Monthly Archives: November 2006

‘Islamic fanatic has top job at Home Office’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Islamic fanatic has top job at Home Office

By Gabriel Milland

Daily Express, 15 November 2006

A RADICAL Muslim leader holds a highly sensitive job at the Home Office, it has emerged. In a major security blunder, a leader of Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir is working for the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND). The IND is charged with ensuring foreign suspects with terror links are kept out of Britain.

Moderate Muslim leaders in south London told BBC2’s Newsnight last night key Hizb ut-Tahrir leader Awid Jawaid worked at the IND’s processing office in Croydon, south London. Mosque elder Shoib Minhas said: “He gave me his card and it showed he worked at the Home Office.” Mr Jawaid admitted to the programme that he was a member of Hizb ut-Tahir.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: “This is a shocking revelation given Tony Blair’s insistence that Hizb ut-Tahrir should be proscribed, and after illegal immigrants were discovered working in the Home Office. It is even more extraordinary following John Reid’s assertion that his system for screening employees who work in the Home Office deserved an accolade for its efficiency.”

The revelation came hours before Labour efforts to put itself at the forefront of the fight against terrorism were expected to dominate today’s Queen’s Speech to Parliament.

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Hizb ut-Tahrir responds to Newsnight allegations

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Hizb“Yesterday (Tuesday 14th November), the BBC Newsnight and File on 4 programmes aired false and counterfactual allegations against Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain. Amongst the sensationalist allegations was that members of Hizb ut-Tahrir have been involved in ‘street gang criminality’. We believe the allegations are not only baseless but emanate from a politically motivated group, interested in defaming our public image.

“In response to the allegations we have prepared robust counter-arguments to the main claims made. Please note: Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain was not given any of these allegations in advance and so was not aware of the specific claims until the broadcast of Newsnight.”

Hizb ut-Tahrir press release, 15 November 2006.

For details see Hizb ut-Tahrir website.

Interviewed (or rather, harangued) by Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight, Dr Abdul Wahid of Hizb ut-Tahrir described the accusations against his organisation in the BBC documentary as “off the radar”. “On another planet” would perhaps be more accurate. The fact that Newsnight should rely on the likes of Glen Jenvey and Vigil as a source of information says it all really.

Good luck to HuT in their legal action against the BBC.

Update:  See “BBC Newsnight and File on 4 misled public in their allegations about Hizb ut-Tahrir”, Islamophobia Watch, 1 August 2007

Another anti-Muslim rant from Jon Gaunt

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jon_Gaunt“Brown, Reid, Cameron and even the Charlie Caroli of the constabulary, Ian Blair, are talking the talk on terrorism. But as per usual it will be just words again rather than action…. Our self-serving pigs at Westminster need to develop the backbone of their French counterparts. Two weeks ago the French removed the security clearance for 70 workers at Charles de Gaulle airport who they suspected of having terrorist sympathies…. The French aren’t bothered about the pathetic Human Rights Act….

“Labour have given a safe haven to every extremist and crackpot the rest of the world has wanted to hang and shoot. They’ve let them jump the housing queue, pick up vast amounts in handouts and given them free operations…. If they have had the misfortune of being banged up, they’ve been given special privileges, special meals and had cells converted to prayer rooms…. Appeasers in charities, the Press and even Parliament itself bleat about the the suspects’ human rights and access to justice while they plot to kill us on the Tube.

“To add insult to injury, when up to 200,000 of the community say they support the aims of the 7/7 bombers they are rewarded with road shows, more handouts and sympathy about the Islamophobia and intolerance that they are facing.”

Jon Gaunt in The Sun, 14 November 2006

Attorney General backs rethink on race hate laws

Posted on by Bob Pitt

New race hate laws are likely to be needed following the acquittal of BNP leader Nick Griffin, the Attorney General signalled today. Lord Goldsmith said the court result exposed a “gap” in the law that left Islam without the same protections as other faiths. British National Party leader Mr Griffin was cleared last week of stirring up racial hatred after describing Islam as a “wicked, vicious faith”.

Asked if he backed a rethink, Lord Goldsmith told BBC Radio’s Today programme: “The prosecution does show that there really is a gap in the law and we need to look to see whether the new law is actually going to fill that gap or not.” Mr Griffin’s defence was to say that he was attacking Muslims and not Asians – and so had not broken race hate laws, Lord Goldsmith pointed out.

Evening Standard, 14 November 2005

Arrest made after fire at mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Police have arrested a 36-year-old man after a fire broke out at a mosque in Cardiff on Tuesday morning. Officers and fire crews were called to the Madina mosque in Cathays, just before 0830 GMT when a fire on the second floor spread to the roof. South Wales Fire Service said about a quarter of the building was lost to the fire, but they were able to save a number of meeting rooms.

BBC News, 14 November 2006

Ministers using ‘terrorism’ for cynical ends

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ministers using ‘terrorism’ for cynical ends

by Louise Nousratpour

Morning Star, 13 November 2006

MINISTERS are damaging counter-terrorism policies by using them to seek votes and further their political careers, according to a report released on Sunday.

The Joseph Rowntree Trust report accused Prime Minister Tony Blair and Home Secretary John Reid of playing to a tabloid agenda for short-term electoral gain.

It said that the government’s counter-terrorism campaign “is often driven by party political and electoral motives that are ‘submerging’ its own ‘sensible’ counter-terrorism strategy.”

Chancellor Gordon Brown seemed to confirm the findings when he declared on Sunday that protecting the country from terrorism would be his “first priority” as Prime Minister.

In an interview with the Sunday papers, he also backed calls from Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair for repressive “anti-terror” powers to be toughened.

The trust’s 70-page study urged the government to abandon talk of a “war on terror” and to review its foreign policy.

Mr Blair’s “close and publicly unquestioning stance” alongside the US was damaging Britain’s influence on global politics, it warned.

The war on terror terminology “is misleading and disproportionate and leaves the Prime Minister open to the charge that he is exploiting the politics of fear,” added the report.

The authors accused ministers of creating a “shadow” criminal justice system in which Muslims were being detained without trial or handed control orders which may breach their human rights.

Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German welcomed the report and agreed that ministers were playing to tabloids’ “rotten racist agenda.”

She pointed to numerous other studies showing that Muslims are penalised under anti-terror measures and accused the government of “doing this to cover up its disastrous record.”

The study said that the new terrorism Bill, promised for 2007, must be subjected to full pre-legislative scrutiny in Parliament, possibly by a specially set up committee of MPs and peers.

The findings echoed deputy leadership hopeful Jon Cruddas’s warning at the weekend that the debate over the wearing of veils and the language of the “war on terror” had played into the hands of far-right extremism.

Speaking at a conference organised by anti-fascist group Searchlight on Saturday, he warned that the the BNP is “beginning to establish itself as a rival to Labour in many of our traditional heartlands.”

Vote-seeking ‘hits terror fight’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Government’s counter-terrorism policy is being damaged by ministers’ vote-seeking and party political interests, a report claimed.

The Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust study said sensible plans to combat terrorism were being “submerged” by the Government’s “electoral motives”. It accused Prime Minister Tony Blair and Home Secretary John Reid of playing to a tabloid agenda and “trying to win over the white working class vote”.

Anti-terror measures which were having a disproportionate effect on Britain’s Muslim community risked alienating people within Islam who could play a vital role in defeating extremism, it added.

The authors urged the Government to abandon talk of a “war on terror” and to review its foreign policy. Mr Blair’s “close and publicly unquestioning stance” alongside the United States was damaging Britain’s influence on global politics, they suggested.

The report said: “The Government’s counter-terrorism campaign is often driven by party political and electoral motives that are ‘submerging’ its own ‘sensible’ counter-terrorism strategy. The actions of ministers, particularly Home Secretary John Reid, could have a ‘boomerang effect’ by alienating the Muslim communities whose trust and co-operation are vital.”

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