Category Archives: UK

Met faces new armed police allegations

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Forest Gate press conference (2)Scotland Yard yesterday faced fresh controversy after it emerged that the man accidentally shot by police during an anti-terrorism raid in east London last year has claimed armed officers again threatened to shoot him and subjected him to racist abuse during a second recent incident.

Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23, who was shot in the shoulder during a raid by police on his home in Forest Gate in 2006, says he and his brother Abul Koyair, 20, were stopped by armed police with one officer shouting “shoot him, shoot him”.

According to their account they were on a motorbike near their home two months ago when they stopped to watch a police operation at a pizza takeaway. As they drove off, they were followed by police and ordered to stop. According to the brothers, one officer emerged from the car carrying a handgun. A second officer allegedly shouted “shoot him, shoot him, put him down.” Mohammed Kahar said that he then replied: “Don’t shoot me, my hands are in the air.”

The brothers say they were manhandled off the motorcycle and one was pushed to the ground while the other was handcuffed. They claim that they were called “Paki”, “tossers” and “wankers”. Mohammed Kahar said he heard one officer say “that’s the two brothers” and another asked “how many millions do you get?” – presumably a reference to compensation to be paid to the men over last year’s raid. Their sister, who was passing by on a bus, intervened and was charged with a public order offence for which she has been issued with a fixed penalty notice.

Guardian, 3 November 2007

Thug who ripped off Muslim’s veil spared jail

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Damien FrenchA young North Wales thug who yanked off a Muslim woman’s veil was today spared jail after he made a public apology in court.

Damien French, 21, of Brighton Road in Rhyl, admitted charges of racially aggravated common assault and a racially aggravated public order offence when he appeared before Mold Crown Court this morning. The judge, Mr Recorder Robert Trevor-Jones, said that French’s behaviour in grabbing the hijab had been “deplorable, despicable and quite disgraceful”. French was given an 18-week prison sentence suspended for two years.

Mold Crown Court heard how victim Shahenna Hussain, 23, was walking with her sister and two nieces, pushing push chairs along the street at the junction of High Street and Wellington Road one afternoon in April. French was seen by a witness in a nearby shop to be initially hurling foul racial abuse at a coach which appeared full of Asian passengers.

Miss Hussain saw the defendant and his group, realised what was happening, put her head down to avoid eye contact and continued on her way. The defendant and his group noticed her and her sister as she crossed the road and he shouted and swore in racial terms towards her. Prosecutor Gareth Parry said: “She suddenly felt a violent grip to the top of her head, connecting with her hijab, which was fixed with two pins. But pins were forced open.” She was “extremely upset and angry” and felt violated, explained Mr Parry.

Daily Post, 2 November 2007

See also BBC News, 2 November 2007

‘Muslims gang rape women’ claims BNP leader

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Griffin with Kyle BristowEAST LANSING – The fallout from the appearance of controversial British National Party leader Nick Griffin at Michigan State University last Friday continues.

Griffin was originally supposed to deliver a lecture on the dangers of radical Islam but protesters demanded he answer questions. In a two-hour cantankerous give and take with more than 75 protesters and 30 supporters, Griffin delivered a range of views.

“Muslims gang rape women in Norway and other cultures. Only Muslims do this,” he told the crowd.

Explaining why he was qualified to lecture at MSU about Islam, Griffin responded, “My credentials are I have a degree in history and law. I am significantly older than most of you are here, and I have spoken with many, many Muslims.”

Griffin also called protesters stupid, accused them of being bussed in from Detroit, and of being lesbians. He also told protesters he would “shove” homosexuals back in the closet and “kill them.”

Prior to the speech protesters complained of Griffin’s party’s racist agenda that includes the removal of all non-white people living in Britain, and his alleged Holocaust denial. He reiterated during Friday night’s session that “it is a well known fact that the chimneys were added” to concentration camps after the war.

PrideSource, 1 November 2007

Cherie Blair speaks out against the veil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Cherie BlairCherie Blair has criticised Muslim religious dress for women where it fails to acknowledge “the woman’s right to be a person.” The wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair warned against the full-face veil, or niqab, worn by strictly Islamic women worldwide because it could prevent a woman from expressing her personality.

Mrs Blair, a practising Roman Catholic who is to publish her own memoirs in October next year, admitted that she had herself been educated by Catholic nuns who wore veils. She said she had no problem with women covering their heads. But on Islamic veils, she said: “I think however, that if you get to the stage where a woman is not able to express her personality because we cannot see her face, then we do have to ask whether this is something that is actually acknowledging the woman’s right to be a person.”

Mrs Blair’s own Church forbids the ordination of women, forbids women from using condoms even when their husband has been infected by HIV while working away, and denies the sacrament of communion to women who are divorced and remarried without an annulment, even when a woman’s first marriage has broken down because of abandonment for a younger woman by their husband.

She nevertheless focused her criticisms on Islamic countries. She said the laws on divorce and custody of children remained unfair to women in many Islamic countries, such as Egypt. “I think the facts speak for themselves,” she said.

Times, 31 October 2007

Birmingham Central Mosque chairman slams ‘irresponsible’ report

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The chairman of Birmingham Central Mosque has accused the Government of failing to do enough to tackle those peddling extremist Islamic literature. Dr Mohammad Naseem also criticised “irresponsible” reports of a study by think-tank Policy Exchange, which found material attacking gays and non-believers was available at several UK mosques.

“A mosque is an open, public place and anyone can distribute literature or leave literature in a mosque,” Dr Naseem said. “The real question is who is publishing these leaflets? These are people that spread hatred and the people who do publish this literature generally don’t put their name on it. If such literature comes to our notice we will confiscate it and we will report it to the police.”

Researchers for Policy Exchange spent more than a year visiting nearly 100 Muslim religious institutions across the country, and found extremist material was available – either openly or under the table – in about 25. Extreme statements in the documents included a call for jihad against “tyrants and oppressors”, which is “best done through force if possible”.

But Dr Naseem added: “My presumption is that these leaflets have nothing to do with the mosques – it’s irresponsible to suggest that a quarter of mosques are involved with this.”

Birmingham Post, 30 October 2007

The killing of apostates in Edinburgh

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Osama Saeed (4)Osama Saeed on the “Hijacking of British Islam” report:

“Right-wing thinktank Policy Exchange’s latest report into the Muslim community has implicated Edinburgh Central Mosque in apparently distributing hate literature. They have said that the material in question called for apostates from Islam to be killed.

“The mosque have not made official comment themselves, but I’ve spoken to people close to them who say that this is not something they stock or distribute. Further, as evidenced during an event at their Islam Festival held during August, their view on apostasy is that everyone should have the right to practice religion as they see fit. This includes leaving Islam.

“I’ve spent half a day fielding calls from the media on what is really a non-issue. Policy Exchange themselves say they only found one offending piece of literature, which was about killing apostates. There have been no killings of apostates in Edinburgh to date. Clearly, if this was something they were promoting, they’re not very good at it.”

Rolled Up Trousers, 30 October 2007

Only 1 in 400 anti-terror stop and searches leads to arrest

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Stop and SearchOnly one in every 400 stop and searches carried out under sweeping anti-terrorism laws leads to an arrest, official figures released yesterday reveal, triggering fresh pressure on the government and police over the controversial tactic.

Official government figures covering 2005/6, the first since the July 7 2005 bombings on London, show a big increase in the use of the power, with Asian people bearing the brunt. One force, City of London, carried out 6,846 stops of pedestrians and vehicles without finding enough evidence to justify a single arrest.

Stops under the Terrorism Act 2000 rely more on an officer’s discretion than other powers to search, which require reasonable suspicion. The number of stops under terrorism laws in 2005/6 showed a 34% rise on the previous year to 44,543. Asians faced an increase of 84%, black people an increase of 51%, searches of “other” ethnic groups rose 36% and white people faced a 24% increase.

Experts believe anti-terrorism stop and searches have not led to a single person being caught who was later convicted of a terrorist offence. Ben Bowling, professor of criminal justice at King’s College London, said:

“If these people arrested were in possession of bombs you might say that’s fine, but I can’t recall a case where that’s happened. These powers are being used indiscriminately with a minimal result. The consequence of that is a loss in public confidence and a drop of support among those stopped without reason for the police.”

Guardian, 31 October 2007