7 hours Ago By The Telegraph
Two more pubs called the Saracen’s Head have received a legal threat from a convicted terrorist over its “deeply offensive” name. Khalid Baqa, who was previously jailed for distributing jihadist propaganda, over the name, which was a term used to describe an Arab or Muslim. Simon Belsey, 49, is the latest landlord fearing the repercussions of legal proceedings after Baqa sent a letter to his pub in Hereford city centre.
Peter Dillingham, 59, who owns a 17th-century pub with the name in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, also received emails giving him two weeks’ notice before Buqa “escalates matters”. It comes after demanding he change the name of his pub called The Saracen’s Head Inn, in Amersham, Buckinghamshire. Baqa, 60, had announced plans to extend his fight to 30 other establishments with the same name if successful.
Mr Belsey said he received two letters from Baqa, the second of which threatened legal action unless the pub changed its name within seven days. Mr Belsey fears the 300-year-old pub he took over in May, will have to close if he loses any civil action in the courts. “It’s always been the Saracen’s Head,” he told the Telegraph.
“It’s in the history books here. “It goes back longer than the cathedral – the stonemasons that built the cathedral stayed here. “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.
” He said his pub was one of just three remaining in the area and the cost of living crisis. He continued: “To start dictating what they can be called is ridiculous. I just think there’s so much other stuff going on in the world.
“They are not going to change the name. It’s The Saracen’s Head and it will stay The Saracen’s Head.” Baqa sparked outrage when Mr Hayes first revealed he was being sued for his “deeply offensive” sign.
He had claimed £1,850 over the depiction of “a brown-skinned bearded Arab”. But the landlord dismissed Baqa as a “chancer” and the effort as a “complete joke”. Mr Dillingham told The Sun: “He said he had seen our sign and was deeply offended as it showed a man with a tanned complexion in a turban.
“You only need to take one look to see that’s not the case...
it’s obvious he’s never stepped foot outside the pub. “It’s frankly ridiculous — a convicted terrorist scared of a pub sign.” In his effort with Mr Belsey’s pub, Baqa complained the pub sign “depicts a brown turbaned male captioned The Saracen’s Head”.
“I find this highly offensive, xenophobic, racist, inciting and glorifying violence against a certain type of people and extremely discriminatory,” he went on. 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.
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. Baqa was approached for comment..
