Three Asian men have been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a 23-year-old black IT worker during riots in Birmingham, England

BBC News:

Isaiah Young-Sam was trying to avoid the trouble in Lozells last October, when he was stabbed in the heart.

Waqar Ahmed, 26, Azhil Khan, 23, and Afzal Khan, 22, from Handsworth, had denied murder. They were told they would serve a minimum of 25 years.

The judge said Isaiah was killed for no other reason than his skin colour.

Passing sentence, Mr Justice Mackay said: "The four men (Isaiah, his brother and two friends) were set upon because they were Afro-Caribbean and for no other reason.

"They had done nothing to these defendants and done nothing to incur or justify hostility.

"What led to the death of Isaiah Young-Sam was the colour of his skin."

The defendants were fuelled by the mob violence which they could have resisted, he added.

Isaiah's mother, Murna McLean, described his killers as "animals".

There were cries of "they're innocent" from the public gallery as the jury returned its unanimous verdict on Monday.

Mr Justice McKay warned members of the defendants' families they would be asked to leave if they continued to call out.

The court heard how two or three cars pulled up in front of the victim and his friends as they made their way through back streets of Lozells.

A group of men wearing hoodies and bandanas got out and chased them. Mr Young-Sam, a computer analyst for Birmingham City Council, fell behind and was attacked.

The defendants were also convicted of attacking Mr Young-Sam's friend, Locksley Byfield, who suffered a non life-threatening stab wound to the backside in the incident which took place during the evening of 22 October, 2005.

The jury was told how the defendants went to Huddersfield just hours after the attack and returned to Birmingham the next day where they booked one-way tickets to Pakistan.

They were stopped in Dubai en route to Pakistan and returned to Britain where they were arrested.

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