Category Archives: UK

Possible legal challenge to spy cameras in Muslim areas

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A counterterrorism surveillance project targeted at two Muslim neighbourhoods in Birmingham could be halted after human rights lawyers pledged to seek a judicial review.

There were angry scenes at two public meetings in the city this week, when officials were confronted over the findings of a Guardian investigation into the scheme to gather data about vehicles entering Sparkbrook and Washwood Heath.

Under Project Champion, the suburbs will be monitored by 150 automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras – three times more than in the entire city centre. The cameras form “rings of steel”, meaning residents cannot enter or leave the areas without their cars being tracked. Data will be stored for two years.

Testing of cameras has begun, but plans to go live in early August are in jeopardy after lawyers acting for Liberty began gathering evidence for a legal challenge.

Lawyers from Liberty said Project Champion’s focus on predominantly Muslim areas may constitute a breach of rights to non-discrimination under article 14 of the Human Rights Act. “Spying on a whole community will only hamper efforts to tackle extremism,” said Corinna Ferguson, legal officer for Liberty. “This misguided scheme must not go ahead.”

The absence of any formal public consultation could also form grounds for a legal challenge, she added.

Guardian, 11 June 2010

Northamptonshire County Council forced to apologise over advert for ‘female, white and non-Muslim’ taxi driver

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An unreserved apology has been issued by Northamptonshire County Council after it demanded a “female, white and non-Muslim” taxi driver in a contract.

A tender was issued by the council for private firms to bid for the contract, which involved transporting a vulnerable child to and from school. It stated: “The contractor must provide the escort. Please note that the escort must be female, white and non-Muslim.”

The Chronicle & Echo was alerted to the tender by a taxi driver operating in the county. The man, who is a Muslim and asked to remain anonymous, said: “To say it is offensive would be very strong because I don’t know the reasons behind it, but the council should not be issuing tenders like this, full stop. I was in total disbelief that it would make such a stipulation.”

Under discrimination laws, it is illegal for employers to demand recruits be of a specific gender or race unless it is a prerequisite for them to be able to do the job.

A spokeswoman for the council said a “full-scale review” had been launched. She said:

“We apologise unreservedly for this error of judgement which resulted from trying to address the specific needs of an individual child. We’re confident on the basis of our initial investigations that there was no malicious or discriminatory intent. However, we have now launched a full-scale review into this matter. We’re deeply sorry for any offence or distress this has caused. The council takes equalities very seriously and we will not tolerate any practices in this organisation which discriminate against any group or community.”

Anjona Roy, chief executive of Northamptonshire Rights and Equalities Council, said the language of the contract was “alarming”. She said:

“This tender would have to pass through the council’s legal department, so it is alarming that potential discrimination could have been missed. “This is not just a concern for Muslim people in Northamptonshire, it is a concern for the entire non-white population, and any minority group, that their council is issuing tenders in this way.” She added the council may have left itself open to expensive legal action under anti-discrimination laws, the bill for which would have to be picked up by the tax payer.

Northampton Chronicle & Echo, 10 June 2010

Update:  See also “”Deep concerns” over council ad for ‘female, white, non-Muslim’ taxi driver”, Northampton Chronicle & Echo, 11 June 2010

Posted in UK

EDL demonstrator jailed for attack on woman police officer

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Stoke

An English Defence League demonstrator who was at the forefront of a group which broke police lines has been jailed for 16 months.

Mark Doel became involved in violence at the demonstration in Hanley city centre on Saturday, January 23. Prosecutor Paul Spratt told Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court yesterday that at about 1.30pm, items were being thrown at police including glass bottles, cans and a smoke cannister.

“About 100 people had broken free from the group being cordoned to come round the rear of the police lines,” said Mr Spratt. “A police dog handler became aware of a group of men at the rear of the police unit. He then saw the defendant run to the front and shout abuse at the officers.

“He (Doel) kicked out to the back of a slightly built female officer and punched her to her helmet, causing her to fall to the ground. She was later assaulted by another individual and was kicked and stamped on.”

Judge Granville Styler said an immediate custodial sentence had to be passed. “This was a very serious matter,” the judge told Doel, a father-of-one from Primrose Hill, Batley, West Yorkshire. You travelled to Stoke-on-Trent and, I take the view, you travelled in order to take part in a demonstration. You consumed five pints of lager.

“You knew the police were having difficulties restraining an increasingly violent crowd. You were at the forefront of a breakaway group. You attacked a policewoman from behind and knocked her to the ground. It was an extremely dangerous situation. And it encouraged others to attack this officer while on the ground, and she was stamped on.”

The Sentinel, 10 June 2010

See also Click Liverpool, which reports that “Two neo-Nazi member of the extremist English Defence League have appeared in court accused of soliciting the hate killings of Jews.”

Muslim prisoners – ‘treated as potential terrorists’, or ‘claiming hundreds of thousands of pounds in additional benefits’?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Prisoners convert to IslamThe blanket treatment by staff of the 10,300 Muslim prisoners in England and Wales as potential terrorists risks creating young men ready to embrace extremism on their release, the chief inspector of prisons warns today.

Dame Anne Owers says the treatment of the rapidly growing population of Muslim prisoners as potential or actual extremists is prevalent throughout the prison system despite the fact that fewer than 1% are in prison for terrorist-related offences.

The chief inspector also voices scepticism over claims by high security prison staff that gangs are forcing non-Muslim prisoners to convert to Islam through intimidation. Her report says that while conversions are common they are more likely to be the result of better food at Ramadan, the benefits of protection within a group and the discipline and structure provided by observing Islam through prayer.

Guardian, 8 June 2010

The Times, by contrast, reports the story under the front-page headline “Prisoners convert to Islam for jail perks”, the Sun informs its readers that “Prisoners are converting to Islam for a cushier life and better food”, while the Express goes with “Muslim prisoners are cashing in on their religion to claim hundreds of thousands of pounds in additional benefits”.

Update:  See also BBC News, 8 June 2010

Demonstrate against EDL in Tower Hamlets on 20 June

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Close East London MosqueThe English Defence League plans to whip up racism against one of Britain’s largest Muslim communities. It has announced plans to gather in Tower Hamlets, east London, on Sunday 20 June.

Unite Against Fascism and East End United have organised a national counter-demonstration with backing from local activists, the council, campaigners and mosques. The momentum is on the side of the anti-fascists. The EDL were heavily outnumbered in Newcastle recently and were sent packing in South Wales last week. EDL demonstrations have been getting smaller.

But there must be no complacency. Local trade unionists, anti-racist activists and campaigners sent an open letter to the Guardian newspaper and local press within days of the EDL’s plans becoming known. It reads, “The English Defence League is a violent, bigoted organisation. They should be condemned everywhere, but will be particularly unwelcome if they come to Tower Hamlets.”

Glyn Robbins, the local activist who organised the letter, toldSocialist Worker, “We have seen how destructive the EDL presence has been in other towns and cities. Now they are coming to our city, to our borough. We have a strong tradition of standing up to racism and fascism in east London – a tradition that goes back to the 1930s when people fought off Mosley’s fascist blackshirts. If the EDL comes here without being opposed, then they can go anywhere. We have to do every­thing we can, in every way, to oppose them.”

Musaddiq Ahmed, secretary general of the Tower Hamlets Council of Mosques, told Socialist Worker it is vital to defend Tower Hamlets multiracial and multifaith tradition.

He said, “We are black, white and Asian – Muslim, Sikh, Jew and Christian – people of all faiths living together. We live in an area where the east London mosque sits side by side with a synagogue – we are proud of the diversity in Tower Hamlets. It would be a disaster if the EDL come here. The EDL wants to use the recent rise in Islamophobic attitudes to paint a distorted picture of Islam in order to divide our communities.”

Socialist Worker, 12 June 2010

See also “Joint statement says: Keep the racist EDL out of east London!”, Unite Against Fascism, 7 June 2010

Gay rights should not be harnessed to an Islamophobic agenda

Posted on by Bob Pitt

In a brilliant exposé the Guardian reported how a lone man held up a pink triangle at a demonstration of the English Defence League – one of the most openly anti-immigrant and Islamophobic organisations in the country. When the reporter asked him what it was for he replied nervously: “This is the symbol gay people were made to wear under Hitler. Islam poses the same threat and we are here to express our opposition to that.”

Given fascism’s history of violent and outspoken homophobia, the news that the EDL would have a 115-strong lesbian, gay and transgender wing would appear, at the very least, incongruous.

But in fact it just the most glaring example of the misguided and ill-informed shift in our nationalist discourse that has moved the emphasis from creed to culture and race to religion in a bid to erect a moral rampart between the a mythological modern, enlightened, progressive west and the demonised medieval, backward, bigoted south. Far from being a contradiction confined to the far right, these issues have taken on totemic significance in the mainstream in the broadside against both multiculturalism in general and non-European immigration in particular as though they were inimicable with the principles of social equality.

Gary Younge in the Guardian, 7 June 2010

‘Ground Zero mosque’ protestors turn on Copts

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Mike Kelly’s report on the SIOA ‘Ground Zero mosque’ protest contains a revealing insight into the ugly emotions aroused by Geller and Spencer’s exercise in anti-Muslim bigotry:

At one point, a portion of the crowd menacingly surrounded two Egyptian men who were speaking Arabic and were thought to be Muslims. “Go home,” several shouted from the crowd. “Get out,” others shouted.

In fact, the two men – Joseph Nassralla and Karam El Masry – were not Muslims at all. They turned out to be Egyptian Coptic Christians who work for a California-based Christian satellite TV station called “The Way.” Both said they had come to protest the mosque.

“I’m a Christian,” Nassralla shouted to the crowd, his eyes bulging and beads of sweat rolling down his face. But it was no use. The protesters had become so angry at what they thought were Muslims that New York City police officers had to rush in and pull Nassralla and El Masry to safety.

Via LoonWatch

Islamic schools cleared by watchdog

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The charity watchdog today cleared two Islamic schools which the Tories had accused of being “front” organisations for extremists.

There was no evidence that the centres run by the Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation had links to an extreme Muslim group, the Charity Commission said. The ruling is a blow to David Cameron, who last year accused Gordon Brown’s government of “funding extremists” by giving grants to the schools in Haringey and Slough.

In the Commons, Mr Cameron described the Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation charity as “a front” for Muslim group Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Evening Standard, 7 June 2010

Not only a blow Cameron but also to Andrew Gilligan, whose witch-hunting article in the Sunday Telegraph provided the basis for the Tories’ now discredited claims. You do wonder what more Gilligan has to do before his reputation as a journalist is completely destroyed.