Two British football fans have been convicted of tearing up a copy of the holy Quran and throwing the pieces in the air during a football match.

Julie Phillips, 50, ripped pages from the holy book and handed them out to fellow supporters to shred during offensive chanting, Birmingham Magistrates’ Court in central England heard.

Phillips and fellow Middlesbrough fan Gemma Parkin, 18, both from the northeast English town, were found guilty of a religiously-aggravated public order offence.

The magistrate said Parkin was “well aware” of what she was doing and told Phillips: “We have seen very clear CCTV footage of you ripping up the Quran and you passing pages to a small group of other supporters.”

“We are satisfied that you were aware of what you were distributing,” he said.

Phillips was ordered to pay £730 ($1,230) and Parkin £620 ($1,043) in fines, court costs and victim surcharges.

A third Middlesbrough fan was fined £235 ($397) by magistrates in March for the same offence. He admitted being among around 20 supporters who were handed pages from the holy Quran.   »»» Al Jazeera English

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