Five men are to go on trial today accused of stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation in the first prosecution of its kind.
Ihjaz Ali, 42, Mehboob Hussain, 45, Umar Javed, 38, Razwan Javed, 28, and Kabir Ahmed, 28, are all due in court to face the charges against them.
They relate to an allegation that the men handed out a leaflet called The Death Penalty? outside and around Jamia Mosque in Rosehill Street Derby, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.
The leaflet is understood to have called for homosexuals to be executed.
The prosecution is the first of its kind to be brought since legislation came into force in March 2010.
A jury of seven men and five women was sworn in for the trial at Derby Crown Court yesterday.
The panel heard the charges levelled against the five men, which are all said to have taken place on July 2 and July 4 2010.
They are all charged with distributing threatening written material intending to stir up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation contrary to section 29C (1) of the Public Order Act 1986.
Ali, of Fairfax Road, Derby, faces four counts while Hussain, of Rosehill Street, Normanton, and Umar Javed, of Whittaker Street, Derby, are charged with two counts each.
Razwan Javed, of Wilfred Street, Derby, and Kabir Ahmed, of Madeley Street, Derby, are charged with one count each.
All five men deny the allegations.
CPS lawyer Sue Hemming said: "The charges relate to the distribution of a leaflet, The Death Penalty?, outside the Jamia Mosque in Derby in July 2010 and through letterboxes during the same month.
"This is the first ever prosecution for this offence and it is the result of close working between the Crown Prosecution Service and Derbyshire Police."