Category Archives: State Oppression

Tories protest HT’s use of Alexandra Palace

Posted on by Bob Pitt

HizbA controversial Islamic group accused of being anti-Semitic hate mongers and condoning the murder of gay people recently held a conference at Alexandra Palace in north London, to the disgust of local Conservatives. Thousands of Hizb ut-Tahrir supporters gathered for the conference on how to realise the Khilafah – a global Islamic state.

Last month, Conservative leader David Cameron asked Prime Minister Gordon Brown why the group was not proscribed in the UK. Mr Cameron said: “People simply won’t understand why an organisation urging people to kill all Jews hasn’t been banned.”

Justin Hinchcliffe, of Haringey Conservatives, told the Muswell Hill Times: “Hizb ut-Tahrir is a fascist-Islamic organisation. Jihad (holy war), anti-Semitism, homophobia and misogyny are what it stands for. If Labour wants to be tough on terrorism it should ban such hateful groups instead of eroding the civil liberties of the law-abiding majority. Meanwhile, the bosses at Alexandra Palace should be ashamed of themselves. Clearly, they have placed profit above ethics, community relations, security and common sense. We don’t want these hate-mongers in Haringey.”

Inayat Bunglawala, assistant secretary general of The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), told the Muswell Hill Times he did not believe banning the group was the answer but that the MCB strongly disagree with the group’s position of non-participation in the UK electoral process. “The best way is surely to challenge some of their ideas and show clearly why integration and greater participation in the mainstream political process is a more fruitful path for all concerned.”

Pink News, 14 August 2007

German court upholds hijab ban for female Muslim teachers

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An administrative court in the western city of Duesseldorf upheld a hijab ban for female Muslim teachers, news reports said Tuesday.

The court dismissed the complaint of a 52-year-old Muslim teacher and thus confirmed the hijab ban which came into effect in June 2006. The judges argued that wearing the hijab was a religious avowal and violated state neutrality rules in schools. The plaintiff is to appeal the verdict.

Several German states have enacted tough anti-hijab laws which many Muslims view as a violation of their constitutional right to exercise religious freedom. There is no formal hijab ban in Germany, although German federal states are allowed to ban Muslim state employees with headscarves, provided the states have the required legislation on the books, according to a ruling by the nation`s highest court.

IRNA, 14 August 2007

See also Reuters, 14 August 2007

Guantánamo man’s family release torture dossier

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A British resident held by the US as an alleged terrorist has claimed his captors repeatedly tortured him, subjecting him to beatings, sexual abuse and threats of execution.

Omar Deghayes, 37, is one of five British residents who the United Kingdom government last week asked the US to release from Guantanámo Bay, after years of refusing to help them because they were not UK citizens.

Yesterday the family of Mr Deghayes decided to release a detailed dossier of alleged torture which the former law student dictated to a lawyer who visited him in the Cuban internment camp.

Guardian, 11 August 2007

Guantánamo inmates could finally go free

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Guantanamo inmatesHuman rights activists congratulated the Brown government on Tuesday for requesting the return of five British residents being detained at the US concentration camp at Guantánamo Bay. The Foreign Office and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith have announced that they will request the return to Britain of Jamil el-Banna, Omar Deghayes, Shaker Abdur Raheem Aamer, Binyam Mohammed and Abdennour Sameur. Foreign Secretary David Miliband has written to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to formally make the request.

Amnesty International campaigns director Tim Hancock called on the government to “move quickly. We’ve been saying for several years that Britain should have been seeking the fair trial or safe release of the British residents imprisoned at Guantánamo,” Mr Hancock pointed out. “Guantánamo is a travesty of justice and it’s important that the government starts speaking out about the hundreds of men who are still held there – they must not become Guantánamo’s forgotten prisoners,” he insisted.

Omar Deghayes’s sister Amina said that she was “getting mixed messages” and would not be able to celebrate until her brother is back in Britain. “Some people are telling me he is definitely coming back, but others are saying that they may not be successful for a while,” Ms Deghayes reported.

The British government has admitted that negotiations with Washington “may take some time.” US ambassador to London Robert Tuttle vowed to “study the request to release them very seriously and get back with all due, deliberate speed.”

Mr Aamer’s father-in-law Saeed Ahmed Siddique said that his family felt let down by the government because it had taken so long to seek his release. “The government should have done more because all his family members, his wife and four children are British nationals and it is not fair to separate a husband from his family,” Mr Siddique noted. “His youngest child has never seen his father. It’s not justice,” he added.

Progressive legal firm Reprieve, which has represented all five men in their challenges to their illegal detention, hailed “a significant change in British policy.” It noted that, until now, the British government had refused to intervene and had been standing in the way of cleared British residents – such as Mr el-Banna, who is the father of five British children – being allowed to return home to their families.

Reprieve legal director Clive Stafford Smith applauded the Brown government “on a huge step in the right direction. At last we are seeing an ethical foreign policy – action rather than words,” Mr Stafford Smith said. He added that, when the British government enforces human rights, “we have some chance of healing the rift with the Islamic world.”

Morning Star, 8 August 2007

Dutch far-right MP calls for Koran ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

geert_wildersDutch populist MP Geert Wilders Wednesday called for a ban on the Koran in the Netherlands, describing the Islamic holy book as a “fascist” text that exhorts followers to kill and rape. The Dutch government swiftly condemned Wilders’ remarks as damaging for community relations in the Netherlands and said that the proposal was unworthy of consideration.

“It has to be perfectly clear that banning the Koran in the Netherlands is not up for discussion for this government and will not be up for discussion in future. We have freedom or religion here,” integration minister Ella Vogelaar, said in a statement. Vogelaar described Wilders’ call as “an insult to the majority of Muslims in the Netherlands and abroad who reject calls to hate and violence.”

The leader of the far-right Freedom Party, which holds nine of the 150 seats in parliament, called for the ban in a letter published in the De Volkskrant newspaper. Wilders compared the Koran to Adolf Hitler’s autobiography Mein Kampf and said that it has “no place in our constitutional state.”

“I have been saying this for years: there is no such thing as a moderate Islam,” Wilders wrote, adding that there were several chapters in the Koran “that call on Muslims to oppress, persecute, or kill Christians, Jews, dissidents, and non-believers, to beat and rape women, and to establish an Islamic state by force.”

Wilders wrote the letter after a weekend attack on young local politician Eshan Jami who founded a group to support people who have renounced Islam. Jami, who was not visibly injured in the attack, is now under constant police protection like Wilders.

“Ban this wretched book like Mein Kampf is banned! Send a signal to Jami’s attackers and other Islamic radicals that the Koran cannot be used in the Netherlands as an inspiration or an excuse for violence,” Wilders said.

“I am fed up with Islam in the Netherlands: no more Muslim immigrants allowed. I am fed up with the worship of Allah and Mohammed in the Netherlands: no more mosques,” he finished his letter.

Middle East Times, 8 August 2007

Thousands more are stopped and searched after car bomb plot

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Stop and SearchPolice are stopping 366 people every day in London under stringent anti-terror powers described by the official security legislation watchdog as “a significant intrusion into personal liberties”.

The number of random checks carried out in the capital increased fivefold to almost 11,000 last month in the aftermath of attempted car bomb attacks, when the threat level was raised to severe.

Scotland Yard said yesterday that it was encouraging beat officers to use their stop-and-search powers more often and more widely to deter further terrorist attacks. Commander Rod Jarman predicted “an increase in overt counter-terrorism activities by the police over the coming months”.

Scotland Yard said that 54 per cent of those stopped last month were white, compared with a 71 per cent white population in Greater London. The proportion of people of Asian ethnicity stopped was 24 per cent – double the percentage in the capital’s population.

Inayat Bunglawala, assistant secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: “It is perhaps unsurprising that we have seen this massive increase in the number of stop-and-searches carried out in the immediate aftermath of the attempted car bomb attacks in June. However, questions remain regarding the actual effectiveness of such a strategy based on disruption – given the very low number of charges brought as a result – and whether it is actually doing more harm than good.”

Gareth Crossman, of Liberty, said: “Thousands of Terrorism Act stop-and-searches have produced hardly a single terrorism arrest. When not targeted against specific threats, Section 44 undermines community relations and wastes police resources.”

Times, 7 August 2007

Schools are run by Islamic group Blair pledged to ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Shiv Malik continues the witch-hunt of Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Sunday Times, 5 August 2007

See also the article in the Sunday Times Review by Tory shadow home secretary David Davis, which falsely accuses Hizb ut-Tahrir of sympathising with the recent terrorist attacks in Glasgow and London (read HT statement here) and concludes by asking us to “expect further calls to ban it”. No prizes for guessing where those calls will come from.

Trampling on democratic rights

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Four 20-year-old Bradford University students and a 19-year-old school student were jailed after a trial at the Old Bailey for being found with material said to be ‘glorifying Islamic terrorism’ on their computers. Aitzaz Zafar, Usman Malik and Awaab Iqbaal were jailed for three years each, Akbar Butt was jailed for 27 months and the school student, Mohammed Irfan Raja was given two years’ youth detention.

“Such is the atmosphere created by politicians and the media after the attempted terror bombings in London and Glasgow earlier this month that there was very little opposition in the media to what are police state measures – the jailing of these youths merely for downloading material readily available on the Internet….

“There is clearly some disquiet in establishment circles at the way democratic rights are being trampled on in such cases. David Livingstone, an associate fellow in international security at Chatham House, home of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, appeared as a witness for the defence at the trial. He told the Today programme that there was no evidence that the five had planned to instigate a terrorist attack. ”

Chris Talbot at the World Socialist Web Site, 31 July 2007

It’s also worth comparing the treatment of these youth with that received by far-right extremist Robert Cottage who didn’t just download files from the internet but was actually caught in possession of the materials required to manufacture explosives.

Smith told to stop dithering over prisoner

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Smith told to stop ditheringSmith told to stop dithering over prisoner

By Louise Nousratpour

Morning Star, 27 July 2007

THE High Court ordered Home Secretary Jacqui Smith yesterday to stop dithering and decide whether a British resident being freed from Guantanamo Bay can return to live in Britain by August 9.

Campaigners urged the minister to act swiftly to allow Jamil el-Banna’s return and also to demand that the US release at least five other British residents who have been held for several years at the torture camp.

Mr Justice Beatson gave Ms Smith until 4pm on that date to either revoke Jamil el-Banna’s refugee status or confirm that he will be allowed to return and live with his wife and children – all of whom are British nationals – in London.

The judge set the deadline as he gave Mr el-Banna’s solicitors permission to seek judicial review of the government’s failure to confirm that he will be allowed to return.

The Home Secretary did not oppose the application.

Legal justice campaign Reprieve, whose members have represented British detainees in Guantanamo, welcomed the High Court decision.

Senior counsel Zachary Katznelson said: “The Americans say Mr el-Banna is not a threat to anyone. All Britain has to do now is say he can come home to his wife and children. What are they waiting for?”

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