Another plug from the British National Party for Patrick Sookhdeo of the Barnabas Fund, whose warnings about the “threat of Sharia law” in Britain they repeat. (Rather belatedly – the original report was in the Church of England Newspaper back in September.)
BNP new article, 7 December 2005
We look forward to the BNP, Sookhdeo, Outrage and the Worker Communist Party of Iran launching a joint campaign on this issue.
Secret evidence which might have been obtained by torture cannot be used against terror suspects in UK courts, the law lords have ruled. The ruling means the home secretary will have to review all cases where evidence from other countries might have been obtained in this way.
The Court of Appeal ruled last year that such evidence could be used if UK authorities had no involvement. But eight of the 10 foreign terror suspects who were being held without charge, backed by human rights groups, challenged that ruling. They argued evidence obtained in US detention camps should be excluded.
“Islamophobia is now the preferred weapon of the BNP, and the defence of Muslim communities against racism and fascism has become a vital political issue. Unfortunately, a section of the Left has chosen to take its stand on the wrong side of the ideological barricades.”
Geoffrey Brown replies to Alan Thornett.
Remember this conference, reported in the Times under the headline “Muslim peace rally attracts thousands”? Well, Melanie Phillips has got round to offering us her take on the proceedings: “The people participating in this hate-fest need to be exposed for the racist hate-mongers that they are.” And of course we’re all familiar with Mel’s firm stand against racist hate-mongering, aren’t we?
Melanie Phillips’s Diary, 7 December 2005
Was Phillips actually at the conference, then? No, of course not. She relies for her information on Carol Gould, a US rightwinger temporarily resident in London who recently wrote warmly about meeting a BNP-sympathising taxi-driver and expressed anxiety that the Mayor wants better representation for minority ethnic communities in the capital’s taxi fleet (see here).
For Yusuf Smith’s comments, see Indigo Jo Blogs, 7 December 2005
“If Muslims are a ‘minority seeking to be upwardly mobile, to live the modern liberal dispensation in their own, distinctive way as self-assured, equal members of the national debate’, some of them have a very funny way of showing it.”
Letters in the New Statesman, 12 December 2005 replying to Ziauddin Sardar’s article in last week’s issue.
Statement against Imperial College’s ban on some forms of Islamic dress.
What role do women play in Muslim communities – and does wider society focus on the negative stereotypes, rather than the real people?
An interesting exchange between two Muslim women on the BBC’s News online site.
A couple of interesting letters in the Guardian, from Lord Avebury and Liz Fekete of the IRR, replying to Timothy Garton’s Ash’s article on Dutch right-wing politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali and the proposed new law against incitement to religious hatred.
Avebury points out that the article “wrongly implies that Ayaan Hirsi Ali and others like her who robustly criticise religious beliefs, customs or sacred objects would be silenced by the racial and religious hatred bill”. Fekete argues that “for ordinary Muslim women, who face daily abuse for wearing the hijab, the ‘thoughtful, calm’ Ayaan Hirsi Ali is more provocateur than liberator”.
“This case was a big blow for the war on terrorism…. Sami al-Arian was a major player on the wrong side of this war. Because someone like him – someone who was so blatantly involved in terrorism – was acquitted, the Justice Department may think twice before bringing future terror cases to trial. And that undoubtedly will embolden the enemy.”
Joe Kaufman of Americans Against Hate – an organisation that devotes itself to spreading hatred against Muslims – bemoans the fact that an innocent man was found not guilty of terrorism charges.
Front Page Magazine, 7 December 2005
Cf. Eric Boehlert’s account: “Al-Arian didn’t call a single witness on his behalf. That might have been because prosecutors, who had tapped Al-Arian’s phone for years and collected 20,000 hours of conversations, failed to present a single phone call in which violent terrorist acts were plotted.”
“Conversion to Islam substantially increases the probability of a person’s involvement in terrorism.” Another helpful insight from Daniel Pipes.