Monthly Archives: November 2006

Nasser Amin forces SOAS retraction

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Muslim student has forced his university’s former principal into an embarrassing climbdown after winning a long-running dispute over freedom of speech. Following a year of wrangling, ex-SOAS head Colin Bundy has retracted his claim in spring 2005 that he had reprimanded student Nasser Amin over an article Amin had written.

A SOAS statement dated November 6th read: “Professor Bundy sincerely regrets the reference on the School’s website to the author of the article entitled ‘When only violence will do’ in the spring 2005 issue of the SOAS SU Spirit magazine. He further regrets the use of the word ‘reprimand’, which he acknowledges was inappropriate.”

The row began whilst SOAS was engulfed by allegations of anti-Semitism in early 2005, with the student union barring an Israeli official from giving a speech and electing Ken Livingstone as honorary president in the wake of his verbal attack on a Jewish reporter.

Amin’s article argued with regards to Palestinian terrorism that: “Those that benefit from the immoral actions of a colonial state in which they have chosen to reside cannot be considered as innocent.” The article sparked thunderous criticism from commentators such as Melanie Phillips, whilst American websites made death threats against him. Labour MP David Winnick called for him to be prosecuted.

Bundy warned Amin that the article may have broken SOAS rules, but no formal sanction or reprimand was ever applied. However, Bundy then secretly wrote to ministers in the Home Office and Department for Education, as well as local MP Frank Dobson, saying that Amin had been reprimanded over the article. SOAS posted a similar statement on its website.

Amin told London Student in March that the episode left him suffering from depression and disrupted his studies. He also suffered racial abuse from other students following the controversy. When his lawyers first asked for a retraction and apology in summer 2005, Bundy replied: “I regret that Mr Amin feels that he has been treated badly by SOAS. However, SOAS has acted at all times in accordance with its disciplinary procedures.”

In fact, Bundy had merely given Amin an informal caution, whereas a formal reprimand required a full disciplinary process. Bundy’s retraction, following a formal grievance hearing and threats of legal action, represents a major climbdown.

Amin said in a statement to London Student: “I am pleased to say that the dispute between myself and SOAS has been resolved in a way I find to be highly satisfactory. A public apology has now been published on the official SOAS website.

“I hope that lessons have been learnt,” Amin added, “and that no student will have to go through a similar ordeal for simply expressing opinions about topical issues which many people in wider society also have views on.”

Amin told London Student in March that his article had been a response to a previous article that called on Muslims to ‘categorically’ condemn Palestinian terrorism in order to counter Islamophobia. He felt such condemnation was as unreflective as supporting a cause just because it affects your own people.

“The problem is these arguments are taken from their academic setting and thrown into the wider community,” said Amin. He added that he did not support terrorism, including Hamas suicide attacks on non-combatant civilians.

London Student, 8 November 2006

Theos think-tank promotes Christian triumphalism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Madeleine Bunting reports on the launch of the Christian think-tank Theos:

“I picked up a nasty undertone of Christian triumphalism. The enthusiasm with which Frank Field insisted that everything about this country was Christian tipped over into explosive territory when he said that Islam couldn’t be regarded as English. Why not? I asked. Because it hadn’t been here for 1,500 years he replied. Ouch. Does a faith, an idea or even a person have to have been here for millennia before becoming English? I asked. Next up was Shirley Williams, who made sweeping comparisons between Christianity and other faiths, the gist of which was to emphasise the former’s superiority.”

Guardian, 9 November 2006

Muslim speaker was misreported

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain who called for Dundee Muslims to “resist” police encroachments on personal freedoms has denied urging non-co-operation. Osama Saeed, an SNP candidate in East Renfrewshire at the last General Election, spoke on Monday night in Dundee at a meeting called Taking Liberties about the actions of Tayside Police Special Branch community contact unit (SBCCU).

“To claim that I advocated non-co-operation with the police is ridiculous,” he said. “The word non-co-operation is not there (in my speech) at all. We need to create better relations.” When asked if he was opposed to the SBCCU he said he was not opposed to the unit or the police per se but rather some of its methods.

The Courier, 8 November 2006

See Osama’s comments at Rolled Up Trousers, 8 November 2006

Claims against Muslim PC ‘laughable’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Friends of a Muslim firearms officer removed from a high-profile armed police protection squad described suspicions against him as “laughable” yesterday. PC Amjad Farooq was moved from the protection group, whose duties include guarding Downing St and the US embassy, after a background check.

It was alleged that two of his sons, aged nine and 11, attended a mosque associated with a cleric linked to a suspected terrorist group. The Guardian has learned that the decision to sideline PC Farooq was also based on his travelling history: like many Britons, he has Pakistani heritage. Some of the intelligence that caused concern during his vetting procedure came from the domestic security service, MI5.

PC Farooq was also allegedly told that if he was posted to the US embassy his presence might upset the American secret service. The officer, 39, is taking the Metropolitan police to an employment tribunal, claiming he was the victim of racial and religious discrimination.

The Muslim Council of Britain criticised the police for accepting “smear and innuendo” in the place of hard evidence.

Guardian, 8 November 2006

See also Independent, 8 November 2006

French unions resist after Muslims are sacked

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Islamophobia isn’t just taking place in Britain. Authorities in France have withdrawn the security clearances for 40 mainly Muslim workers at the Paris airport of Roissy-Charles de Gaulle, one of Europe’s busiest airports. The police prefecture of Seine-Saint-Denis, linked to the interior ministry, withdrew the clearances, claiming that the workers could become involved in terrorist activity.

Serge Nybelene, the general secretary of the airport CGT union branch, spoke to Socialist Worker about the cases. He said, “The prefecture says that there is a direct or indirect connection with radical Islamic groups. But in their letters the employees concerned received no reason for their security clearances being taken away.

“We are used to having security clearances withdrawn for meaningless reasons. But in this case the prefect doesn’t even have to justify his decision. He says that the interviewee didn’t prove that he wouldn’t be susceptible to becoming dangerous in the future. So it is for the accused to prove his innocence and not the accuser to prove the person is guilty! The focus is on Muslim workers because we are coming up to an election.”

As Socialist Worker went to press, workers at the airport were meeting to discuss a proposed strike over the withdrawal of security passes. Serge said, “The CGT has brought two cases to court in order to stop what’s happening. We are talking to a group of MPs to call for a debate on the question. We have also called on our members at the airport to debate mass action.”

Socialist Worker, 11 November 2006

First Muslim congressman elected

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Keith Ellison, a Democrat, has become the first Muslim to be elected to the US Congress by winning a Minnesota seat in the House of Representatives. He has called for the immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. On the campaign trail, he also urged a greater reliance on renewable fuels and the establishment of a government-funded universal healthcare system.

BBC News, 8 November 2006

Charles Johnson comments: “They’ll be celebrating in Gaza tomorrow.”

Little Green Footballs, 7 November 2006

‘Wear a Hijab Day’ – US Muslims’ response to killing

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Despite attempts by the foreign media to send a message that hate crimes against Muslims are on the decrease worldwide. Evidence shows that the problem is only worsening.

The hijab has been the subject of much attention last month after mother-of-six Alia Ansari, from Fremont in California, was shot dead at pointblank in a Glenmoor neighborhood. Ansari was wearing hijab when she was slain in front of her three-year-old daughter near her home on Oct. 19. She was on her way to collect her children from elementary school.

Some family members and Muslim leaders have speculated that the only motive anyone would have for killing her was the garment of her faith – her hijab – and that the crime was none other but a hate crime against Muslims and Islam. “Whoever did this did not see Alia Ansari as a mother of six children,” said Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, a well known and respected local Muslim scholar and leader. “The gunman saw a symbol of what people are taught to hate,” he told the media standing outside Ansari’s home.

In response to the tragedy, US Muslim community leaders and the Foundation of Self Reliance are organizing a “Wear a Hijab Day” on Nov. 13 as a symbolic gesture of solidarity in support of Ansari.

Arab News, 8 November 2006

Tycoon wants extremists targeted

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A leading Muslim businessman has called on the government to be more “heavy-handed” when tackling extremism. Sir Gulam Noon said protests from human rights activists should be resisted in some cases to prevent another terror attack in the UK. He said extremism was a “monster of our making” and that some Muslim preachers were “brainwashing” young people.

Sir Gulam, a major Labour party donor, has advised the government on Muslim matters and was knighted in 2002. Writing in the Independent newspaper, Sir Gulam welcomed government measures against extremism and said they came “not before time”. He said Muslims, especially parents, must do more to stop the “indoctrination” of young people.

BBC News, 8 November 2006

See also Independent, 8 November 2006

Campaign against Munich mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The New York Times reports on opposition to the building of a new mosque in Munich:

“… a vocal minority of residents has resisted, holding protest meetings, collecting signatures, and filing a petition with the Bavarian Parliament. ‘Bavarian life’, the petition declares, ‘is marked by the drinking of beer and the eating of pork. In Muslim faith, both are unclean and forbidden.’ With the support of Bavaria’s conservative state government, the residents have been able to tie up the project in court…. ‘Whenever Muslims in Germany come out of their closets or hidden places, the controversy starts’, said Claus Leggewie, a political scientist at the University of Giessen who has written about mosques in Germany. ‘The protests begin on technical issues, like parking problems and noise’, he said. ‘But it has a cultural bias. There is a nationalist minority, which opposes immigration and especially Muslim immigration’.”