“I have written more than 20 books and about 800 articles; 170 tapes of lectures are circulating, and I keep asking my detractors: Have you read or listened to any of my material? Can you prove your allegations? To repeat them is not to prove. Where is the evidence of my double-talk? Have you read any of the numerous articles where I call on Muslims to unequivocally condemn radical views and acts of extremism?” Tariq Ramadan replies to his accusers.
Category Archives: State Oppression
Muslim scholar condemns US decision to cancel visa
Geneva-born Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan has said he is “in shock” that he will not be able to take up a teaching post in the United States after his visa was revoked. The US State Department said it had cancelled the visa at the request of the Department of Homeland Security.
Ramadan
“Muslim WakeUp! reports that Tariq Ramadan has been denied a visa by Homeland Security, and will not take up his teaching post at Notre Dame…. this a shameful, terrible decision, which will have wide ranging implications in American (alleged) attempts to reach Muslim moderates. When the United States attacks Islamist moderates like this, it does Osama bin Laden’s work for him. Well done.”
British MPs regret discrimination against Muslims
Senior British parliamentarians admitted anti-terrorism laws are being used “disproportionately” against Muslims, as the community members feel increasing persecuted after a wave of arrests and hostile media campaign.
The Labour peer Lord Judd, a committee member, said that the arrests of a dozen young men on Tuesday, August 3, underlined fears that anti-terrorism legislation of 2001 discriminated against Muslims, The Independent reported on Thursday, August 5.
“That is a worrying situation in terms of the confidence of Islamic citizens in Britain that they are not all under suspicion,” Judd told the BBC.
This came as the Parliament Joint Committee on Human Rights warned in a statement that the Terrorism Act of 2000, which allows the indefinite detention of foreign nationals without trial, could have a “corrosive” long-term effect on human rights in Britain.
There was “discrimination inherent” in the Act, said the committee, saying that the government was forced to derogate – or opt out – of its international human rights obligations.
“We also note there is mounting evidence the powers under the Terrorism Act [of 2000] are being used disproportionately against members of the Muslim community,” it added.
UK Muslims react to terror raids
As police continue to detain a dozen young men arrested in anti-terrorism raids across the UK, Britain’s Muslim community has reacted with dismay.
Detaining the men, all of Asian origin, has prompted complaints in some Muslim circles that they are being unfairly singled out.
Fewer than one in five of the more than 500 people – most of them Muslim – arrested under terrorism laws since September 11, 2001 have been charged with a terrorist offence, according to government figures.
London conference defends hijab, declares solidarity day
The pro-hijab conference held Monday, July 12, at the Greater London Authority, announced an international hijab solidarity day and an action plan to defend the right of Muslim women to take on the headscarf.
Titled the Assembly for the Protection of Hijab, the conference declared September 4, 2004, an International Hijab Solidarity Day because Muslim students across Europe will be back to school by then.
Participants also pledged to rally behind young Muslim girls, who are discriminated against in their western society because of their hijab.
The conference further unveiled a plan of action to build on the recommendations of the one-day conference, calling for educating people on the importance of hijab to Muslim women through seminars and media.
Livingstone attacks French headscarf ban
Ken Livingstone yesterday hosted the first conference of a campaign to safeguard the right of Muslim women to wear the hijab or headscarf, and declared the ban in French schools the most reactionary proposal since the second world war.
London’s mayor also railed against the “demonisation” of Islam in some British newspapers – and warned that in his second term he would examine whether media organisations’ recruitment policies reflected the diversity of the community.
He was addressing the Assembly for the Protection of Hijab (known as Pro-Hijab), which holds that the right to wear the headscarf is a fundamental aspect of religious freedom.
Hijab: a woman’s right to choose
“Assembly for the Protection of Hijab ‘Pro-Hijab’ and all those associated therewith would like to note their sincere thanks and profound appreciation to all our speakers, guests, delegates and the Greater London Authority staff for the remarkable efforts that went in to making this landmark conference a reality.”
Assembly for the Protection of Hijab (Pro-Hijab) statement, 12 July 2004
Rise in police searches of Asians
The number of people from Asian backgrounds stopped and searched by police has increased by 300% since the Terrorism Act 2000 came into force. Home Office figures for England and Wales show that in 2002/2003 nearly 3,000 Asians were stopped and searched. The total number of stop and searches under terror laws more than doubled in 2002/2003 from 8,550 to 21,577. Muslim groups have criticised the rise, saying it showed prejudice and “Islamophobia” were evident.
Women vow to protect Muslim hijab
Muslim women have launched a Europe-wide campaign to protect their right to wear the hijab headscarf.
The international network Assembly for the Protection of Hijab, or Pro-Hijab, was formed in response to headscarf bans in France and parts of Germany. Pro-Hijab aims to reverse bans already brought in and prevent more “abuses of democracy” being imposed.
“As Muslims we are proud of the hijab, we are not oppressed,” said co-ordinator Abeer Pharaon.
The group, launched in London on Monday, wants to banish the “negative sterotypical image of the hijab which lies at the root of this discrimination” and to offer Muslim women a platform from which they can speak out.
The group has the support of a number of prominent groups such as the Muslim Association of Britain, National Assembly Against Racism, the Federation of Islamic Organisations in Europe and human rights group Liberty.
MEP Caroline Lucas, Fiona McTaggart MP, and George Galloway MP and London Mayor Ken Livingstone have also supported the founding of the campaign.