Category Archives: UK

Muslim booted off plane at Newcastle airport

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A young Muslim was booted off a plane at a North airport after asking cabin crew if he could pray before his flight, we can reveal. The incident happened when the country was on high alert last weekend after an alleged terrorist attack at Glasgow airport.

A source told us that the man – who has not been named – boarded a Thomsonfly flight at Newcastle International Airport bound for a holiday in Malaga, Spain, with friends. He asked staff if he could go in the galley area – which can be curtained off from passengers – and offer prayers before the flight took off. However – according to our source – the flight attendant asked the plane’s captain who promptly ordered the man off the aircraft.

Northumbria Police officers were waiting for the man in the departure lounge and searched him under terrorism laws. All they found was a bottle of water, used by Muslims to wash themselves before prayer, a compass to ensure he was facing the holy city of Mecca, and a traditional prayer-mat.

Evening Chronicle, 8 July 2007

Posted in UK

‘Thousands’ of London Muslims back Anjem Choudary, claim US rightwingers

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Robert Spencer“Across town from the site of the recent attempted car-bomb attacks, several thousand Muslims gathered in front of the London Central Mosque to applaud fiery preachers prophesying the overthrow of the British government – a future vision that encompasses an Islamic takeover of the White House and the rule of the Quran over America. ‘One day my dear Muslims’, shouted Anjem Choudary, ‘Islam will govern Britain!’ Choudary was a co-founder of Al Muhajiroun, the now-banned group tied to suspects in the July 7, 2005, London transport bombings and a cheerleader of the 9/11 attacks.”

World Net Daily, 9 July 2007

See also Jihad Watch, 9 July 2007

That would be a reference to this protest outside the London Central Mosque, would it? As you can see, reliable estimates of the attendance at Anjem Choudary’s demonstration varied between “about 20” and “two dozen”. Now, in the fevered imagination of gibbering right-wing Islamophobes in the USA, the figure has grown to “several thousand”. But we can hardly expect anything better from Robert Spencer, the self-proclaimed expert on all things Islamic who once assured Jihad Watch readers that Al Muhajiroun was “Britain’s largest Muslim group“!

‘Muslim extremists are the only ones trying to blow up Britain today’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

PD*1006852“Mr Brown thinks we upset decent Muslims by referring to bombers as ‘Islamic fanatics’ even if they shout ‘Allah is great’ as they blow us to pieces…. Some sensible Muslims are more prepared to call a spade a spade than our own mealy-mouthed politicians. It was Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed, of Al-Arabiya TV, who first told the embarrassing truth after 9/11. ‘It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists’, he said. ‘But it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims.’

“He was right then and he’s right now. When did a Jew or Sikh last put on a belt of explosives and blow himself and others to smithereens? Or a Hindu protester put a bomb in a mosque?

“If Gordon’s ‘New Speak’ encourages Britain’s three million Muslims to play their part in ending terrorism, I’m all for it. But rebranding won’t alter the fact that Muslim extremists are the only ones trying to blow up Britain today. They are infiltrating our police, spy agencies, universities and government offices with the express purpose of imposing their own view on our world. Sadly, the courageous Muslims who are ready to risk their own lives by saying so can be counted on the fingers of one hand.”

Trevor Kavanagh in the Sun, 9 July 2007

“Muslim extremists are the only ones trying to blow up Britain today”? Well, apart from far-right racists like Robert Cottage of course. And how many op eds has Kavanagh produced on that? Answer: none. Indeed, how much coverage has the Cottage case received in the Sun? Three short reports back in February, and that was it.

And in answer to Kavanagh’s question as to when a Hindu protestor last put a bomb in a mosque, this would appear to be a likely candidate.

Faiths unite in rally against terror

Posted on by Eddie Truman

Scotland UnitedMore than 2000 people gathered yesterday to deliver the message that Scotland says no to terrorism.

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told the mixed race and faith crowd in George Square, Glasgow, Scots had responded “magnificently” to the airport attack last weekend.

Glasgow Central MP Mohammed Sarwar was among the demonstrators. He told the mainly Muslim crowd: “The message from Scotland is loud and clear that we stand united…against the terrorists and criminals who want to kill innocent men, women and children. Whatever colour, faith or background they come from, we condemn them.”

Reported in Sunday Mail

Martin Sullivan adds: See also the report by Osama Saeed, one of the organisers of the rally, at Rolled Up Trousers

‘Flying the flag is only the first step to victory’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Charles Moore examines the issue of “Britishness”. He writes: “… millions whose first language is not English now live in this country. A significant minority of them cannot even speak English. Many of these people are Muslims, and some seem to hate the country they inhabit. Their most prominent leaders, including the Muslim Council of Britain, which claims to be their main umbrella organisation, equivocate about the requirements of being British.”

Daily Telegraph, 7 July 2007

See also the Torygraph’s lead article, headed “We must make Muslims loyal subjects again”!

Bomb plot sparks attacks on Muslims in Bristol

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslims in Bristol have been racially abused and assaulted following the attempted terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow. The Bristol Muslim Cultural Society (BMCS) has reported several incidents – the latest of which occurred on Wednesday night when two people were arrested outside a mosque in St Jude’s on suspicion of racially-aggravated offences.

BMCS director Farooq Siddique said: “People were arrested outside for shouting verbal abuse. People have had their hijabs ripped and there have been verbal and physical acts against women. There have been three or four incidents reported through the Hate Crime Unit but our concern is that not enough people are reporting it. They just say it’s the times we live in.”

Police spokesman Wayne Baker confirmed that a man and woman were arrested outside the mosque on Wade Street. The 19-year-old woman was released on police bail pending further inquiries while the man is still being questioned by police officers.

Bristol Evening Post, 7 July 2007

Don’t vote for Boris

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Boris Johnson“While I know some Muslims will disagree with me about this, I don’t mind whether the mayor of London is pro-Israel or supported the Iraq war. The mayoralty isn’t about that, it’s about things like transport (with Ken Livingstone having been mayor for as long as the position has existed, it’s hard to think of what else it’s about).

“It’s important, however, that the mayor is not a bigot, which on the strength of his coverage of Muslim affairs while editor of the Spectator, Boris Johnson is. In that position, Johnson reacted to the July 2005 London bombings and the Paris slum riots of that year with horrendously unbalanced coverage, commissioning articles from the likes of Patrick Sookhdeo, full of sweeping generalisations, plain falsehoods and outright absurdities. The tone was that Islam itself, not an extremist movement, or the western policies off which it thrives, was to blame.”

Yusuf Smith responds to reports that Boris Johnson MP is considering standing for selection as the Tory candidate in the 2008 London mayoral election.

Indigo Jo Blogs, 5 July 2007

See also Yusuf’s comments on articles in the current issue of the (post-Johnson) Spectator.

Lords urged to defend justice

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Lords urged to defend justiceLords urged to defend justice

By Louise Nousratpour

Morning Star, 6 July 2007

Civil rights campaigners urged Law Lords to “prosecute, not persecute” terror suspects on Thursday at the start of a six-day hearing into the legality of the repressive control orders regime.

A panel of five Law Lords headed by Lord Bingham began hearing appeals from 10 people placed under control orders – including “house arrest,” tagging, curfews and restricted access to phones and the internet – without charge or trial. They argue that the measures introduced under the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 violate their right to liberty and a fair trial.

The hearing includes Home Secretary Jacqui Smith’s appeal against a ruling last year by the High Court and Court of Appeal that control orders breached the European convention on human rights.

Amnesty International UK urged Britain’s legal authorities to commit themselves to “prosecuting rather than persecuting” anyone accused of terrorism. It condemned the control order regime as running “counter to the principle of equality before the law,” adding: “It is intrinsically inimical to the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary and human rights protection in the UK.”

Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn urged the Law Lords to use their powers to ensure that the right to a “fair and independent” legal process is protected.

“The control orders are a form of executive detention and a denial of access to an independent judicial system and I opposed it in Parliament for those reasons,” he said. “I hope the Law Lords will use their authority to ensure that we maintain the separation between the judiciary and political powers.”

Continue reading →

Islam, multiculturalism and immigrants – the main causes of terrorism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Rod Liddle“We began with the usual and – this time – quite surreal assurances from politicians, Muslim leaders and, in particular the BBC, that the latest attacks were ‘nothing to do with Islam’. This is what we always hear when a bomb has gone off, or failed to go off – and it is always a silly statement, based upon nothing more real than wishful thinking….

“Then, as always happens, we had the next stage of wishful thinking … we were assured by assorted correspondents and politicians that Britain’s Muslim community were, in their entirety, appalled and outraged by the attacks. Well, maybe they were – but how do you know? … Don’t forget that more than half of our Muslims feel sympathy for suicide bombers in Israel and a fairly hefty minority (one in eight, at the last count) for similar action against the cockroach imperialist infidel scum (i.e. you and me) over here. Not to mention almost half of Britain’s Muslims who want Sharia law in this country and do not remotely, therefore, share our norms and values.

“We are told these sorts of things in order to stop us coming to unpalatable conclusions, because the government still clings, ever more precariously, to the vestigial tail of that discredited ideology, multiculturalism. Take, for example, the issue of immigration. The aspirant, useless bombers who missed their targets at Glasgow and London came here from Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan. A recent Mori opinion poll commissioned by the government’s Commission on Integration and Cohesion showed that almost 70 per cent of British people thought that we had let far too many immigrants into the country….

“Every month or so we read that the immigration appeals court has allowed some murderous lunatic from the Maghreb or beyond to stay in the country, despite his clearly stated homicidal impulses, because it would be an infringement of his human rights were he to be returned to the Islamic hellhole from which he arrived…. It is surely only a matter of time before someone who comes before the immigration appeals court is allowed to stay and later blows himself up in a public place. Perhaps it has happened already.”

Spectator, 7 July 2007

Although, to be fair, unlike Nick Cohen et al, at the end of the piece Liddle does at least get around to mentioning the attack on Iraq as a contributory (albeit secondary) factor in encouraging terrorism: “Whatever your feelings about the war, it must, surely, provide a moral justification for those Islamists intent upon unleashing murder upon our soil….”