Category Archives: Right wing

Sun pays out over ‘terror case doc’ libel

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Terror case doc works in casualtyA doctor accepted “substantial” libel damages at the high court today over false allegations in the Sun linking him to terrorism. Dr Mohammed Asha, who is based in the Midlands, launched legal action after the Sun carried a front page article last August under the heading “Terror case doc works in casualty”.

Leo Dawkins, the solicitor representing Dr Asha, told Mr Justice Eady in the high court in London today that the allegations were that “there were very strong grounds to suspect that the claimant would be involved in the future in terrorist bomb plots and was, therefore, an ongoing threat to national security”.

He added: “There is no truth in these allegations whatsoever. The article complained of was published to millions of people and has been devastating for the claimant, causing him immense damage both personally and professionally.”

Dawkins said the defendant, News Group Newspapers, the News International subsidiary that publishes the Sun, “accepted that the allegations complained of were entirely false and without foundation”. The defendant had offered to pay Dr Asha “substantial compensation and his legal costs”.

Patrick Callaghan, solicitor for NGN, told the court: “The defendant offers its sincerest apologies to Dr Asha for the damage it has caused and is pleased to set the record straight.”

Dr Asha said in a statement: “The damage caused by The Sun has been incalculable, causing both myself and my family immense hurt and distress, not to mention worries over my own personal safety. I am glad this terrible ordeal is finally over and that The Sun has apologised and agreed to pay me compensation and my legal costs.”

Press Association, 27 April 2010

See also “Dr Mohammed Asha: Apology, Sun, 3 March 2010

Respect calls for ban on EDL demonstrations

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Respect Manifesto 2010Left-wing party Respect called for a ban on demonstrations by the far-right English Defence League, as it launched its election manifesto.

Birmingham candidate Salma Yaqoob, the party’s leader, joined high-profile candidate George Galloway in London to launch the manifesto, which also includes plans for an annual anti-racism concert in every major city.

Respect says it is hoping to gain seats in Birmingham Hall Green, where Ms Yaqoob is standing, and in Poplar and Limehouse, London, where Mr Galloway is the party’s candidate.

Measures in the manifesto include a ban on demonstrations by the English Defence League (EDL), which held a protest in Dudley earlier this month that put the town into lockdown.

The EDL, which has also held demonstrations in Birmingham which descended into violence, says it is opposed to Islamic extremism. Critics accuse it of having links to the far-right and claim it is simply opposed to Islam and Muslims in general.

The Respect manifesto also includes plans for annual anti-racism concerts in every major city in the country, based on London’s annual Rise anti-racism festival, which ran from 1996 to 2008.

Birmingham Post, 27 April 2010

See also Respect news release, 26 April 2010

Jack Straw apologises for 2006 ‘veil’ comments

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Take Off Your VeilAs the burqa debate raged in France this weekend, with the imposition of the first instant fine to a woman found wearing the burqa in a public place in Nantes, here in the UK former Justice Minister, Jack Straw, publicly apologised for having sparked controversy in October 2006 over making public his views that he would prefer Muslim women not to wear a face veil – or niqab – when visiting his MP’s surgery.

At a pre-election hustings event organised in Blackburn yesterday (Sunday 25th April) by ENGAGE, Jack Straw, addressing a packed hall of local Muslim residents, expressed his regret at having caused a negative media storm which he acknowledged may have adversely impacted on the Muslim community.

He said: “To be blunt, if I had realised the scale of publicity that they [his comments] received in October 2006, I wouldn’t have made them and I am sorry that it has caused problems and I offer that apology.

“Can I just say, this is about an issue of communication (you understand). I wasn’t raising it to say it [the burqa] should be banned – quite the opposite. Let me say, I’m not responsible for those in France or Germany or in this country pursuing this. That is their business. I am fundamentally opposed to what they are doing.

“But if you ask me the specific question: Do I regret the fact that it [my comments] had then got taken round the world and taken out of context? Yes of course I do and I go on seeing people – Muslim women, wearing the full veil in my constituency advice surgery. I wouldn’t dream of treating them other than with respect and I think they know from me that I do give them respect and I give them as much help as I give anybody else whatever their faith. And I am really glad to have had that opportunity to clear that up.”

ENGAGE press release, 26 April 2010

See also the Daily Mail, which reports Islamophobic rentaquote Tory MP Philip Davies as saying:

“This seems like a shameless effort to muster up some Muslim votes in his constituency. Jack Straw was more than happy to milk the publicity at the time, but now he has realised that his comments have not gone down too well with is own constituents. It is pretty desperate stuff to be apologising on the eve of a General Election when he has had plenty of opportunity to do so in the past.”

This is the same Philip Davies whose response to a 2007 legal ruling that Muslim women would be allowed to wear the veil in court was: “People are entitled to see what is going on. All this pussy-footing around, judges have no comprehension of the damage they’re doing for community cohesion by coming out with this barmy stuff.”

Europe ‘too soft’ on Muslims, says Jerusalem Post

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Jerusalem Post offers its take on moves across Europe to ban the wearing of the veil:

Those who support such legislation realize that an easygoing multiculturalism works only when there are basic shared values and a willingness to integrate. But European multiculturalism has deteriorated into rudderless moral relativism and a pusillanimous reluctance to criticize radical Islamic customs for fear of being branded an Islamophobe.

Sadly, some Jewish leaders, such as Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, chief rabbi of Moscow and leader of the Conference of European Rabbis, have helped foster such unfounded fears. “Sixty-five years after the liberation of Auschwitz,” wrote Goldschmidt in the New York Times in February, in an op-ed opposing the idea of bans on the burka, “Europeans can permit themselves to be squeamish about how things start and how things, if left unabated, can end.” As a rabbi, he added, “I am made uncomfortable when any religious expression is restricted, not only my own.”

Goldschmidt has got it wrong. Europeans have a right to feel uncomfortable. But not, as Goldschmidt argues, because Europeans are being too hard on Muslims. Rather, because they are being too soft.

‘Why we object to Franklin Graham’s Islamophobia’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Let’s just face it: Franklin Graham is an Islamophobe, an anti-Muslim bigot and an international representative of the scourge of fundamentalist Christian supremacy and exceptionalism. As a result, he fails in the worst way as a role model for Constitutional American citizenship. How can Graham or anyone prejudge/brand all members of a specific culture, religion and/or ethnicity?”

Mikey Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation outlines the MRFF’s role in securing the withdrawal of the invitation to Franklin Graham to speak at the Pentagon’s National Day of Prayer on 6 May.

Weinstein reports: “Graham’s fellow fundamentalists don’t seem to be taking the defeat too well. MRFF has been literally flooded with thousands of threatening and vile hate e-mails and ugly phone calls…. One boastfully proclaims that ‘Islam is evil and anyone who practices Islam deserves to be shot on the spot’. Behold, the product of Franklin Graham’s ‘Christian love’.”

Washington Post, 26 April 2010

French government continues to incite Islamophobia over veil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The fining of a French Muslim woman for driving whilst wearing a niqab, or face veil, has somersaulted, in the space of a weekend, from political embarrassment to political windfall for President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Controversy raged yesterday after the Government alleged that the husband of the fined woman was a suspected polygamist and social security fraud with possible links to an extreme Islamist organisation. The interior minister, Brice Hortefeux, who made the allegations in a letter released to the press, was accused by moderate Muslim groups and left-wing politicians of cynical “exploitation” of the affair for political gain.

The media spotlight instantly switched over the weekend to Anne’s husband, Lies Hebbadj, 35, an Algerian-born butcher and taxi operator, said to be living in three bungalows near Nantes with his 12 children and four or maybe three, fully-veiled women.

In a letter to the immigration minister, which was released to the press, Mr Hortefeux said that “according to information at my disposal”, Mr Hebbadj belonged to a radical Islamist group called Tabligh. The minister said that Mr Hebbadj was “thought to be living in a polygamous situation with four women”. Each woman was “believed to be” claiming benefit as a single mother.

Mr Hortefeux said that he had asked for an investigation into “possible polygamy and social security fraud”. He urged the immigration minister to consider action to revoke Mr Hebbadj’s French nationality (acquired when he married Anne in 1999).

By associating the veil with extremist movements, polygamy and fraud, the government evidently hopes to seize control of a “burqa” debate which had threatened to spin out of its control. It was announced last week, after months of indecision, that the Government would use emergency procedures to push through a complete ban on the burqa (full-length veil) or niqab (detachable face veil) in public places by July.

According to an opinion poll yesterday, only 33 per cent of French people support a ban. Another 31 per cent approve of banning burqas and niqabs from public buildings like hospitals and schools. The decision to push ahead with a full ban – against official advice – has been widely interpreted in the press as an attempt by Mr Sarkozy to prop up his failing presidency by pleasing his core, hard-right supporters.

Hence the scarcely concealed Government glee at the alleged activities of Mr Hebbadj, the husband of the veiled driver of Nantes. In a statement yesterday, the combined mosques of Nantes said that all Muslims were being “stigmatised” by the “exploitation” of an “insignificant event, which is not representative of the Muslim majority”.

The mayor of Nantes, Jean-Marc Ayrault, who is the leader of the Socialist main opposition group in the National Assembly, accused the Government of “dramatising and exploiting” the affair. “This man’s situation has been known for some time to the services of the State … Why was nothing done about him? Why are they pretending to discover the facts now?” Mr Ayrault asked.

Independent, 26 April 2010

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Palin condemns cancellation of invitation to Franklin Graham

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sarah Palin offers her thoughts on the US Army’s decision towithdraw its invitation to right-wing evangelist Franklin Graham for the National Day of Prayer at the Pentagon because of his bigoted statements about Islam:

My, have things changed. I was honored to have Rev. Franklin Graham speak at my Governor’s Prayer Breakfasts. His good work in Alaska’s Native villages and his charitable efforts all over the world stem from his servant’s heart. In my years of knowing him, I’ve never found his tempered and biblically-based comments to be offensive – in fact his words have been encouraging and full of real hope.

It’s truly a sad day when such a fine patriotic man, whose son is serving on his fourth deployment in Afghanistan to protect our freedom of speech and religion, is dis-invited from speaking at the Pentagon’s National Day of Prayer service. His comments in 2001 were aimed at those who are so radical that they would kill innocent people and subjugate women in the name of religion.

Are we really so hyper-politically correct that we can’t abide a Christian minister who expresses his views on matters of faith? What a shame. Yes, things have changed.

Via Ben Smith at Politico, 23 April 2010

See also Daily Kos, 23 April 2010

Half of US Protestant ministers agree with Franklin Graham

Posted on by Bob Pitt

This week, the Pentagon dumped Franklin Graham from a May 6 National Day of Prayer event for insulting Muslims. Graham has called Islam a dangerous and evil religion.

Many of Graham’s fellow preachers agree.

That’s according to a new poll from Nashville-based LifeWay Research. The poll, conducted by Zogby, surveyed polled 1,000 Protestant ministers in early March. They were read a negative statement from Graham about Islam, followed by statement from former President George W. Bush saying Islam is a religion of peace and charity.

Forty-seven percent agreed with Graham. Twelve percent agreed with both. About a quarter of pastors agreed with Bush alone.

“This means a majority of Protestant pastors chose statements that agree with Franklin Graham’s statement,” said Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research.

The Tennessean, 23 April 2010

BNP will end ‘the Islamic colonisation of Britain’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Under the heading “Counter Jihad: Confronting the Islamic Colonisation of Britain”, the British National Party’s 2010 election manifesto features the following policies:

• The BNP is implacably opposed to the Labour/Tory regime’s mass immigration policies which, if left unchecked, will see Britain and most of Europe colonised by Islam within a few decades.

• The BNP believes that the historical record shows that Islam is by its very nature incompatible with modern secular western democracy.

• The BNP will ban the burka, ritual slaughter and the building of further mosques in Britain.

• The BNP believes that there should be absolutely no further immigration from any Muslim countries, as it presents one of the most deadly threats yet to the survival of our nation.

• We propose the immediate deportation of all radical Islamist preachers, those proven to have attended any of their inflammatory sermons, and any other members of their community who object to these reasonable security measures.

Update:  The BNP’s manifesto does have an admirer, though – Sean Gabb of the Libertarian Alliance, who declares his support for the fascists’ policies on “climate change, Europe, guns, smoking, multiculturalism, taxation, and so forth”. Gabb writes: “I think the time has come to stop denouncing the BNP for what it used to be saying, or for its alleged hidden agenda, and to start looking at what it is saying now.”

Gabb, you may recall, was one of the featured speakers at the so-called March for Free Expression in 2006, along with Peter Tatchell and Maryam Namazie.

Nick Clegg says ‘Let Islam prayer call ring’ – Express attacks Lib Dem leader

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Lib Dem leader is in favour of mosques being able to broadcast calls to prayer from loudspeakers in towns and cities across Britain. He says the Islamic “muezzin” cry should be ­allowed to ring out just like Christian church bells. He described it as “a joyful thing”.

Mr Clegg spoke out two years ago after the Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, told of a “creeping” Islamification of Britain. He also admitted that he was not a practising Christian. Tory MP Mark Pritchard said his views were “disturbing” for “someone who seeks to lead a country based on Judaeo-Christian principles”.

Daily Express, 23 April 2010

See also ENGAGE, 23 April 2010