By Effendi | Published:
March 8, 2010
Last week’s Dispatches discussed irregularities in the voting patterns in London’s 2008 mayoral elections. This Daily Telegraph article goes into more detail in how this was an attempt to secure victory for then-incumbent Ken Livingstone:
In an election lost by Mr Livingstone, the Islamic Forum of Europe helped secure massive and unexpected swings towards him in its east London heartland.
In one ward, Spitalfields, his vote share rose from 29.6 per cent in 2004 – an election he won – to 68.4 per cent in 2008, a rise of nearly 39 percentage points.
In every other ward in Tower Hamlets and Newham with a sizeable Muslim population, his vote rose by between 23 and 36 percentage points. His vote in other Muslim and ethnic minority areas of London also rose, but by far smaller amounts.
By Effendi | Published:
March 8, 2010
Today is International Women’s Day.
International Women’s Day (8 March) is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future.
But in some parts of Tower Hamlets, some things remain the same:
Shiria Khatun, 38, told the police that callers threatened to kill her and her four young children. In one call, they warned they would dig up parents’ graves and bury her there instead.
The Labour councillor in the controversial borough of Tower Hamlets is considered one of the area’s most progressive politicians. She was elected in 2006, worked for Ken Livingstone as a transport adviser at London’s City Hall and frequently campaigns for more Muslim women to enter politics.
However, over the past year she has been the victim of a “sick” harassment campaign.
By Effendi | Published:
March 6, 2010
Andrew Gilligan speaks of the climate of fear in Tower Hamlets and beyond. This is the dreadful campaign which seeks to undermine as “Islamophobic” or “racist” any criticism of the hardline Islamists who now operate out of the East London Mosque. Gilligan writes about Labour party members in Tower Hamlets who declined to speak openly of the problem of Islamic radicalism in the borough:
But I think I know why others are reluctant to address the issues we raised. That reason is fear. In six months of research, we spoke to dozens of people in the Tower Hamlets Labour Party. Almost everyone who talked to us said exactly the same thing – but no one, save Mr Fitzpatrick, was brave enough to say it on the record.
It is not surprising to see why. Most Bangladeshi residents are also fearful of speaking out in public bar a few brave members of the community.
By Effendi | Published:
March 5, 2010
This week belongs to the Islamic Forum of Europe and the exposure of their entryist tactics in Tower Hamlets.
The picture below features Abjol Miah (on the right) who helped George Galloway become the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow.
By Effendi | Published:
March 4, 2010
Current defenders of the IFE peddle the line that is merely an organisation of ordinary Muslims involved with democratic engagement with the British polity. One such defender, for example, is their fellow-Mawdudist, Bunglawala:
For a number of years now, British Muslims have been told that they must all eschew terrorism and instead seek to influence policy through the process of democratic engagement. In Tower Hamlets we have seen young people – particularly following the deeply unpopular war against Iraq – seeking to do just that and join the local political parties including George Galloway’s Respect party. And instead of being commended for this they get smeared as being “entryists” by people like Fitzpatrick. Of course, Fitzpatrick’s bitterness would have nothing whatsoever to do with the fact – not mentioned by Gilligan – that he is up against George Galloway in the upcoming general election and his majority of 8000 might not be enough to save him – just as the pro-war Oona King’s 10000+ majority failed to save her in 2005.
By Effendi | Published:
March 3, 2010
More fallout from the Channel 4’s Dispatches documentary. The East London Advertiser takes up the story of Peter Golds, whom the ruling Labour group are trying to oust because of his involvement in the programme.
Members of the ruling Labour group are planning to table a resolution to suspend Tory Opposition leader Peter Golds after he took part in journalist Andrew Gilligan’s programme Britain’s Islamic Republic.
They accuse him of leaking confidential documents about the controversial appointment of Lutfur Ali as the £120,000-a-year assistant chief executive.
Gilligan’s programme, which heavily researched breaking news from the East London Advertiser over the past three years about the internal politics of Tower Hamlets and the power block at the Town Hall, examined Mr Ali’s qualifications and questioned his CV.
Peter Golds was a dissenting voice on the appointments panel who challenged Labour’s choice and spoke openly on the programme.
By Effendi | Published:
March 3, 2010
On Monday’s expose of the Islamic Forum Europe (IFE) on Dispatches, Andrew Gilligan conducted an interview with Lutfor Rahman, Labour Leader of the Tower Hamlets council. In the face of overwhelming evidence and given that we now know that a number of councillors are IFE entryists or that a senior member of the IFE helped him win the leadership of the council, Cllr Rahman refuses to deny any of it.
The following is a transcript of that interview taken from Gilligan’s blog.
Q: Lutfur, why is the local Labour Party in special measures?
Cllr Rahman: It has been in special measures since 2001, it’s a question you should direct to the regional office.
Q: But you are the leader of the Labour Party in Tower Hamlets.
Cllr Rahman: The London region could give you that answer.
By Effendi | Published:
March 2, 2010
Inayat Bunglawala’s IEngage organ, as ever, joins the MCB/ELM/IFE phalanx when it is called upon to do so. But the response offered is the same old pile of tired and over-used counter-accusations. No attempt whatsoever is made to address the body of allegations made in the Dispatches documentary, the factual research, the voices from the Bangladeshi community who bravely spoke out against the IFE – on camera. We’re treated to the old strategy of ‘defence by offence’. The offence here is made on the “usual offenders”:
1) “The Jews”
At a time when Israel is enlisting the help of friendly nations to improve its image abroad after its devastating assault on Gaza and the crippling blockade, and the Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary and Justice Secretary are being heavily lobbied by pro-Israel groups to change the war crimes legislation to protect suspected Israeli war criminals from arrest in the UK, one can see more clearly why the efforts of IFE, ELM/LMC and MCB to politically mobilise British Muslims might upset other quarters in British society.
By Effendi | Published:
March 2, 2010
The Islamic Forum Europe (IFE) is a Jamaat-e-Islami entryist organisation which is physically located in the East London Mosque (ELM) with which it is inextricably linked. The present chairman of the ELM is Dr Mohammed Abdul Bari, who is a former president of the IFE and is the current Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain. The director and imam of the East London Mosque are trustees of the group. Of 22 IFE trustees in recent years, only five have not also been trustees or officeholders of the ELM.
So given these incestuous relationships, it is not surprising that the Muslim Council of Britain, now comes rushing to the defence of its Jamaati brother-in-arms, the IFE, in response to yesterday’s Dispatches documentary
In a statement following the broadcast of a Channel 4 documentary on 1 March, media secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, Tufael Ahmed said:
By Effendi | Published:
February 28, 2010
The extent of the intertwined linkages between the East London Mosque, the Islamic Forum Europe, the Muslim Council of Britain and the South Asian far-right Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islam is to be the subject of 2 Channel 4 Dispatches programmes, to be shown on Monday 1st and 8th of March. An accompanying article on the documentay by Andrew Gilligan, who will front the documentary, is in today’s Sunday Telegraph.
The mosque and IFE are inextricably intertwined. Dr Mohammed Abdul Bari, the chairman of the mosque, and its vice-chairman are former IFE presidents.
The director and imam of the mosque are trustees of the group. Of 22 IFE trustees in recent years, only five have not also been trustees or officeholders of the religious centre.
The mosque calls the IFE a “social welfare organisation” and the IFE presents itself as committed to “community cohesion” and “tolerance”.
