Author Archives: Bob Pitt

Inayat Bunglawala on the Shehzad Tanweer video

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The release of today’s video statement from Shehzad Tanweer appears to confirm the widespread view that the four 7/7 bombers had indeed been radicalised by aspects of our country’s foreign policy and participation in the wars against Afghanistan and Iraq. One hopes that this will serve to lift the sense of denial in parts of the government about the link between the 7/7 bombings and its policies overseas. Just two months ago, the home secretary, John Reid, rejected suggestions that Mohammad Sidique Khan – believed to be the bombers’ ringleader – blamed his actions on the Iraq war. At the same time, one can only hope that the video also serves to answer those elements among British Muslims who continue to believe in various perverse 7/7 conspiracy theories, refusing to accept that Muslims could be capable of such murderous actions.”

Inayat Bunlawala at Comment is Free, 6 July 2006

Severed pig’s head thrown into mosque during prayer session

Posted on by Bob Pitt

LEWISTON, Maine — A group of Muslim men praying at a Lewiston mosque were thrown for a jolt when somebody threw a severed pig’s head into the mosque. Police arrested a man on Tuesday who said he thought it was a joke.

A frozen pig’s head slightly larger than a basketball was rolled into the Lewiston Auburn Islamic Center on Lisbon Street at about 10:15 p.m. Monday, witnesses told the Sun Journal of Lewiston.

Pigs are considered unclean by Muslims, who are barred from eating pork, and the act was viewed as a deliberate insult upon the religion. “We cannot eat it. We cannot even sit next to someone who is eating it,” said a man who identified himself as Omar S.

When the incident occurred, about 40 men were bowed down as part of their prayer ritual. When the pig’s head rolled in, the men got up and ran outside but were unable to locate anyone. None of the men were hit by the animal head.

Lewiston police bagged the head as evidence and took it to the police station, witnesses said. Police Lt. Mark Watson said the head was then disposed of.

Brent Matthews, 33, of Lewiston, came to the police department on Tuesday, told a detective he had thrown the head and was charged with desecration of a church, a misdemeanor. The charge is considered a hate-bias crime, so Matthews’ case will be referred to the Attorney General’s office for further investigation, Lt. Don Mailhot said.

Matthews, who was out on bail, “admitted to doing it,” Mailhot said. “He thought it was funny; it was going to be a big joke. The police department doesn’t take anything like that lightly.”

Associated Press, 4 July 2006

See also CAIR press release, 4 July 2006

Posted in USA

Spinning the Populus survey

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“A Populus poll published in the Times yesterday found that 13% of British Muslims in the survey regarded the London bombers as ‘martyrs’. While that in no way means that 13% of Muslims in Britain approve of the bombings, the more telling finding was that 87% neither sympathised with nor approved of the attacks. But this side of the story got buried – such spin leaves both Muslims and non-Muslim with virtually nowhere to go.”

Anas Altikriti in the Guardian, 5 July 2006

Update:  Bob Churchill has emailed us pointing out that the Times-ITV-Populus survey “is deeply paranoid, and that coverage of it has been deeply flawed and misrepresents the answers given…. The media are widely misrepresenting the results, as if the figure of 13% who say the 7/7 bombers were ‘martyrs’ meant that 13% of Muslims agreed with the attacks, and that’s not only unwarranted but I believe other results in the survey stand firmly against such a conclusion.”

He makes the same point on his blog (see here).

Shahid Malik backs Blair, blames Muslim communities

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Shahid MalikIn today’s Daily Mail, Labour MP Shahid Malik expresses his concerns about “those Muslim leaders, many of whom, I am sorry to say, have lost the stomach for the fight. I am fed up with their constant sniping about the Government’s failure to follow up on all the recommendations of the Task Force, set up in the aftermath of the bombing .. it is easier for organisations such as the Muslim Council of Britain to criticise the Government, the police or the media, rather than take a long hard look at our own communities. It is easier for them to encourage a victim culture that sees Islamophobia around every corner, rather than challenge within. But that is not leadership. It is abdication. That is why I almost wept when I saw the results of a poll showing that 13 per cent of British Muslims think that the July 7 terrorists should be regarded as ‘martyrs’. How sick and deluded can you get?”

Yes, thanks Shahid. That’s really helpful.

Update:  See Osama Saeed’s comments at Rolled Up Trousers, 8 July 2006

Muslims with grievances against the West are wrong – Blair

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The government cannot alone root out extremism in Muslim communities and defeat the terrorism it creates, Prime Minister Tony Blair has said. He hit back at claims ministers had done little to win Muslim “hearts and minds” since the 7 July London bombs. He said he was “probably not the person to go into the Muslim community”. It was down to moderate Muslims to stand up to extremism and tell those with “grievances” against the West they were wrong, Mr Blair told MPs. He was speaking after Muslim Labour MP Sadiq Khan said he was disappointed with the government’s engagement with the Muslim community in the year since the London bombings.

BBC News, 4 July 2006

Read Sadiq Khan’s Fabian Society lecture here.

Posted in UK

The Times and Omar Deghayes

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Correspondents in Brighton have sent us the following report on the Omar Deghayes case:

The Sunday Times on 18th June published an article attacking the brother of the British-resident Guantánamo detainee Omar Deghayes. The Save Omar campaign has widespread support in Sussex, where Omar lived for many years and where his family still live. He came to live near Brighton as a child refugee, after his father had been assassinated in Libya. The campaign to secure Omar’s release is backed by the Argus newspaper in Brighton and by all six of the Sussex MPs – Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative. The Sunday Times article seems to be deliberately aimed at undermining this broad support.

At no time were campaign members consulted about any of the allegations made, so any reporting that the “revelation surprised supporters of the campaign” is untrue. They heard nothing of the allegations until the paper appeared, and they gradually realised that a man who introduced himself at a campaign meeting as a visitor to Brighton who had come to look after a sick relative for a fortnight, and asked if he could join the meeting, was in fact an undercover reporter.

The article presents a highly confused account of two separate issues: the history of the mosque, of which Abu Baker Deghayes is not the imam; and the campaign for justice for his brother, which is entirely separate from the mosque, and emerged from a local anti-war movement and Amnesty International. As a campaign for due process which grew out of concern for the preservation of civil liberties in the troubled waters of the war on terror, we support the family of Omar Deghayes and their quest for justice. Omar has been detained without charge or trial for four years. Nothing is known of his guilt or innocence, because he has been denied due process. Omar is in the legal vacuum created by the war on terror.

The campaigners point out that an hour of clandestine note-taking is not enough to come to anything like a real understanding of the long and painful history of the Deghayes family, and the making of allegations as to the character of Abu Baker Deghayes is shabby and tendentious.

Anger and suspicion against Muslims in Scotland

Posted on by Bob Pitt

It has been a difficult year for young Muslim men in Britain since four of their co-religionists – Hasib Hussain, Mohammad Sidique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer and Germaine Lindsay – carried out the bombings that killed 52 people in London. As the anniversary of the 7/7 attacks approaches, there is a nervous feeling among those living in Scotland. Some argue that their repeated condemnations of the bombings are forgotten; others feel they have been forced to condemn too much while receiving little in return. Many react with annoyance to the suggestion that they are linked to the actions of men they view as misguided extremists and undeserving of the term Muslim. There is the frequent reminder that Muslims, too, were victims of the London bombers, while others are critical of the media for “drumming up” an Islam versus the West conflict.

Scotland on Sunday, 2 July 2006

Daniel Pipes and ‘Islamist Watch’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“If Daniel Pipes is not diverting attention from Israeli murder of Palestinian schoolchildren, is not attacking Arabs and Muslims, or is not intimidating university professors in Middle Eastern studies, one would find him exercising his racism and extremism in his most recent project, Islamist Watch. The Middle East Forum website has been carrying a job announcement – the director for the forum’s new ‘Islamist Watch’ project. This project will add new weapons to Pipes’ long campaign against Islam and Islamists…. Given the years of campaigning against Islamists by Pipes, this suggests that Muslims in the US and the West are in for more hate campaigns and targeting. It is a recipe for increased paranoia, which may be what Pipes wants.”

Jihad Khazen in Dar Al-Hayat, 1 July 2006

The Sun and Nazis combine to incite anti-Muslim prejudice

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“BRITAIN’S biggest fun park has sparked a race row – with a MUSLIMS-ONLY day. Up to 28,000 are expected at Alton Towers on September 17 when there will be no music, booze or gambling. Instead there will be prayer areas, Muslim stalls and all food served will be HALAL. Organisers Islamic Leisure have billed it the First National Muslim Fun Day and tickets can only be bought through their website. Non-Muslims phoning the Staffordshire park have been refused tickets. One, George Hughes, 19, who rang up for 15 tickets for a pal’s birthday, said: ‘I couldn’t believe it. It’s the only day we can go, yet I can’t because I’m not Muslim. Can you imagine all the fuss if there was a Christians-only day?'”

The Sun, 1 July 2006

See also BNP news report, 28 June 2006  and Combat 18 discussion forum, 2 July 2006