Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Facebook rant man spared jail

Tuesday 09 October 2012 22:35 BST

A man who posted a Facebook message saying "all soldiers should die and go to hell" after six British soldiers were killed in Afghanistan has been spared jail.

Azhar Ahmed, 20, admitted posting the message two days after the deaths of the servicemen in March. He was charged after the mother of one of the soldiers read the comments and called the police. Ahmed told a trial at Huddersfield magistrates' court he did not think what he had written was offensive. But the remarks were described as "derogatory, disrespectful and inflammatory" by a district judge. He was given a two-year community order with 240 hours of community service.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in