A Muslim car plant worker has been sacked for showing stunned colleagues pictures of himself wearing black, sneering and clutching an assault rifle shortly after the Charlie Hebdo terrorist atrocity.
Khalid Usman, from Bordesley Green, was shown the door by Jaguar Land Rover after proudly sharing the images with frightened employees.
The motor giant’s legal team described his leer on the images, now deleted, as “Dirty Harry” style.
Shortly before losing his job, he attempted to hawk his story to the press.
Mr Usman, who worked at the company’s Castle Bromwich plant, later urged us to hold fire on the exclusive while he allegedly hammered out an out-of-court settlement with the Midland based motor moguls.
Those negotiations evidently failed.
Now, 23-year-old Usman lost a legal action against Jaguar Land Rover Ltd for race discrimination after an employment tribunal was told the company’s reputation would be tarnished if the pictures had been seen by the public.
But Mr Usman stressed, in a witness statement, there were no sinister motives behind the snaps. He was holidaying in a remote, mountainous part of Pakistan where it is common to carry arms as protection against bandits.
He said: “Guns are part of the Pakistani culture in this region. My uncle is a retired gunsmith and I became fascinated with the guns while I was there and had the images taken on my mobile phone holding the guns.
“The images could only be viewed by my friends and family but I was asked to show them to work colleagues on my return to work. One worker wanted to see the images because he was a fan of guns and zombie movies.”
Mr Usman, who had been employed by Jaguar for a year, complained his dismissal was due to racial discrimination.
“I was the only Pakistani Muslim working in C block,” he added.
During the case, the images were studied by tribunal judge Charles Camp. He concluded Mr Usman looked like the type of terrorist associated with the Middle East.
“They show guns being waved about in an aggressive manner and were obviously shown at an atmospheric time - after the Charlie Hebdo killings in France,” he said. “AK47 guns are pointed at the camera.”
After a tribunal hearing lasting several days Mr Camp announced that Mr Usman had lost his racial discrimination claim. He said he would send the reasons for his decision in writing to Mr Usman and Jaguar at a later date.
