barrister who had represented Lloyds Bank in a county court matter in relation to an unsecured loan.
She said he also traced the court clerk in the case and bombarded her with calls which had “racist and sexual overtones”. That never happened to me personally but such a thing would have been dealt with most severely in my days as a Court Clerk.
 (Khan said ) he believed he had been the victim of racism when the court judgment was made.
I think he has found a situation and a climate where the race card no longer works. How sad! He can fast, work and pray as a penance for his crimes.
Picture left from the Birmingham Mail - not a face to inspire confidence.