The Mayor of Tower Hamlets replies to smears by Nick Cohen at the Spectator. Accusing Cohen of “irrational paranoia”, Lutfur Rahman writes scathingly: “I lament the passing of this country’s proud tradition of thorough, investigative journalism where hard evidence was intrinsic to a story rather than an inconvenience to be ignored.”
Category Archives: UK
Man behind plan to establish Islamic centre in Shotton is victim of arson attack
A dad fears his family could have been killed in a suspected racist arson attack which left his three young daughters terrified.
North Wales Police launched an investigation after a garage at the back of Shafiul Islam’s house in Shotton was torched early on Tuesday morning.
Britain, France and secularism
The Economist examines the contrasting approaches to the hijab and veil in France and the UK.
Race hate case against EDL co-leader dropped
An investigation into an allegation that an English Defence League leader had made racist comments on Facebook has been dropped. Kevin Carroll was arrested in January but a Bedfordshire Police spokeswoman said the case had now been dropped due to lack of evidence.
University of Nottingham stands up to far-right intimidation
The EDL/NEI protest in Sunderland wasn’t the only far-right anti-Muslim demonstration on Saturday. A number of fascist groups gathered outside the University of Nottingham to protest against the Family Retreat event being held at the conference centre over the Easter weekend, at which Haitham al-Haddad was an advertised speaker.
Man pleads guilty to leaving pig’s head outside Watford mosque
A Watford man has pleaded guilty to religiously aggravated harassment after leaving a pig’s head outside a mosque in Herefordshire on February 21.
43 year-old Karl Smith, of Gullet Wood Road, was charged with religiously aggravated harassment after leaving the animal’s head in North Jamia Watford Mosque’s car park during evening prayers.
EDL and Infidels hold anti-mosque protest in Sunderland
There was yet another far-right protest yesterday at the site of the planned mosque at Millfield in Sunderland. This one was organised by the English Defence League and the North East Infidels.
The Infidels, you may recall, originated in a split from the EDL two years ago. The EDL leadership, who at that point were still trying to maintain the pretence that they had nothing to do with fascism, denounced the Infidels as Nazis – which was an entirely accurate description.
However, following the disastrous Waltham Forest demonstration last September the EDL leadership issued an appeal for far-right unity in a desperate attempt to reverse declining numbers at its protests. As a result, demonstrations have seen increased co-operation between the EDL and the Infidels, for example at Shotton Colliery in December and in Manchester earlier this month.
The New Atheists and Islamophobia
Until 9/11, Islam didn’t figure in the New Atheists’ attacks in a prominent way. As a phenomenon with its roots in Europe, atheism has traditionally been the archenemy of Christianity, though Jews and Judaism have also slipped into the mix. But emboldened by their newfound fervor in the wake of the terrorist attacks, the New Atheists joined a growing chorus of Muslim-haters, mixing their abhorrence of religion in general with a specific distaste for Islam (In 2009, Hitchens published a book called “God Is Not Great,” a direct smack at Muslims who commonly recite the Arabic refrain Allah Akbar, meaning “God is great”). Conversations about the practical impossibility of God’s existence and the science-based irrationality of an afterlife slid seamlessly into xenophobia over Muslim immigration or the practice of veiling. The New Atheists became the new Islamophobes, their invectives against Muslims resembling the rowdy, uneducated ramblings of backwoods racists rather than appraisals based on intellect, rationality and reason.
Nathan Lean, author of The Islamophobia Industry: How the Right Manufactures Fear of Muslims, skewers Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens.
East London Mosque opens doors to non-Muslims
The East London Mosque is opening its doors to non-Muslims in an attempt to promote a better understanding of Islam and what goes on inside the building.
Members of the local community are invited to take a look inside the mosque, observe prayers and ask questions about the religion, however challenging.
There will be an exhibition about the way of life for Muslims in the UK, as well as information about culture and history.
‘Abu Qatada? Odd name. Has a long beard too? Boot him out!’
Inayat Bunglawala welcomes this week’s ruling by the Appeals Court rejecting home secretary Theresa May’s latest attempt to deport Abu Qatada. He writes:
“Abu Qatada has now spent around ten years in prison without having been charged with any crime in the UK, let alone having been convicted of one. Can you imagine a middle class white person being treated the same way in the UK?”