Sun front-page story on ‘terror target’ Sir Alan Sugar under investigation

Terror Target SugarThe Press Complaints Commission is investigating a front-page story in the Sun newspaper that claimed Islamic extremists were targeting The Apprentice star Sir Alan Sugar.

On 7 January the Sun’s front page splash, under the headline “Terror Target Sugar“, quoted claims by “anti-terror expert” Glen Jenvey that online Muslim forum Ummah.com was being used by extremists to target leading British Jews in revenge for Israel’s invasion of Gaza.

The Sun subsequently removed the story, which carried the bylines of John Coles and Mike Sullivan, from its website.

The Sun story named Sugar, singer Amy Winehouse, producer Mark Ronson and Labour peer Lord Levy as among those allegedly being targeted by Islamic extremists. It quoted a contributor on the forum called “Abuislam” asking: “Have we got a list of top Jews we can target? Can someone post names and addresses?”

However, in another posting on Ummah.com, it was alleged that Abuislam was in fact Jenvey himself and claimed this had been confirmed from his IP and email addresses. The Bloggerheads website also claimed Jenvey had posted the comment himself.

The PCC has launched an investigation and will consider whether Abuislam is Jenvey. The regulator has contacted the Sun and is awaiting the paper’s response.

It is understood that the Sun story originated from a news agency.

The Sun declined to comment on why it had removed the story from its website.

Guardian, 28 January 2009

See also Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion, 30 January 2009

Tower Hamlets Council Labour Group votes for ban on Hizb ut-Tahrir

HizbMoves have begun to try and get the radical Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamist group banned in Britain after the ruling group on one local authority in East London voted to get it proscribed. The Labour members on Tower Hamlets Council agreed last night (Monday) by a casting vote to get the controversial organisation outlawed.

Council cabinet members abstained from the vote, while the rest of the Labour members were split on the issue, inside sources have told the East London Advertiser tonight. Half voted to get Hizb ut-Tahrir formally banned, the rest voted against. Labour Group chairman Carli Harper-Penman used her casting vote, the sources said.

The resolution was part of a policy discussion which could go before the next full council meeting on February 9 to be adopted. If it is voted through, Tower Hamlets could be the first local authority in the country to call on the Home Secretary to put the organisation on the “proscribed” list – a move that was resisted at the Home Office two years ago.

East London Advertiser, 27 January 2009

Sookhdeo reviewed

Fulcrum has an interesting review of Patrick Sookhdeo’s book, Global Jihad: The Future in the Face of Militant Islam by Ben White. Although some might question the reviewer’s observation that “Sookhdeo is a man who deserves a fair hearing”, anyone familiar with this right-wing evangelical Christian’s bigoted views would readily endorse the conclusion that Global Jihad is “the unsurprising outcome of an approach to Muslims and the ‘war on terror’ guided by a narrow, politically-compromised outlook that favours speculation over facts, and conspiratorial simplification over nuance”.

House of Lords cancels Fitna screening

FitnaThe British Parliament has cancelled the showing of a controversial film “Fitna” by the right‑wing Dutch MP Geert Wilders following vociferous protest by the Muslim community.

The screening was to take place on January 29 at the House of Lords.The decision to cancel the showing was taken on Friday when Lord Nazir Ahmed had a meeting with the Government Chief Whip of the House of Lords and Leader of the House of Lords, together with representatives from the Muslim Council of Britain, British Muslim Forum and other representatives from the British Muslim community.

As a result of the meeting at the House of Lords not going ahead, all protests and demonstrations have now been cancelled Lord Ahmed termed the decision as “a victory for the Muslim community.”

Associated Press of Pakistan, 23 January 2009


Meanwhile, over at the Jerusalem Post, Caroline Glick joins Mad Mel in defending Wilders against the decision to prosecute him in the Netherlands for inciting hatred:

“The ripple effects of Wilders’ indictment were immediately evident. In England, the British Muslim community mobilized to prevent his film from being screened in public. ‘Fitna’ was scheduled to be shown at the House of Lords on January 29. But last Friday, with the threat of mass Muslim riots hanging thickly in the air, the House of Lords announced that it was cancelling the event. British Lord Nazir Ahmed called the decision to prevent the thought-provoking, factually accurate film from being shown, ‘a victory for the Muslim community’.”

UK is not sleepwalking to segregation

SleepwalkingThe head of Britain’s equalities watchdog has come under fire for undermining race relations with “bogus and alarmist” claims that Britain is an increasingly segregated society.

The charge against Trevor Phillips, chairman of the equality and human rights commission, is made in a new book that also condemns him for propagating myths that Britain is blighted by race ghettos and threatened by extremism fostered in isolated Muslim communities.

The book, Sleepwalking to Segregation?, by two Manchester University academics, says there is no statistical evidence of “white flight” from inner-city areas with high numbers of minority ethnic residents. Official statistics reviewed by the authors show white people are, in fact, moving into certain inner-city areas with large ethnic minority populations, such as Leicester, Bradford, Lambeth, Wolverhampton, Wycombe, Manchester and Merton.

The book warns that repeated falsehoods about immigration, integration and segregation are promoting racial division.

Ludi Simpson, honorary professor of population studies and co-author of the book, said: “By propagating myths using bogus and alarmist interpretations of population change, individuals such as Trevor Phillips, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, bishop of Rochester, and Sir Andrew Green, chair of Migration Watch, are inadvertently promoting racial segregation.”

The authors also rejected claims that segregation bred terrorism, as there was no evidence that Muslims from areas with large Muslim populations were more likely to be charged with terrorism than those from others areas.

A spokeswoman for the equality and human rights commission declined to comment.

Guardian, 22 January 2009

Cf. the article “Ghetto Britain” in the Daily Star, which is based on material produced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Mail on Sunday replies to complaint over Azad Ali story

Muhammad Amin, editor of the Between the Lines blog, reports: “The Mail on Sunday has not only replied to my letter of complaint, but also (quietly) removed the articles from its website. However, John Wellington’s (Managing Editor) reply does not address the central issue of the complaint – the misquote and resulting false allegation. I have written to him once again urging him to issue a full apology in print.”

And over at Pickled Politics Sunny Hundal comments: “Last week a Muslim civil servant, Azad Ali, was suspended from work because an article in the Daily Mail said he suggested killing British troops in Iraq was justified, on his blog…. Now, I don’t have sympathy for his views but the Daily Mail were clearly bullshitting. Now they’ve withdrawn the article. Let’s see what happens next…”

‘The horror comes home’ – Martin Bright on the Gaza war

martin_bright“In Britain, the main consequence of the Gaza War has been to provide a rallying point for the motley alliance of totalitarian sympathisers of the hard left and Islamic radical right. It is not the responsibility of the Israeli government to consider the consequences of their actions on the rise of militant Islam in Britain and Europe. But the dangers are real. The Islamist tendency represented by self-appointed representatives such as the Muslim Council of Britain and the Muslim Association of Britain was on the retreat. The Gaza War has given them new life, as shown by their prominence in the recent demonstrations, and across the media.”

Martin Bright in the New Statesman, 22 January 2009

Muslims create their own ghettos says Daily Star

Muslims want to create their own communities and remain segregated from British society. A shocking 44% think they should be free to develop along separate lines. But critics are fuming Muslims are refusing to fit into our way of life. English Democrats’ chairman Robin Tilbrook said:

“As far as I’m concerned, what we want to be about is having an integrated society. If people don’t want to integrate, they shouldn’t be here. It’s not at all right to have what’s really a sort of ghetto situation developing – it’s going to lead to trouble. We can’t have a single society with lots of different rules.”

Stephen Green, national director of Christian Voice, said: “I’m not surprised because there are already Muslim enclaves all over the country. They keep themselves to themselves anyway.”

Daily Star, 21 January 2009

Ilford Muslims challenge “Islamic ‘terror’ scare at Jewish school” story

Muslims in Ilford have complained to the editor of the Ilford Recorder for the publication of a story in the local paper headlined “Islamic ‘terror’ scare at Jewish school”, and which refers to “two Muslim boys with knives” causing havoc at a Jewish school in the borough.

ENGAGE, 20 January 2009

Update:  Ilford Recorder editor Chris Carter has issued an apology over the headline, which he concedes could be seen as “inflammatory”. Mr Carter said: “The story was breaking and our reporting team was on the spot. Often stories change as we are posting them on the web, but in this instance I accept the headline was not appropriate, particularly given what transpired and apologise to our readers.” The paper has also published a letter from Abdurahman Jafar, who expresses his concern that “this kind of inaccurate and irresponsible reporting plays into the hands of the far right”.