Author Archives: Guest

A New Link in Farr’s Pro-Extremist Network?

By Guest | Published: January 27, 2011

This is a guest post by Andy Lambert

Last year, the FCO found itself under scrutiny after a senior British diplomat was dragged through the courts after he was said to have been seen yelling ‘Fucking Jews’ in the gym.

More recently the OSCT was found to have recruited a hardline Salafi (and, like Abu Hamza, a former nightclub bouncer) called Asim Hafeez to the delicate position of Head of Interventions.

Unsurprisingly Asim has used this position to shovel heaps of cash to his fellow Salafi friends and has tried (often successfully) to cut funding to moderate and secular Muslim-led groups such as Quilliam.

Asim, incidentally, is also believed to have been involved in the failed attempt by a gang of civil servants led by Charles Farr to invite the extremist preacher Zakir Naik into the UK to give a series of speeches – against the wishes of the Home Secretary.

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Posted in Dodgy Policy Wonks, Islamism, UK Politics | 77 Comments

The Victimisation of Moderate Muslims

By Guest | Published: January 26, 2011

This is a guest post by Leyton Oriental

We have all read about how moderate/liberal minded Muslims have been the target of assassinations in Pakistan and how some of them have been forced to flee conservative Islamic societies in order to stay alive. But here in the UK, the Muslim community is far more religiously conservative than many Muslim majority societies.

It is shocking but not surprising to learn that one of Britain’s leading moderate Muslim Imams is being hounded out of his job for expressing views which are unpalatable to the conservative Muslims.

There has been a concerted campaign by many Muslims to remove Usama Hasan from his post as Imam of Masjid al-Tawhid in Leyton, East London. The “charges” against him are:

  • Seeking to reconcile Islam with the theory of evolution
  • Claiming that the Hijab is not mandatory
  • Acceptance of secularism in the practice of good governance
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Posted in Obscurantism | 14 Comments

Hizb ut Tahrir decides to make it up

By Guest | Published: January 26, 2011

This is a cross-post by Shiraz Maher from Standpoint Magazine

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My erstwhile friends and comrades in Hizb ut Tahrir – the liberation party, innit – have released a new report on ‘The future for Muslims in Britain’. The new pamphlet professes to look at the British state’s ‘anti-Islamic agenda’ as part of its ‘war on Islam’.

The group’s leadership banned its members from speaking to me after I defected from the party and exposed their internal culture in 2005. It seems, however, they are also banning the shabab from quoting my work.

Imagine my surprise when, thumbing through their paper, I saw my own report (published by Policy Exchange) being extensively quoted.

On page 12 they write:

…there is no agreed definition of ‘extremism’, although they [the Conservatives] persist in formulating policy (despite the lack of such a definition); and that they were considering clamping down on activity they had deemed ‘extremist’, even though it was not violent.

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Posted in Islamism, Your View | 2 Comments

Hizb ut Tahrir Member Jailed for Sexual Assault

By Guest | Published: January 19, 2011

This is a guest post by Amjad Khan

The East London Advertiser reports that a ‘trusted’ Quran teacher has just been jailed for three years and three months for sexual assault. The jury in the case found him guilty of 13 charges of sexual assault between 2005 and 2009 on young girls who he was entrusted to teach. The individual concerned is one Ashraf Miah, who is 38 and from Joseph Street in Mile End. Ashraf, up until very recently, was also a member/activist for the fanatical Islamist group Hizb ut Tahrir (HT).

This is a very tragic tale on many counts. Once again a religious instructor abuses his position of power, once again a religious instructor abuses the trust shown in him by families and communities and once again young lives are ruined due the evil actions of a sexual predator. Also interesting in this case is his association with HT. HT can’t be blamed for the abuse and I’m sure most HT members, obnoxious though they are, would be horrified and embarrassed by Ashraf’s actions. But interestingly, we haven’t heard a word from HT as of yet. One would expect them to publicly condemn Ashraf, but it seems they have gone for the safe route of keeping silent in the hope that the story doesn’t create any bad PR for them. Rumour has it that senior HT activists have even tried to cover up the whole story, whilst others testified in Ashraf’s defence. You’d have expected them to be calling for the death sentence. Maybe they aren’t that different from Catholics after all.

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Posted in Crime, Islamism | 2 Comments

Asian gangs and White girls

By Guest | Published: January 11, 2011

This is a guest post by Ibn Khaldun

Last week, The Times carried a piece on its front page that discussed the seemingly growing phenomenon of Asian gangs, of predominantly Pakistani heritage, sexually exploiting young and vulnerable white girls in the Midlands and the North. The BNP have been openly using this issue for propaganda purposes for a number of years and have aimed at transforming it into an ‘Islam’ issue. The Times, however, have been much more balanced and focused on the importance of discussing the issue out in the open whilst simultaneously challenging the culture of silence that pervades such sensitive issues in this country.

The startling facts of this phenomenon are: There have been 17 court cases across 13 different towns and cities in the UK, predominantly northern towns with strong Northern Pakistani populations. In total, 56 men with an average age of 28 have been found guilty of crimes ranging from abduction to sex with a minor. Three of the 56 were white, 53 were Asian and 50 were Muslims of Pakistani heritage.

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Posted in Education, Racism | 8 Comments

Where are the Bangladesh ‘death squads’ for the UK government to train?

By Guest | Published: January 7, 2011

This article by David Bergman was originally published in New Age

Condemning the British government for its engagement with RAB—without any actual evidence that the training it provides facilitates RAB in violating human rights—risks preventing the organisation from gaining the skills and capacity that might allow it to develop into a human rights compliant organisation.

There has been much in the WikiLeaks cables that is new, revelatory and damning, but the recent ‘disclosure’, published by the Guardian newspaper, claiming wrongdoing by the British government in providing training to Bangladesh’s law enforcement body Rapid Action Battalion is far from being any one of them.

The article describes RAB as a ‘death squad’, and suggests that the British government training may well have increased RAB’s criminality, at one point reporting that its journalists asked the UK’s National Policing Improvement Agency whether its ‘courses in investigative interviewing techniques might not render torture more effective.’

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Posted in Human Rights | Leave a comment

Taseer Assassination: Islamic Terror claims a big scalp

By Guest | Published: January 4, 2011

This is a guest post by Kisan

Another headline grabs top spot on the BBC News website, however this one I had a premonition of a couple of days ago, or you could say access into some insider insight about.

As someone concerned with Islamic terrorism and interested in South Asian affairs I’m a member of various yahoogroups which cover these issues. One such yahoogroup is called Socialist Pakistan News and has many interesting discussions largely from the left-leaning progressive side of Pakistani politics.

Sherry Rahman, a famous Pakistani politician belonging to the PPP, or Peoples Party of Pakistan posted a message regarding efforts undergone by a few brave members to limit the damage done to hapless people booked under the blasphemy laws. Recently a Christian woman was sentenced to death under these laws and Islamic parties are clamouring for her execution. Every year many people are killed by Islamic religious fanatics in Pakistan for blasphemy.

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Posted in Freedom of Religion, Islamism, Terrorism | 9 Comments

Supporting Extremists and Extremism has Major Consequences

By Guest | Published: January 4, 2011

This is a guest post by Rashad Ali

Salman Taseer, the Governor of Punjab’s murder by an Islamism inspired terrorist for defending the right of a Christian woman to holdher personal beliefs is a demonstration of the problems that we face in the World today, where Islamist ideology has given rise to such extreme incidents.

We live in a world where the right to freedom of Faith and speech allow you to express your religious beliefs and conviction. Without which you would be persecuted and oppressed unless you adopted the faith of the ruling classes. It is for this reason that through centuries we have come to the conclusion that the best way to live is in a society where people have both freedom of belief and free speech.

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Posted in Islamism, Terrorism | 4 Comments

The Salafi exploitation of young British Muslim Women

By Guest | Published: December 29, 2010

This is a guest post by Umm Amina – a former Salafi sister

In the year 2001 I contacted the ‘Salafi’ communities at their main headquarters in the UK as I was searching for a good Islamic community and sincere Muslims who would help me learn about Islam and take my studies further.  In  2004, disgusted by their behaviour, attitudes and bigotry, I left them for good.  In this article I want to share my first hand experiences to raise awareness about the way ‘Salafis’ use Islam to prey on young and vulnerable women.   Some people may find some of the contents of this article disturbing but I feel it is essential to bring them out if we are ever to recognise the damage being done by the so called Salafis.

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Posted in Uncategorized, Your View | 28 Comments

Spin Profiles continues spinning

By Guest | Published: December 28, 2010

This is a cross-post by Shiraz Maher from Standpoint Magazine

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The gorgeous Lucy Lips, now freshly tanned from her winter break in the Seychelles, alerts me to an ongoing dispute with Tom Griffin – a writer for David Miller’s smear projects which include Powerbase (formerly Spin Profiles) and the now defunct Neocon Europe.

Readers of this blog will remember that Miller’s website reproduced the work of neo-Nazi Kevin MacDonald as unbiased, objective analysis of Jews including a list of ‘characteristics of Jewish intellectual movements’.

Lucy accused Griffin of being the one who reproduced that material although he has denied it. There is little point in questioning the veracity of his denial. He states:

This allegation is false and I demand that Harry’s Place retract it.

The problem is that Griffin’s boss, David Miller, simply refuses to answer the very simple questions that both Faisal Gazi (from the Spittoon) and I have put to him in the past about this matter.

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Posted in Antisemitism, Your View | Leave a comment

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