Politician Tweets Request to Have Muslim Journo Stoned

A conservative British politician has been arrested after jokingly asking on Twitter for someone to "stone" a pesky Muslim reporter. Can "someone please stone Yasmin Alibhai-Brown to death?" asked Birmingham Councillor Gareth Compton. " I shan't tell Amnesty. It would be a blessing, really." The reporter considers the post an "incitement to murder," she told the Guardian. "It's really scared us. If I as a Muslim woman had tweeted that it would be a blessing if Gareth Compton was stoned to death I'd be arrested immediately."

Compton deleted the tweet and apologized, calling it an "ill-conceived attempt at humor." He was busted under a 2003 Communications Act that makes it illegal to send an offensive or indecent message, and has since been released on bail. He has also been suspended from his party. "Language of this sort is not acceptable," said a Tory spokesman.
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