Man Pleads Guilty for Racist Mohamed Salah Tweet Following Hate Crime Investigation by Police

​A man has pleaded guilty to a racially aggravated public order offence following the posting of a tweet about Liverpool star Mohamed Salah which sparked a hate crime investigation by Merseyside police.

32-year-old Gary Hyland was arrested on Thursday and appeared at Liverpool Magistrates' Court the following day, where he was charged - and pleaded guilty - with racially aggravated public order offence and obstructing a constable in the execution of their duty.


The Mirror reports that prosecutor Sophie Leyland objected to Hyland, an Everton fan, being granted bail due to concerns over his own safety, telling the court: "The tweets were very offensive and upsetting. His own safety would be at risk."

Mohamed Salah

The defence argued that the tweet, which appeared to depict Liverpool forward Salah as a suicide bomber, had not originated from Hyland and was simply something which he had tweeted.


"This offence was on August 6, he was arrested on August 8 and there's been no further tweets or social media comments in the interim period," Danielle Gibbons said for the defence.

"He realises what he did was wrong and he has not engaged in further posts or tweets. There's nothing to suggest he's going to depart from that...he will not be repeating his actions."

Magistrate Mr Holcroft adjourned the case for probation reports and Hyland will return to court at the end of the month, having been granted conditional bail and ordered not to access social media.


Source : 90min