Author Archives: Bob Pitt

CIA given details of British Muslim students

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Personal information concerning the private lives of almost 1,000 British Muslim university students is to be shared with US intelligence agencies in the wake of the Detroit bomb scare.

The disclosure has outraged Muslim groups and students who are not involved in extremism but have been targeted by police and now fear that their names will appear on international terrorist watch lists. So far, the homes of more than 50 of the students have been visited by police officers, but nobody has been arrested. The case has raised concerns about how the police use the data of innocent people and calls into question the heavy-handed treatment of Muslim students by UK security agencies.

Independent, 1 April 2010

Muslim leaders ‘failing to tackle extremists’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslim leaders have been criticised by a University of Oxford academic for not doing enough to tackle extremists. Nick Chatrath, a researcher at Oxford’s Faculty of Oriental Studies, claims in a paper to be published this week that in the face of growing radicalisation in Britain, Muslim leaders are ignoring extremists’ points of view and glossing over some of the more unsavoury parts of Islam’s ancient texts.

In an essay in next month’s Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Mr Chatrath called for a more open engagement by moderate Muslims with the arguments of extremists.

Based on interviews with Anjem Choudary, of the banned extremist group Islam4UK, and Dr Musharraf Hussain, an adviser to the Muslim Council of Britain, Mr Chatrath said: “Moderate Muslim leaders are doing a poor job of tackling extremism in Britain.” He said that extremists such as Mr Choudary, who has argued that democracy should be replaced with obedience to Allah, were using the Koran and other ancient texts to justify their actions. He called on moderate community leaders to do more to counter this.

“This attitude must change, as the best way to extinguish extremist arguments is to deal with them out in the open, not just sweep them under the carpet and hope for the best,” he said. “Some recent polls suggest ordinary British Muslims are becoming more sympathetic to extremists, and this could be related to the way moderate Muslims are ignoring the extremist threat.”

Times, 30 March 2010

See also Jihad Watch, 30 March 2010

Fox baselessly suggests Muslim scholars are ‘terrorists’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Fox & Friends baselessly suggested that Muslim scholars Tariq Ramadan and Adam Habib – who were both denied entry into the United States under the Bush administration but had the ban lifted by the Obama administration – are “terrorists.” However, both have denied engaging in terrorist activity, neither was ever charged with any crime, and media accounts have noted that they “were denied admittance after making statements counter to U.S. foreign policy.”

Media Matters for America, 30 March 2010

Cordoba Foundation welcomes Select Committee report on Prevent

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Cordoba FoundationThe Cordoba Foundation (TCF) welcomes the publication yesterday of the Communities and Local Government (CLG) Select Committee report on its enquiry into the Government’s Prevent program, which concluded that Prevent “stigmatized and alienated those it is most important to engage with, and tainted many positive community cohesion projects”.

Anas Altikriti, TCF Chief Executive said “the report puts credibility to what a lot of community leaders have been saying all along about rising distrust and suspicion about the Prevent program, namely allegations of spying on Muslims and the specific targeting of the Muslim community”.

After the initial allegations emerged as a result of investigations carried out by the Institute of Race Relations, TCF convened a roundtable in October 2009 at the House of Lords where prominent academics, human rights groups, community leaders and experts discussed their concerns which were later forwarded to Dr Phyllis Starkey, chair of the select committee. “We are happy that we were able to contribute some of our concerns and suggestions to the CLG Select Committee” said Altikriti.  Moreover, “the proposed independent review of Prevent operations is a welcome sign and will improve confidence in the community”, added Altikriti.

TCF supports some of the recommendations that were made by the committee to the Government which includes:

  • Research on risk factors for radicalization;
  • Investments to tackle socio-economic deprivation;
  • Avoiding interference in theological matters;
  • Need for the Government to engage with those who demonstrate a desire to promote greater understanding, cohesion and integration.

In the light of the upcoming elections, it is hoped that these recommendations will be taken forward by the new Government in a bid to repair damage done to community cohesion through the Prevent program.

Cordoba Foundation press release, 31 March 2010

Hundreds gather for East End discussion on Islamaphobia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Hundreds of people gathered for a seminar on ‘poisonous’ anti-Muslim hatred organised by the Islamic Forum of Europe.

The event was held at the London Muslim Centre in Whitechapel last night and the IFE estimate that it attracted 700 people to hear a discussion about hate crimes against Muslims and the portrayal of Islam in the media.

The discussion also looked at ways of tackling extremism in all sections of society, including the far right.

Speakers included Dr. Robert Lambert, former head of Scotland Yard’s Muslim Contact Unit, Oliver McTernan, Director of Forward Thinking and Senior Associate Fellow of the UK Defence Academy, Neil Jameson, Lead Organiser of London Citizens, Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow George Galloway and Conservative London Assembly member Andrew Boff.

The IFE president Musleh Faradhi said: “Islamophobia is an issue which we can’t ignore. This is poisonous for this community. It will destroy everything that this society stands for.”

East London Advertiser, 31 March 2010

Belgian committee votes for full Islamic veil ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Belgian parliamentary committee has voted to ban face-covering Islamic veils from being worn in public.

The home affairs committee voted unanimously to endorse the move, which must be approved by parliament for it to become law. Such a vote could be held within weeks, correspondents say, meaning that Belgium could become the first European country to implement a ban.

The BBC’s Dominic Hughes reports from Brussels that there are about 500,000 Muslims in Belgium, and the Belgian Muslim Council says only a couple of dozen wear full-face veils.

Several districts of Belgium have already banned the burka in public places under old local laws originally designed to stop people masking their faces completely at carnival time.

The wording of the draft law approved by the parliamentary committee says the ban would apply to areas accessible to the public – which would include people walking in the street or using public transport – and would be enforced by fines or even prison.

Denis Ducarme, from the Belgian centre-right Reformist Movement that proposed the bill, said he was “proud that Belgium would be the first country in Europe which dares to legislate on this sensitive matter”. A colleague, Corinne De Parmentier, said: “We have to free women of this burden.”

BBC News, 31 March 2010

See “Europe’s Paranoia on Veil”, MCB press release, 31 March 2010

Thousands rally to thwart far-right march on Duisburg mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Duisburg anti-fascist demonstration

In the western German town of Duisburg, some 5,000 people took part in a peaceful demonstration on Sunday to protest against the right-wing populist Pro-NRW party.

The anti-fascist demonstrators joined a rally organized by the German trade union federation, church groups and politcal parties at the city’s Merkez Mosque – the largest mosque in Germany – which was opened in 2008.

About 150 people attending the far-right Pro-NRW event demanded a ban on minarets, like the one passed in a Swiss referendum last year. The demonstration had originally been planned as a march to the mosque.

At the same time, elsewhere in the city, a further 150 supporters of the extreme right-wing National Democratic Party of Germany (NDP) protested against the “islamization” of Germany.

A large number of police kept the demonstrators and counter-demonstrators separated. “Apart from a sit-down street blockade by about 50 protesters, who had to be carried from the road, there were no unusual events,” said police spokesman Ramon van der Maat. “Our plan worked.”

In the morning, Social Democratic Party (SPD) chairman Sigmar Gabriel had visited the mosque along with the party’s leading candidate for state elections in North Rhine Westphalia, Hannelore Kraft.

The state’s Interior Minister Ingo Wolf praised the work of the police, adding that the Pro-NRW group had originally said that 1,000 people would attend.

The fact that only 150 turned up for the event showed that “xenophobic and antidemocratic rallying cries have no place in a cosmopolitan democracy,” said Wolf.

Deutsche Welle, 29 March 2010

See also “International right-wingers gather for EU-wide minaret ban“.

MPs call for investigation into ‘spy’ allegations against Prevent

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An independent investigation should be held into allegations that a government programme aimed at preventing Muslims from being lured into violent extremism is being used to “spy” on them, a committee of MPs will say today.

The programme, called Prevent, has been dogged by controversy and is criticised on several fronts in a report published today by the communities and local government select committee, which says the programme has “stigmatised and alienated” British Muslims.

Last October the Guardian revealed Prevent was being used to gather intelligence about innocent people who are not suspected of terrorist involvement. The article was denounced as “wilfully misleading” by Alan Johnson, the home secretary.

Phyllis Starkey, the committee chair, said: “Many witnesses made plain they believe Prevent has been used to ‘spy’ on Muslim communities. The misuse of terms such as ‘intelligence gathering’ amongst Prevent partners has clearly discredited the programme and fed distrust. Information required to manage Prevent has been confused with intelligence gathering undertaken by the police to combat crime and surveillance used by the security services to actively pursue terrorism suspects.”

The committee report does not back the government’s unequivocal denunciation of the reports of spying and concludes: “We cannot ignore the volume of evidence we have seen and heard which demonstrates a continuing lack of trust of the programme amongst those delivering and receiving services. Based on the evidence we have received, it is not possible for us to take a view. If the government wants to improve confidence in the Prevent programme, it should commission an independent investigation into the allegations made.”

The all-party report says the government should stop trying to “engineer” a so-called moderate form of Islam and pay more attention to other factors leading to violent extremism, including foreign policy, the higher than average poverty rates faced by Muslims and alienation.

Guardian, 30 March 2010

Read the Communities and Local Government Committee’s report here.

See also Phyllis Starkey, “Mishandling Muslim communities”, Comment is Free, 30 March 2010

Christian nurse ‘ordered to remove crucifix… at hospital where Muslims were allowed to wear headscarves’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Christian nurse was “forced to choose between her job and her faith” after being ordered to remove her crucifix at a hospital where Muslim staff wore headscarves unchallenged, a tribunal heard yesterday.

Shirley Chaplin, 54, said she had been wearing the religious symbol around her neck without complaint for 31 years before she was ordered to hide it away. But the grandmother claims that after refusing to comply and then pointing out that two women doctors were allowed to wear headscarves, she was moved to a desk job.

Her case has caused uproar among Christian support groups,  who feel their beliefs are not being given the same respect as other faiths. At the weekend her case against the NHS was backed by seven senior Anglican bishops who issued a national letter of support.

Yesterday, on the first day of an employment tribunal, Mrs Chaplin, from Kenn, near Exeter, Devon, told of her fight to be allowed to carry on wearing the crucifix. She is claiming religious discrimination in a case backed by the Christian Legal Centre, which says her treatment is a symptom of increasing discrimination against Christians.

Daily Mail, 30 March 2010

Update:  See also “Christian nurse says NHS ‘persecuted’ her faith and favours Muslims employees”, Daily Telegraph, 31 March 2010

French PM advised against total Islamic veil ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

France’s top administrative body has advised the government that any total ban on face-covering Islamic veils could be unconstitutional. The State Council also said a ban could be justified in some public places.

Prime Minster Francois Fillon had asked the council for a legal opinion before drawing up a law on the subject. However, an MP from President Nicolas Sarkozy’s party was quoted as saying that those drafting the legislation might ignore Tuesday’s ruling.

In the ruling, the council said any law could be in violation of the French constitution as well as the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. “It appears to the State Council that a general and absolute ban on the full veil as such can have no incontestable judicial basis,” it said.

BBC News, 30 March 2010

See also Associated Press, 30 March 2010