Racially or religiously motivated crimes against Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus in Britain registered a steep rise last year, according to figures released by the Crown Prosecution Service in London.

"Race crime last year rose by 12 per cent with 2,000 more cases being prosecuted than when the law was introduced in 1999," CPS said.

At the same time, the new offence of religiously aggravated crime resulted in 18 prosecutions, INDOlink, an ethnic portal serving Asian-Indians worldwide, reported.

In one case considered in the report, a man from the north Midlands was fined £300 for displaying a poster that said, 'Islam out of Britain - protect the British public.'

The "actual or perceived" religion of other victims in this category apart from the 10 Muslims were Sikh (two cases), Hindu (two), Jewish (one), Jehovah's Witness (one) and Christian (one) with a further one "not stated".

The INDOlink report quoted the new Director of Public Prosecutions, Ken Macdonald QC, as saying that "CPS was working closely with police to build strong cases and continue to achieve a large number of guilty pleas at court".