Terrorist suing Saracen’s Head pubs insists money would go to ‘orphans of Gaza’

From The Telegraph

A convicted terrorist who is suing a pub called the Saracen’s Head over its “deeply offensive” name said he would donate any money he won to “the orphans of Gaza”.

Khalid Baqa, who was previously jailed for distributing jihadist propaganda, has launched legal action against the owner of a pub that uses the name in Amersham, Buckinghamshire.

He has also sent emails threatening to take action against two other pubs called the Saracen’s Head in Hereford and Hertfordshire.

In a statement to The Telegraph, he said that if Robbie Hayes, the owner of the Saracen’s Head Inn in Amersham, was “stubborn enough not to remove or amend” the name, he would continue with his legal action. Baqa, who is seeking £1,850 over the “depiction of a brown skinned bearded Arab”, said that if he was successful all the money would go to “orphans in Gaza or Syria”.

As well as suing Mr Hayes pub, Baqa has threatened Peter Dillingham, 59, who owns a 17th-century pub with the name in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire. “It’s frankly ridiculous – a convicted terrorist scared of a pub sign”, Mr Dillingham told The Sun newspaper.

Simon Belsey, 49, landlord of the historic Grade-I listed Saracen’s Head on the banks of the River Wye in Hereford, said he has also received legal letters from Baqa. .  .  He told The Telegraph: “I don’t see how people can come in and start saying what we can do in our pubs that have been here for years. They are not going to change the name. It’s the Saracen’s Head and it will stay the Saracen’s Head.”

Mr Belsey said he had received the support of lots of locals and hoped the claim would not be pursued following the level of publicity it had received.

Responding to Mr Belsey’s comments, Baqa said that he was willing to offer Mr Belsey a “hefty discount”. He added: “I have always been offended by these pub signages but was not aware how I could challenge them legally, until now.”

Baqa was jailed at the Old Bailey in 2018 after being found with jihadist leaflets on the Tube. He admitted to five counts of dissemination of terrorist publications.