London: Three men have been charged with plotting to attack the publisher of a novel about the Prophet Muhammad and his child bride, British police said.

Phone salesman Abrar Mizra, 22,cab driver Abbas Taj, 30, and Ali Beheshti, an unemployed 40-year-old, are charged with plotting to endanger life and damage property at the north London home and office of Martin Rynja, the publisher of Sherry Jones "The Jewel of Medina," police said late yesterday.

Beheshti was also charged with possessing a weapon "designed or adapted for the discharge of a noxious liquid or gas." All three are due to appear in court today.

Sherry Jones debut novel is a work of historical fiction about Aisha, who according to tradition was 9 when she became the wife of the Prophet Muhammad. Rynja s publishing house, Gibson Square, acquired the rights to the book after its original publisher, Random House, dropped plans to put it out.

Random House said it had received credible information that the book could incite violence from a small group of radicalised Muslims.

Mizra, Taj, and Beheshti were arrested Saturday by armed police near Rynja's home office in the London borough of Islington. A fire broke out at the building around the time of the arrests, although police have refused to divulge any further details about the incident. Rynja has since dropped out of sight.

Rynja originally planned to come out with the book in October, but the a report in The Bookseller quoted Alan Jessop of Compass, the publisher s sales representative, as saying publication was "in suspended animation" while Rynja sought advice on how to proceed.
Source : PTI