Convicted terrorist sues country pub landlord for ‘deeply offensive’ sign

A convicted terrorist is suing a countryside pub after taking offensive to its “deeply offensive” sign.

Khalid Baqa was jailed for creating and disseminating Jihadi propaganda in 2018 and was released after four years and eight months in 2022.

The convicted terrorist is now taking a pub in a pretty countryside town to court for the “depiction of a bearded Arab/Turk” on its sign – and demanding over £1,000 in compensation for the offences caused.

Baqa is asking for £1,850 from the landlord of the Saracen’s Head Inn in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, after suggesting that the sign is both “deeply offensive” and “incites violence”.

In a “claim of money” form submitted to the county court, the 30-year-old said: “I saw pub signage depicting a brown-skinned bearded Arab/Turk male with a turban, captioned ‘The Saracen’s Head’.”

“I was shocked and deeply offended by what I saw. [It] instilled worry and fear in me since it was clearly xenophobic [and] racist”. 

In a statement to The Sun, he added: “I’ve stopped all the terrorism stuff now.”

Baqa claims he has asked the pub to remove the sign four times but landlord Robbie Hayes told the newspaper that there is no record of him having ever visited.

“It’s a complete joke,” Mr Hayes said. “This pub has been called The Saracen’s Head for 500 years. He’s just chancing his hand.”

“No one at this pub is racist,” he added. “We don’t believe the sign is racist and the name is simply historic.

“We won’t be pushed around and change hundreds of years of history just because some loudmouth wants to cause trouble.”

The Saracen’s Head pub, in the pretty market town nestled in the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, was built in 1530, originally as a coaching inn for travellers.

The boozer’s name pays tribute to the legend that Richard the Lionheart visited Amersham during the Third Crusade in the 12th century. 

‘Saracen’ was a term used to describe Arabs and Turks subscribed to the Islamic religion during the Middle Ages. It was also later used as a blanket term to describe those fighting in the religious wars who were regarded as non-Christian.