Category Archives: State Oppression

Scrap the Human Rights Act and ban Hizb ut-Tahrir, says Cameron

Posted on by Bob Pitt

David CameronResponding to Eliza Manningham-Buller’s speech, Tory leader David Cameron makes his recommendations for countering the threat of terrorism: “… we need to change our attitude to human rights. The Human Rights Act was a new Labour flagship but its totemic status has made ministers unwilling to acknowledge how much it is hampering the fight against terrorism.”

Cameron also advocates “a much more rigorous approach to combating Islamic fundamentalism. The government seems confused as to what fundamentalism actually is. On the one hand ministers – perfectly reasonably – express concern about women who wear the veil while teaching. On the other hand they pay for extremist preachers of hate such as Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who supports suicide bombings, to attend conferences. We need to embrace genuinely moderate Muslims…. Those who distance themselves from terrorism while seeking to radicalise young Muslims into despising the West are part of the problem. Groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir should be banned.”

Sunday Times, 12 November 2006

As Osama Saeed points out, here Cameron rejects one of Manningham-Buller’s own points – that it is a mistake to “confuse fundamentalism with terrorism”.

Rolled Up Trousers, 12 November 2006

Muslims thrown off flight

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Cops marched four Asian men off a plane after a passenger said their behaviour made him nervous. The men – in Islamic robes – were arguing in a foreign language and then all went to the toilet, one after the other. A fellow traveller on the Luton to Glasgow easyJet flight demanded they be kicked off – just as the plane was to taxi to the runway. Cabin crew alerted the captain and cops were called, who took the men, all in their 20s, off the plane.

Everyone else on board was then ordered off with their hand luggage while the crew searched the cabin. The jet took off an hour and ten minutes late at 10pm on Wednesday.

Another passenger said: “A Scottish bloke in his 20s who was sat beside them clearly thought something was up. He was arguing strongly that these lads were up to no good and should be taken off. Considering they had just got on a minute before, their behaviour was pretty bizarre. I think other people were worried. The men were all wearing jackets over long Islamic robes. They had beards and looked like Muslims.”

The Sun, 10 November 2006

Netherlands moves toward total ban on Muslim veils

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Netherlands may become the first European country to ban Muslim face veils after its government pledged yesterday to outlaw the wearing in public spaces of the niqab, or veil, and the burka, or full-length cloak covering the head.

The right-leaning coalition said last night that it would look for a way to outlaw the wearing of all Muslim face veils. The grounds for a ban were laid last December when parliament voted in favour of a proposal to criminalise face coverings, as part of a security measure proposed by a far-right politician, Geert Wilders.

Rita Verdonk, the immigration minister, signalled that the government would now push for a total ban, even though the legislation would be likely to contravene Dutch religious freedom laws.

“The cabinet finds the wearing of a burka undesirable … but cannot at present enforce a total ban,” the Dutch news agency ANP quoted her as saying after a cabinet meeting.

Ms Verdonk suggested that existing legislation which limits the wearing of burkas and other full-body coverings on public transport and in schools did not go far enough, and that the cabinet would discuss as wide a ban as possible in the coming week.

“The government will search for the possibility to provide a ban,” her spokeswoman told the Reuters news agency.

Guardian, 11 November 2006

Tycoon wants extremists targeted

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A leading Muslim businessman has called on the government to be more “heavy-handed” when tackling extremism. Sir Gulam Noon said protests from human rights activists should be resisted in some cases to prevent another terror attack in the UK. He said extremism was a “monster of our making” and that some Muslim preachers were “brainwashing” young people.

Sir Gulam, a major Labour party donor, has advised the government on Muslim matters and was knighted in 2002. Writing in the Independent newspaper, Sir Gulam welcomed government measures against extremism and said they came “not before time”. He said Muslims, especially parents, must do more to stop the “indoctrination” of young people.

BBC News, 8 November 2006

See also Independent, 8 November 2006

We won’t become spies for the state, says UCU leader

Posted on by Bob Pitt

We won’t become spies for the state

By Paul Mackney

Morning Star, 1 November 2006

SOMETIMES, you wake up to the Today programme and have to pinch yourself because it seems as though you’re stuck in a nightmare. Labour ministers have been queuing up to parade their political virility on questions of race and Islam – all in the name of democracy.

Home Secretary John Reid started it off by enjoining Muslim parents to shop their children to the police. That’s understandable. After all, if there’s “something of the night” about Michael Howard, there’s something of the dawn raid about Reid.

Then, Jack Straw, undoubtedly the best home secretary in terms of race relations, pitched in with the suggestion that Muslim women remove their full-face veils at his surgery.

Next, Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell voiced his support for Imperial College London’s ban on students wearing the veil and suggested that it should be extended to cover lecturers. Gordon Brown explained that this helped “integration.”

Now, the Department for Education and Skills is preparing draft advice to universities and colleges on recognising Islamist extremists and alerting Special Branch.

The University and College Union is concerned that members may be sucked into anti-Muslim McCarthyism, with serious consequences for academic freedom and civil liberties.

The state cannot expect academics to monitor what Muslims say in seminars or download in libraries. Indeed, they could be subject to disciplinary action for discrimination.

Furthermore, DfES proposals to vet student societies suggest that Islamic separatism, enflamed by inspirational leaders, leads to “radicalisation” in a supposedly unstoppable sequence that ends in terrorism.

Radicalisation is not caused by cultural segregation. The Muslim community is at the bottom of the British social pile and you don’t have to be the head of the British army to know that foreign policy in Iraq and Afghanistan exacerbates frustrations.

But, for Tony Blair, such an explanation is unthinkable. So, the search for a cause ends up casting blame on Islam itself.

The distinction between radicalisation and terrorism is blurred in a way that could prove counterproductive. Radicalism is not terrorism and identifying the former gives no-one the right to contact Special Branch.

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CPS rules out Forest Gate child porn charges

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Prosecutors have advised police not to bring child pornography charges against the man who was shot by police during a counter-terrorist raid earlier this year, it was announced tonight. A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman said Mohammed Abdul Kahar would face no charges over allegations that 44 indecent images had been found on electronic equipment at his home.

Mr Kahar, 23, was shot in the shoulder when 250 police officers raided properties in Lansdown Road, Forest Gate, in east London, in June. He was freed without charge after a week of questioning by anti-terror officers at the high-security Paddington Green police station.

In a statement tonight, Mr Mohammed Kahar’s family said: “Kahar was first shot, and then very publicly accused of things he knew nothing of and of which he is completely innocent. We cannot help but observe that there was a never-ending avalanche of leaked stories to the press. We have the right to expect that a proper inquiry be made of who provided the stories and why.”

Guardian, 27 October 2006

See also Lenin’s Tomb, 27 October 2006

Right wing Christians and secularists join in condemnation of Rowan Williams

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anger Over Church BackingThe Archbishop of Canterbury prompted anger yesterday by putting Muslim veils on an equal footing with Christian crosses.

Britain’s most senior churchman, Dr Williams, said talk of banning the full-face niqab reminded him of China, where the state controls all religious life. He said: “The ideal of a society where no visible public signs of religion would be seen – no crosses around necks, no sidelocks, turbans or veils – is a politically dangerous one.”

But Stephen Green, the national director of fundamentalist group Christian Voice, said Dr Williams appeared to be ranking Islam alongside Christianity. He said: “We Christians should be more ready to stand up and be counted. We have to say that our faith is a world view and it’s not just something we do on a Sunday.”

Alison Ruoff, a member of the CofE General Synod, said: “The Archbishop should be standing up for the Christian faith in a much more visible way. He should be making a more public stand for Christianity and not for other religions.” Roy McCloughry, director of evangelical think-tank the Kingdom Trust, said: “The veil is not a religious issue – it is a cultural issue.”

Terry Sanderson, vice-president of the National Secular Society, which campaigns against all religious interference in non-believers’ lives, said: “Minority religions are now demanding a place at the table. Dr Williams is using phony arguments. Comparing ministers’ criticism of veils in Britain with what goes on in China is ridiculous. He’s running a hare that does not exist. There is no ban on veils in this country.”

Daily Express, 28 October 2006

Battle lines have been drawn

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The battle lines have been drawn. First human rights were thrown out of the window by targeting all Muslims as terror suspects. Then there has been the curtailing of the freedom of speech and right to demonstrate by invoking new laws and proposals to spy on Islamic and Muslim groups, including at universities.

“It would appear that the other democratic principle of tolerance is to be prised away in Britain. Should we now expect that the next step will be a new British version of The House Un-American Activities Committee during McCarthyism that blacklists all Muslims?

“The most dangerous path clearly spelt out by the Prime Minister is that the real intent is the sinister attempt somehow to change Islam and its basic tenets. The Government’s offer of a genuine ‘dialogue and open debate’ has proved to be nothing more than a façade as it has not shown the slightest inclination to listen, but rather, it is clear it wants brow-beat the Muslim community and force its own agenda upon it.”

Editorial in the Muslim News, 27 October 2006