Category Archives: UK

MCB joins coalition to oppose extension of pre-charge

Posted on by Bob Pitt

MCB banner“The Muslim Council of Britain joins human rights groups, a growing body of thinkers and policymakers dealing with our security, together with a large proportion of the British public who oppose the extension of pre-charge-detention. Any further extension of pre-charge detention risks being counterproductive, damaging community relations and undermining the UK’s moral authority around the world. We oppose terrorism in all its forms. We are all concerned about the right to security, free from terror, but this proposal serves to compound the problem, not resolve it.

“We do not believe that the government has made a convincing case for extending the pre-charge detention period from 28 days to 42 days. We are very concerned about the negative impact that this proposed legislation could have on relations between younger members of the Muslim community and the police. Of course it is right that we take proper precautions against the threat of terrorism, however, it is our view that this legislation will be counterproductive and will play into the hands of extremist groups,” said Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain.

MCB press release, 10 June 2008

‘UK’s top Muslim’ backs 42 days

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Khurshid Ahmed“Britain’s top Muslim [sic] last night praised Gordon Brown and demanded MPs back new laws to hold terror suspects. Khurshid Ahmed, chairman of the British Muslim Forum, the UK’s largest representative Muslim organisation [sic], called for 42 days’ detention without charge. He said it was vital to protect the nation.”

Sun, 10 June 2008

Yes, that’s this Khurshid Ahmed.

For Yusuf Smith’s comments, see Indigo Jo Blogs, 10 June 2008

Update:  The Guardian Diary quotes Khurshid Ahmed as saying on behalf of the BMF: “We don’t support the extension. We have never supported it.”

Further update:  But see Khurshid Ahmed’s Comment is Free piece (originally given the misleading heading “The BMF opposes 42-day detention” and now retitled more accurately “Supporting tough measures”) where he writes:

“… our strategy was to campaign against the proposal while at the same time seeking concessions to secure a balance between the need to safeguard the security of the country and provide protection of civil liberties. The package of concessions reinforced by the proposal to compensate for the damage done in loss of opportunity, reputation and the accompanying stigma goes a long way in addressing our concerns. The legal process now proposed renders the use of these powers to very exceptional circumstances only. In these circumstances, by agreeing the package, we are acknowledging the severity of the threat to this country and playing our part in securing the safety of all our citizens.”

In other words, after the government made what it considered to be adequate concessions, the BMF did come down in support of 42 days. As Inayat Bunglawala observes in the Cif comments section: “I have to say that I have not actually come across many British Muslims at all who support the 42 day detention legislation.” So whose views does the BMF actually represent?

‘Hazel Blears says sidelining of Christianity is common sense’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

It is “common sense” for Christianity to be sidelined at the expense of Islam, a Government minister claimed on Sunday. Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, defended Labour’s policy on religion after a report backed by the Church of England claimed that Muslims receive a disproportionate amount of attention.

She said it was right that more money and effort was spent on Islam than Christianity because of the threat from extremism and home-grown terrorism.

Ms Blears told BBC Radio 4’s Sunday programme: “That’s just common sense. If we’ve got an issue where we have to build resilience of young Muslim men and women to withstand an extremist message.”

She added: “We live in a secular democracy. That’s a precious thing. We don’t live in a theocracy, but we’ve always accepted that hundreds of thousands of people are motivated by faith. We live in a secular democracy but we want to recognise the role of faith.”

The Church of England bishop responsible for the report, the Rt Rev Stephen Lowe, Bishop for Urban Life and Faith, said afterwards: “She said we live in a secular democracy. That comes as news to me – we have an established Church, but the Government can’t deal with Christianity.”

As The Daily Telegraph reported on Saturday, the landmark report commissioned by the Church and written by academics at the Von Hugel Institute accuses ministers of paying only “lip service” to Christianity and marginalising the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches, while focusing “intently” on Islam.

Daily Telegraph, 9 June 2008

The idea that Blears’ targeting of British Muslims as a suspect community amounts to discriminating in favour of Islam against Christianity is of course laughable.

Nevertheless, Mad Mel is appalled:

“Here is a government minister endorsing the sidelining of the founding faith of her country by an aggressively colonising religion whose adherents are determined that it should supplant that founding faith – and boasting that she is giving it British taxpayers’ money to do so in the name of defeating religious extremism…. The root of this madness is the government’s refusal to acknowledge the essence of the problem. Crippled by tunnel vision in which it sees al Qaeda alone as beyond the pale because the only threat the government recognises is terrorism, it fails to see that the other half of the attack is the attempt by Islamists to colonise the cultural sphere and transform Britain into an Islamic state.”

Melanie Phillip’s blog, 9 June 2008

Sun ‘exposes’ MuslimYouth.net

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An Islamic website which backs suicide bombers got a £35,000 Government grant – a month before the anniversary of the 7/7 attacks. Muslimyouth.net carries dozens of rants by fanatics on its “support group” site.

One member wrote of suicide missions: “If you can blow dozens of people up at the same time, great, absolutely great.” And in another vile message a member PRAISED a beheading video of British hostage Ken Bigley. It said: “I like the beheading videos of the prisoners of war – especially the Daniel Pearl and Ken Bigley one.”

But the Department for Communities and Local Government agreed to fund the group’s film on problems faced by UK Muslims.

Sun, 9 June 2008

Cops swoop on Iraqi pair as they film in Cardiff park

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Two asylum seekers were arrested under the Terrorism Act and quizzed for 44 hours after filming themselves in a park. The Iraqi pair, who had been in Wales for just two months, were using a camcorder in Bute Park, Cardiff, when an undercover cop swooped. He asked the men, both 20, what they were doing before one of their mobile phones went off with an Arabic music ringtone. According to the Iraqis’ solicitor Hanif Bhamjee, the cop then radioed for back-up.

Minutes later uniformed and plain-clothes officers arrived in the popular park, which was packed with tourists and city residents soaking up the sunshine. The pair, who speak little English, were formally arrested under the Terrorism Act for what police last night claimed was “a suspicious incident”. It is thought cops were concerned the pair were filming so close to the Millennium Stadium, which is Wales’ top terror target and just over the road from Bute Park.

Mr Bhamjee said the terrified asylum seekers, who fled sectarian violence in their war-ravaged country, were asked a series of questions during hour after hour of gruelling interviews. The lawyer, of Cardiff-based Crowley and Co, added:

“There were 40 detectives involved. They raided their houses like they were looking for explosives. These poor people didn’t know what the hell was happening. They were very shaken – they didn’t know what had hit them so they were panicking. It’s outrageous, the police response was well over the top. If they had made any elementary inquiries they would have realised these kids were nothing to worry about.”

A police spokesman confirmed two men were arrested on Wednesday after a “suspicious incident” and released on Friday without charge.

Wales on Sunday, 8 June 2008

Government ‘discriminates against Christianity in favour of Islam’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Christianity is being discriminated against by the Government in favour of Islam and other minority faiths, according to a landmark Church of England report.

The highly critical report, titled Moral, But No Compass – a twist on Mr Brown’s claim to have a “moral compass” – carries significant weight as it has been endorsed by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and expresses the views of three-quarters of the Church’s bishops.

It echoes claims made by the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, last week that the decline of Christian values is destroying Britishness and has created a “moral vacuum” which radical Islam is filling.

Daily Telegraph, 7 June 2008

See also Daily Mail, 7 June 2008

BNP jibe at lawyer who opposed veiled judges

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A barrister who argued that Muslim judges in Britain should never wear the veil in court has been accused by a fellow barrister of deploying the arguments of the British National Party. Barbara Hewson was commenting on guidance issued to judges earlier this year by the Judicial Studies Board. Miss Hewson, writing in the Bar Council’s magazine Counsel, said it was worrying that the board’s advice contemplated the possibility of veiled judges. Describing the guidance as “astonishing and subversive”, she said: “The United Kingdom is not a sharia state.”

Responding in the magazine, Fatim Kurji wrote: “As for veiled judges and the suggestion that the ‘United Kingdom is not a sharia state’, this is what I call ‘the BNP argument’. It implies a woman who wears a niqab comes at the erosion of British values. Such an astonishingly offensive remark undermines the long-enduring libertarian values.” Miss Kurji said she was no fan of niqab but even less so of a legal system “that restricts access to justice on the basis of religious expression”.

Daily Telegraph, 6 June 2007

We don’t have access to a copy of Counsel, but a correspondent informs us that Hewson’s article is a rehash of the piece published in Spiked back in February, though from the quotes in the Telegraph it would appear to be even more hardline and offensive.

Update:  Thanks to a supporter in the legal profession we have the text of Barbara Hewson’s Counsel Magazine article.

Continue reading →

The Islamification of Britain (part 756)

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The Islamification of Britain continues apace. Word reaches me of a Smile With The Prophet initiative being run by the NHS in Bradford. According to the local primary care trust: ‘Using a specially developed syllabus, mosque leaders and teachers help to spread the word about oral health, encouraging youngsters to brush their teeth daily through the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) and Islam.’

“Is there an equivalent programme tailored to the individual oral hygiene challenges faced by Anglicans, Catholics, Hindus, Sikhs or Seventh Day Adventists? … Still, anything which keeps children out of the dentist’s chair has to be welcome, though I can’t see how the oral hygiene needs of Muslim children are any different from those of another faith. Mind you, it can’t be easy brushing your teeth in a burqa.”

Richard Littlejohn in the Daily Mail, 6 June 2008

BNP says call to prayer at Stoke mosque will ‘provoke neighbours’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

BNP Islam Out of BritainA new mosque will be built on a former pottery works, despite warnings that the call to prayer may offend non-Muslim neighbours.

The new place of worship will replace the nearby Ghelani Noor Mosque and be built on the old Denton Works, in Chaplin Road, Normacot. The plan was approved by Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s development control committee yesterday by eight votes to two, with two abstentions.

But the mosque committee’s intention to ring out a call to prayer every Friday and during holy festivals was challenged by BNP councillor Phillip Sandland, who warned it could lead to flash points with non-Muslim neighbours.

As part of the planning conditions each call to prayer – or Adhan – must last no longer than two minutes and only be amplified between 7.30am and 8pm.

Mr Sandland told the committee: “I’m happy to see a house of God built, whether it’s Christian, Muslim or whatever. But there are people who will take exception to this call to prayer and for the time being it should not be allowed.”

Committee chairman, Councillor Mike Barnes, asked him: “Do we take the same account of bells when the Lord Mayor is appointed?” But Mr Sandland hit back: “It’s different as well you know – don’t provoke your neighbours, as this thing does.”

Sentinel, 5 June 2008

Blame terrorism on multiculturalism says Torygraph

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“One reason we face our current difficulties is that the so-called progressive elements, which dominated politics and much of the media, failed for too long to understand the damage they were inflicting on our country through the concept of multiculturalism.

“In the Nineties, when many of the problems with which the Government is now grappling were taking root, not only were the extremist tenets of fundamentalist Islam rarely challenged, the multiculturalists even coined an insult – Islamophobia – to damn those who did. And no one took seriously enough the report into the 2001 riots in some northern cities, that exposed the “parallel lives” being led by different ethnic and religious communities.

“When four British Muslims perpetrated the worst act of terrorism on British soil in July 2005, the country was finally shaken from this state of denial. Now, Labour ministers – once ardent cheerleaders for multiculturalism (not least because they imagined there were votes in it) – espouse respect for the monarchy, demand that immigrants learn English and praise British history and identity.

“It has taken a long time for the Government to assess properly the nature of this threat and there are signs that ministers remain unwilling to ditch their old instincts and grasp that, in a battle for hearts and minds, it is important to emphasise the superiority of your own values.”

Daily Telegraph, 4 June 2008