Koran burning US pastor jailed

Washington, Apr 23 (ANI): Terry Jones, the controversial US pastor who hit the international headlines after planning to burn Koran on the 9/11-terror attack anniversary last year, has been jailed for refusing to pay a one dollar bond for planning a protest outside a mosque that was likely to provoke violence.

The 59-year-old pastor and supporter Wayne Sapp were each asked to pay a one dollar under the terms of an order that also involved a three-year ban on going anywhere near the Islamic Centre of America mosque.

However, Jones, who finally burnt a Koran few months back as part of a campaign against what he calls "radical Islam", denied paying it, Sky News reports.

Florida district judge Mark Somers made the ruling after a six-person jury concluded the planned protest by Jones was "likely to breach the peace."

The case pitted questions of free speech against concerns about violence in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit with one of the largest Muslim American populations in the US, the report said.

While representing himself in the court, Jones said: "The First Amendment is only valid if it allows us to say what other people may not like. Otherwise, we do not need the First Amendment."

Prosecutors, who had sought a 25,000 dollars bond for both Sapp and Jones, said they could be jailed for up to three years if they declined to pay the one-dollar bond in protest. (ANI)