Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

Progress apologises to Sir Iqbal

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sir Iqbal Sacranie: Correction and Apology

On the 21st August 2009 Progress published an article titled “It’s time to end the cultural appeasement“. This article suggested that Sir Iqbal Sacranie had never been elected to “anything, not even a parish council”. Sir Iqbal has contacted us through his lawyers, Carter-Ruck, and asked us to point out that in fact he:

“was elected as the founding Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), when it was established in 1997. He was re-elected to the role twice in 2002 and 2003 by the 60 or so elected members making up the Central Working Committee. Under the MCB’s constitution, only elected members of the Central Working Committee can assume the role of Secretary General, so our client had first to be elected to this committee by the General Assembly (consisting of delegates from all the affiliates of the MCB, which is in the region of 500 national, regional and local bodies).

“Sir Iqbal has also been elected to various other positions. By way of example only, he was elected to his position as Chairman of Muslim Aid in 2008, he was elected to the position of Chair of the Executive Committee of Memon Association UK, he was elected to the position of Deputy President of World Memon Organisation, and he was elected to his position as Chair of the Management Committee of Balham Mosque and Tooting Islamic Centre.”

We have amended the article, and would like to apologise to Sir Iqbal Sacranie for the offence caused.

Progress Online, 21 October 2009

Groom at centre of Fitzpatrick wedding row joins Respect

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Groom joins RespectThe groom at the centre of the storm over Muslim weddings, Bodrul Islam, spoke out about his anger at MP Jim Fitzpatrick.

“He likened my wedding to the racial segregation, the apartheid, of the Deep South. I am disgusted at this degenerate politics and these insults,” said Mr Islam. “I am announcing today that I am joining the Respect Party. It is the only party standing up against racism and prejudice. And I am pledging my support for George Galloway as he seeks to replace Jim Fitzpatrick as the MP for Poplar and Limehouse.”

Mr Islam continued, “Neither I nor my wife are particularly traditional in our attitudes but we wanted to show respect to our elders and our parents who expect that men and women should be separated in the wedding ceremony. We did everything we could to accommodate Mr Fitzpatrick when we heard he had left the wedding and we were given to understand he was not upset. Imagine our dismay when days later he issued a condemnatory press release and followed it up with a press conference saying he wanted to outlaw what he likes to call segregation at weddings”.

George Galloway and Councillor Abjol Miah welcomed Mr Islam to the party, George thanked him for his pledge of support and Councillor Miah invited him to put himself forward as a candidate for Respect in the forthcoming council elections.

George Galloway went on to attack Fitzpatrick for dangerously pandering to prejudice. “Fitzpatrick is fanning the flames of hate, as the Advertiser correctly described it. He says he wants to outlaw ‘forced’ segregation. But no-one is forcing anyone to go to a wedding. The law he proposes would in fact make weddings where the sexes are separated illegal and would also probably lead to many other events being made illegal, such as women only swimming. The proposal is both dangerous and absurd.”

Asian Image, 21 October 2009

See also Respect news report, 20 October 2009

Hindu groups slam BNP claims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Hindu groups across the country have united to slam claims made by BNP leader Nick Griffin that British Hindus support the policies of the BNP. In a joint statement the Hindu Council UK, National Council of Hindu Temples and City Hindus Network said they were against what the BNP stood for.

Mr Griffin made his claims during an interview on Sky News’ Sunday Live with Adam Boulton. The BNP leader was speaking after pledging to lift a bar on non-whites joining the party in response to court action by The Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Speaking to Adam Boulton he claimed: “A large number of the settled ethnic minority population, Sikhs, Hindus and so on, are actually very much in favour of the British National Party’s stance about stopping any further immigration.”

The claim, however, was denied. In a joint statement, Dr Rao, Chair of the Hindu Council UK, Sanjay Jagatia, General Secretary of the National Council of Hindu Temples, and Dhruv Patel, Chair of the City Hindus Network hit back at Mr Griffin.

“The claim made by Nick Griffin that Hindus back BNP is totally without foundation,” the statement said. “Hindu Council UK, the National Council of Hindu Temples and City Hindus Network have had no contact with the BNP and as a peaceful law abiding community we do not agree with Nick Griffin’s views or policies. We would also like to reiterate that we totally condemn all forms racism and religious intolerance.”

The Asian Today, 20 October 2009

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MPs investigate anti-extremism programme after spying claims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A powerful committee of MPs is likely to hold a formal hearing into allegations that a government anti-extremism programme is being used to gather information on innocent Muslims.

The home affairs select committee meets on Tuesday and will discuss widening its inquiry into the £140m Preventing Violent Extremism scheme, also known as Prevent.

The hearing follows a Guardian investigation that revealed allegations that the programme, whose public aim is to prevent Muslims from being lured into violent extremism, is being used to gather intelligence about innocent people not suspected of involvement in terrorism.

Guardian, 19 October 2009

Quilliam on Prevent: the wrong diagnosis

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Not only is it morally reprehensible to treat responsible and law-abiding Muslim citizens as a subversive threat, it is also hugely counter-productive. If ministers continue to follow Ed Husain’s advice they will begin to jeopardise social cohesion as well as effective and legitimate counter-terrorism in the UK.”

Jonathan Githens-Mazer and Robert Lambert at Comment is Free, 19 October 2009

Welsh Defence League cancels protest in Newport

Posted on by Bob Pitt

WDL SwanseaA protest planned by the Welsh Defence League in Newport this weekend has been cancelled, police said today.

The demonstration, which was supposed to voice objections to the conversion of a church in Victoria Road into a mosque and multi-faith community centre, had been due to take place on Saturday. But Gwent police confirmed today they had been informed it will no longer go ahead. A counter-protest is still thought to be taking place.

South Wales Argus, 19 October 2009

BBC reporters highlight racism on Bristol estate

Posted on by Bob Pitt

PanoramaTwo BBC reporters of South Asian origin who lived for eight weeks on a housing estate in Bristol, posing as a married Muslim couple with limited English, were racially abused more than 50 times, a documentary will show tonight. The edition of Panorama, titled Hate on the Doorstep, also features the pair suffering physical assault.

Reporter Amil Khan, who was pretending to be a part-time painter and decorator, was punched in the head by a local man. Tamanna Rahman, who wore a hijab headscarf and acted as if she spoke very little English, was pelted with stones and glass and on one occasion an 11-year-old boy tried to steal her purse, threatening to kill her.

Using secret cameras, Rahman and Khan filmed themselves being abused regularly, both for their race – “Paki” was a common term of abuse – and over their religion, with a number of jibes used related to terrorism, including “Taliban” and “jihad”. A good deal of the abuse on the estate is shown to come from children and teenagers, although adults are also involved.

BBC News, 19 October 2009

Watch programme here

‘Spying on Muslims’ – discussion on the Islam Channel

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The topic for this evening’s Politics and Media slot on the Islam Channel (Sky 813) at 7pm is ‘Spying on Muslims’. The programme is presented by Salma Yaqoob and the studio guests are:

Arun Kundnani – author of Spooked: how not to prevent violent extremism, published by the Institute of Race Relations; Vikram Dodd – Crime Reporter, Guardian; and Dr Daud Abdullah – Deputy Secretary General, Muslim Council of Britain and Chair, Middle East Monitor (MEMO).

Dr Jonathan Githens-Mazer – Senior lecturer in politics, University of Exeter, currently researching political mobilisation amongst British Muslims – will join the discussion by phone.

The Home Office has been invited to send a spokesperson.