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In this mailing:
Decapitation,
Morality Squads and "Five-Star Jihad"
A Month of Islam in Britain:
April 2014
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The number
of so-called taxi-rapes has snowballed to such an extent that a British
judge recently issued a warning that no woman can expect to be safe while
travelling in a cab.
Ibrahim
Munir, an exiled senior leader of the Muslim Brotherhood now living in
Britain, when asked violence would be an option, replied, "Any
possibility."
"Do I
have to change my religion to get the best [banking] deal?" — Lloyds
Bank customer, quoted in The Daily Telegraph.
Islam and Islam-related issues were omnipresent in Britain during the
month of April 2014, and can be categorized into three broad themes: 1)
The British government's growing concern over Islamic extremism and the
domestic security implications of British jihadists in Syria; 2) The
continuing spread of Islamic Sharia law in all aspects of British daily
life; and 3) Ongoing questions of Muslim integration into British
society.
1. Islamic Extremism and Syria-Related
Threats
British Prime Minister David Cameron announced a
"thorough probe" of the Muslim Brotherhood's activities in
Britain. At a press conference, he said:
"We want to challenge the extremist narrative that some Islamist
organisations have put out. What I think is important about the Muslim
Brotherhood is that we understand what this organization is, what it
stands for, what its beliefs are in terms of the path of extremism and
violent extremism, what its connections are with other groups, what its
presence is here in the UK."
The review will be headed by Sir John Jenkins, the British Ambassador
to Saudi Arabia. This has led some analysts to surmise
that the oil-rich nation—which sees the Muslim Brotherhood as a threat to
its own stability—is pressuring Cameron to ban the group from British
soil. (Cameron's announcement also came just weeks after Britain finalized
a deal for the sale of 72 Eurofighter Typhoon strike jets to Saudi
Arabia.) Jenkins has been asked to compile a report on the movement's
"philosophy and values and alleged connections with extremism and
violence."
The Muslim Brotherhood was banned from Egypt and many members expelled
following the coup d'état there in July 2013. The group recently opened a
new headquarters
above an unused kebab shop in Cricklewood, northwest London.
The most senior leader of the Muslim Brotherhood living in exile in
Britain, Ibrahim Munir, denied
claims that the group was moving its British operations from London
to the Austrian city of Graz. The Daily
Mail, a British newspaper, reported on April 12 that the Muslim
Brotherhood was preparing to move its headquarters to Austria in an
"apparent attempt to avoid an inquiry into its activities set up by
the Prime Minister."
Munir appeared to be issuing a threat when he said that banning the
Muslim Brotherhood would increase the risk of terrorist attacks in
Britain. "If this [ban] happened, this would make a lot of people in
Muslim communities think that [peaceful] Muslim Brotherhood values ...
didn't work and now they are designated a terrorist group, which would
make the doors open for all options," Munir said in an April 5 interview
with The Times.
When asked if he meant an option would be violence, Munir replied:
"Any possibility.... If the UK makes this option, you can't predict
[what would happen] with Muslims around the globe, especially the big
Muslim organizations close to the Muslim Brotherhood and sharing its
ideology."
In a related matter, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair on April
23 urged the West to put aside its differences with Russia over Ukraine
in order to face down what he (and many others) believes is the single
biggest threat to global security: Islamic extremism. He said:
"The threat of radical Islam is not abating. It is growing. It is
spreading across the world. It is de-stabilizing communities and even
nations. It is undermining the possibility of peaceful co-existence in an
era of globalization. And in the face of this threat we seem curiously
reluctant to acknowledge it and powerless to counter it effectively …
whatever our other differences, we should be prepared to reach out and
cooperate with the East, and in particular, Russia and China."
But in what appears to be a classic case of the "right
message" being delivered by the "wrong messenger," Blair
was accused of hypocrisy after the Global
Muslim Brotherhood Daily Watch reported that his high-profile
multi-faith charity, the Tony Blair Faith
Foundation, has two senior advisors with close links to the Muslim
Brotherhood.
On April 9, Home Secretary Theresa May published her annual
report on the government's strategy for countering terrorism.
Battle-hardened British jihadists returning from the war in Syria now
pose the most serious threat to British security, according to the
report. "The most significant development in connection with
terrorism during 2013 has been the growing threat from terrorist groups
in Syria," May said in a statement
to the British Parliament.
An assessment
by the official Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) concurs: "The
nature of the conflict in Syria and the emergence of the al-Nusrah Front,
which has declared its allegiance to al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri,
is leading to the country becoming an increasingly significant potential
source of future threats to the UK and UK interests overseas."
Adding to the sense of foreboding, William Shawcross, the chairman of
the Charity Commission, which regulates charities in England and Wales,
said Islamic extremism is the "most deadly" problem faced by
British charities.
In an interview with the Sunday
Times on April 20, Shawcross said: "The problem of Islamist
extremism and charities ... is not the most widespread problem we face in
terms of abuse of charities, but is potentially the most deadly. And it
is, alas, growing. I'm sure that in places like Syria and Somalia it is
very, very difficult for agencies always to know what the end use of
their aid is, but they've got to be particularly vigilant."
Shawcross said that the commission was "taking tough
measures" against any charity that was "sending cash to
extremist groups in Syria" or "dispatching young Britons for
training in Syria by al-Qaida or other extremist groups."
He also said it was "ludicrous" that people with convictions
for terrorism or money laundering were not automatically disqualified
from setting up charities or becoming trustees, and that he has asked the
prime minister to make changes to the law.
On April 24, British counter-terrorism officials launched a nationwide campaign aimed at
encouraging Muslim women to contact the police if they were concerned
that their family members or close friends might be preparing to travel
to Syria to fight.
The UK's counter-terrorism chief, Helen Ball, warned
that Britons who fight in Syria are crossing a "red line" and
will be investigated by police. She said she was "very
concerned" about the growing numbers of British nationals travelling
to fight in Syria and warned that would-be fighters are at risk of being
"preyed upon" and radicalized by extremist terrorist groups, as
well as killed on the battlefield. Ball also said that 40 Syria-related
arrests were made in the first three months of 2014, up from 25 in all of
last year.
On April 18, it emerged that Abdullah
Deghayes, an 18-year-old from the southern English coastal town of
Brighton, died while fighting in Syria. One of Abdullah's brothers, Amer,
20, suffered a bullet wound to the stomach in the battle, while another
brother, Jafar (at 16, he is believed to be the youngest British jihadist
fighting in Syria), was unhurt. Abdullah's father, Abubaker, said his son
"died a martyr."
The total number of British jihadists in Syria is estimated to be in
the hundreds; as many as 20 are thought to have died in the fighting.
On April 20, a British citizen who is fighting with the rebels in
Syria released a video
tour of the home he shares with fellow fighters. The man—known by the
nom de guerre Abu Abdullah and believed to be a member of the extremist
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [ISIS]—has appeared in a number of similar
videos, in which he calls for British Muslims to join him in Syria.
In the video, entitled "Five-Star Jihad," Abdullah seeks to
present a realistic portrayal of the life of a rebel fighter, in contrast
to many who have tried to glamorize the jihad in Syria. "Today we
wanted to show you the basic living of the brothers in this base,"
says Abdullah. "There has been a lot of talk of this so-called
five-star jihad—and the way the mujahedeen have been living in these
villas and these mansions and cupboards full of sweets. But it is far
from that."
2. Sharia Law in Britain
On April 3, the British government launched a public
consultation on whether or not to introduce student loans that are
compliant with Islamic Sharia law, which forbids loans that involve the
payment of interest.
The move seeking input from the general public comes amid rising
complaints from Muslim students, who argue that the existing
interest-based student loan system is unfairly forcing them to choose
between getting a university degree and staying true to their religious
beliefs.
The government says the establishment of a scheme that would enable
Muslim students to finance their degrees in a way that complies with
Islamic principles would "ensure that anyone with the ability and
desire can go to university."
Critics counter that the dispute over interest-bearing student loans
follows stepped-up demands for Sharia-compliant banking and insurance as
well as credit cards, mortgages and pension funds, which—taken
together—are contributing to the establishment of parallel Islamic
financial and legal systems in Britain.
Separately, Lloyds Bank was accused of religious discrimination after
dropping overdraft fees for Muslims. The bank sent customers a booklet in
April explaining the new policy. While non-Muslims will have to pay up to
£80 (€97, $135) a month for an overdraft, Muslims were told they would
escape the charges. The document
(p.26) says: "We are removing the monthly overdraft management fee
of £6 from our Islamic Account, Islamic Student Account and Islamic
Graduate Account. So, if you use an unplanned overdraft on these
accounts, there won't be any charges."
On its website Lloyds
says: "Following the guidance of Islam is an important part of
everyday life, so we've made it an important part of everyday banking.
Our Sharia committee of two independent scholars has guided us to create
an account that's right for you."
The Daily
Telegraph quoted one Lloyd's customer as saying: "I can't
believe that they're thinking of offering one account for Muslims and
making everyone else pay for the same service. Do I have to change my
religion to get the best deal?"
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Lloyds Bank, one
of the UK's largest, was accused of religious discrimination after
dropping overdraft fees for Muslims. Non-Muslims will have to pay up to
£80 a month for an overdraft. (Image source: Kake)
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Also, apparently in an attempt to please its Muslim customers, the
fast food giant Subway removed ham and bacon from almost 200 outlets in
Britain and switched to halal (Arabic for "permitted" or
"lawful") meat alternatives.
On April 24, a group of British lawyers launched a new organization
called "Sharia Watch UK"
to "highlight and expose those movements in Britain which advocate
and support the advancement of Islamic law in British society." The
group says it seeks to "explain and describe Sharia law—what the
organization calls "Britain's Blind Spot"—in relation to
specific issues, primarily the treatment of women, freedom of speech,
finance, and the marketplace.
Meanwhile, British authorities said they have widened
their investigation into an alleged plot by Muslim fundamentalists to
Islamize public schools in England and Wales. The expanded probe now
encompasses at least 25 schools in Birmingham, up from initially four.
Investigators are also looking into new allegations that Muslim
extremists have infiltrated schools in other British cities, including
Bradford and Manchester.
The plot—dubbed Operation
Trojan Horse—consists of a strategy to wrest control of schools by
ousting non-Muslim head teachers and staff at secular state schools and
replacing them with individuals who will run the schools according to
strict Islamic principles.
An official report leaked to the Daily
Telegraph revealed that schools in Birmingham are illegally
segregating pupils, discriminating against non-Muslim students and
restricting the official syllabus to "comply with conservative
Islamic teaching." Girls in some schools were forced to sit at the
back of the class, some Christian pupils were left to "teach
themselves" and a Muslim hate preacher was invited to speak to
children.
An anonymous mother of a pupil at the Park View School in Birmingham said
that "older boys are going round in these morality squads telling
off girls if they do not wear veils. They bully the girls and stop them
mingling with boys in the playground."
She also said Muslims have clamped down on Easter celebrations at the
school. "My daughter tried to bring in an Easter egg for a friend
and one boy grabbed it and smashed it against a wall," she said.
"Another girl of about 11 brought in a little Easter bunny toy that
she wanted to show her friends. They grabbed that off her too. All talk
of Christmas and other non-Muslim festivals is banned. The teachers just
turn a blind eye to it."
At the Madani School, a taxpayer funded "faith school" in
Leicester, wall
posters warn students that music is a tool of Satan. The poster reads
as follows:
"Listening to music is haram [prohibited] and a sin. Stay away
from evil acts such as listening to music and encourage others to do the
same too! Music is a tool of Shaytan [Satan]. The playing of musical
instruments and listening to them is haram. According to the Law of
Allah, one who participates in music is regarded as a fasiq [sinful
person]. One of the harms of music is that it distracts one from his
Creator. The messages of today's music follow a general theme of love,
drugs and freedom. Appearance of music and stringed instruments is a
cause of Allah's anger. It is a tool of Shaytan by which he attracts
people to commit wrongful acts. Music is Haram."
3. Muslim Integration
On April 17, the Sheffield Crown Court found Aras Hussein, 21, guilty
of beheading
his girlfriend, Reema Ramzan, 18, with kitchen knife in her apartment
in Sheffield in June 2013. He was sentenced to life, with a minimum of 20
years in prison.
Hussein said he was suffering from schizophrenia at the time of the
attack, but jurors rejected his claim that his condition diminished his
responsibility for the killing, the motive for which remains unclear.
Justice Laura Cox said Hussein, who was born in Iraq, had used
"severe and sustained" force to decapitate Reema in a
"chilling and brutal" attack. She said:
"The pathological evidence indicated that she was likely to be
alive while decapitation was taking place although at some stage,
mercifully, she would have lost consciousness. The pain, terror, anguish
and desperation she would therefore have suffered, as you inflicted these
appalling injuries upon her and ended her life, is truly horrifying to
contemplate. Why you did this to a young woman who was your girlfriend is
unclear and may never be known."
Also at the Sheffield Crown Court, five
Muslim men are facing charges of sexual offenses and trafficking
against 13-year-old Erika Kacicova. The charges relate to the week-long
disappearance of the girl from her home in Sheffield in August 2013. A
major police operation ensued and the teenager was eventually found in nearby
Bradford and returned to her family.
On April 23, municipal officials in Rochdale—home to a Muslim
child-rape gang—said that six taxi drivers had lost
their licenses after they were judged to pose a potential risk to the
public, either because they had an existing criminal conviction or
because the council believed there was a reasonable cause to question
their suitability to be a cabbie.
Britain has been in the throes of a wave of sex crimes involving
predatory Muslim taxi drivers raping female passengers. The number of
so-called taxi
rapes has snowballed to such an extent that a British judge recently
issued a warning that no woman can expect to be safe while traveling in a
cab.
On April 4, the radical Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary and many of
his followers gathered in front of the Lebanese Embassy in London to
protest the attempted arrest of the Tripoli-based Islamist Sheikh Omar
Bakri Muhammad. Lebanese authorities are cracking down on hardline Sunni
Islamist movements across the country. Bakri was instrumental in
developing the London branch of the hardline Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir,
which is committed to establish an Islamic caliphate. He was banned from
the UK in July 2006.
Choudary's group—shouting slogans such as "Death to the UK"
and "Death to America"—was confronted (photos
and video)
by Britain
First Defense Force, an organization established to protest Muslim
gangs that are seeking to enforce Sharia law on British streets.
Meanwhile, a British Muslim grassroots movement called The Honesty Policy is trying
to debunk some of the "negative stereotypes" surrounding
Muslims in the UK. On April 15, the group released a four-minute video, Happy British Muslims,
which shows Muslims—young and old, male and female, with or without
headscarves, Arabs, Asians, Persians and Turks—laughing, singing, smiling
and dancing to a pop-music hit called "Happy." Since its debut,
the video has been viewed more than 1.5 million times.
The Honesty Policy describes itself as a "group of young and
curious Muslims saying what you're thinking. Honestly." It says it
made the video to show that British Muslims are just as happy, eclectic,
cosmopolitan, diverse, creative, fun and outgoing as anyone else.
Muslim hardliners were quick to attack the video, calling it
"misguided," "Satanic" and "haram" (Arabic
for "forbidden" or "unlawful"). Some said that it
violates Sharia law because it shows women dancing and singing in public.
A YouTube video entitled, "Response to the
Honesty Policy" accuses the makers of "Happy British
Muslims" of being "sell-outs." A young Muslim woman
moderates:
"If you look beyond the dancing, the music and the downright
ridiculous attempt to look cool, all you have is a bad PR stunt to
promote integration and for us to embrace the British culture. … This
video is simply a response to the media and authorities, that after much
pressure of trying to create your 'British Muslims,' you've got us. How
exactly? Exhibit A: You have Muslims free-mixing. Exhibit B: You've got
the music. Exhibit C: the sell-out Muslims, aka the wannabe non-Muslims.
Need I say more?"
"So what's the big deal? It's like the Honesty Policy said: 'This
video is to show the world that despite the negative press, stereotypes
and discrimination we are burdened with, we should respond with smiles
and joy, not anger.'
"Are you seriously trying to tell me that while the UK government
has essentially banned Islam, and attacked every part of the Sharia law,
we should be smiles and joy? While Muslims are being massacred globally,
our women are being raped, our children are orphaned, we should be just
smiles and joy?
"In essence this pathetic video is diverting the Muslim from
fulfilling his obligations towards the ummah [global Muslim community]
and working for Islam. … This is a serious matter. … Our sisters have
felt the need to compromise Islam and their modesty all for the sake of
acceptance. Acceptance should not come at the cost of your honor.
"This video, rather than showing Islam, actually promotes the
haram as acceptable and fun. What exactly are you telling the
non-Muslims, that you can dance your way to heaven? Let's be honest. If
the prophet [Mohammed] were here today, he would never be preaching like
this. As a matter of fact, he would be doing the complete opposite. He
would be condemning these actions and speaking out against this
evil."
Finally, the long-running debate over multiculturalism and the erosion
of free speech in Britain was reignited after a candidate in the European
elections was arrested
on suspicion of religious or racial harassment after quoting a
passage—written by Britain's wartime leader Winston Churchill—about Islam
during a campaign speech.
Paul Weston, chairman of the party Liberty GB, made the address on
the steps of Winchester Guildhall, in Hampshire on April 26. Less the a
minute after he began speaking, a member of the public took offense at
the quote—from Churchill's 1899 book, The River War—and called
police. The first interview Weston gave after being released from jail
can be viewed on YouTube here.
Soeren Kern is a
Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute.
He is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo
de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook and on
Twitter.
Iran:
A Big Lie and Getting Away With It
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The truth
is that the Rouhani administration has not been any more
"moderate" than its predecessor, the Ahmadinejad
administration. If anything, it is worse. The rate of executions, for
instance, has increased even more alarmingly.
There is a common saying, "If you want to tell a big lie and not
be caught at it, don't tell a complete lie; rather, tell two-third lies
and one-third truth, for that way the crust of truth will cover the core
of lie." That is exactly what Saeed Kamali Dehghan did when he wrote
about the situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran under President
Rouhani. In his latest article, published on May 15, 2014 in the prestigious
Guardian, he claims that "Canada is getting it wrong on Iran;" and to
prove that claim, he constructs a clever narrative that suits his aim
much more than it conforms to reality.
He states that Canada broke off diplomatic relations with the Tehran
regime, and claims that this means Canada, in a pro-Israeli move, has
toughened its stance on Iran. What he does not say is that Canada has had
no formal relations with the Islamic Republic for a long time. There was
effectively no contact since the Canadian ambassador was expelled from
Tehran in 2007. That expulsion came after Canada successively rejected
the two individuals the Islamic Republic had nominated for the post of
ambassador to Ottawa – both had apparently been involved in seizing the
U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979 and taking its diplomats hostage.
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Pictured at
right, Iran's smiling President Hassan Rouhani. At left, his
predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"Kind words, a smile and a charm offensive are not a substitute
for real action." — Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs John
Baird. (Image source: Wikimedia Commons)
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Since 2007, each country's mission in the other country has been
headed, at Iran's insistence, by a chargé d'affaires rather than an
ambassador, and relations have been drastically circumscribed. However,
this was not the end: Canada later decided unilaterally to shut down the
Islamic Republic's embassy and expel its diplomats due to strong
allegations of espionage and sabotage against these diplomats.
Iranian activists in Canada, for their part, have been asking Ottawa
to expel the Islamic Republic's diplomats since 2003, when the Canadian
photojournalist Zahra Kazemi was murdered in a prison in Iran. They asked
again in 2009, when the regime in Tehran stepped up its efforts to crack
down on the protesters after the rigged presidential elections.
Kamali Dehghan also claims that while other Western countries seem to
have seized upon the opportunity to engage with the "moderate"
President Rouhani, Canada is doing exactly the opposite and instead is
siding with "dodgy exiled groups" such as the MEK and
"rightwing Israelis." As such, he not only attributes all those
Iranians in Canada who are fighting against the tyranny of the Islamic
Republic to the causes of the MEK and supposedly "rightwing
Israelis," but also tries very hard to convince the reader that
Canada is wrong not to accept Rouhani as a moderate.
The truth is, however, that the Rouhani administration has not been
any more "moderate" than its predecessor, the Ahmadinejad
administration, within Iran. If anything, it is worse. While Iran
initially had the highest per capita execution rate in the world prior to
Rouhani's taking office, the rate of executions has increased even more
alarmingly under his rule. More than 600 executions have been carried out
since he took office in August 2013 – with as many as 20 executions alone
during the week of Rouhani's "charm offensive" at the United
Nations.
Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur on Iran,
has thoroughly documented the horrific treatment the Iranian prisoners
endure. According to his report: physical torture, including beating,
whipping and assault occurs in 100% of the cases; sexual torture, including
rape, molestation, and violence to genitals, occurs in 60% of the cases;
and psychological and environmental torture, such as solitary
confinement, are also prevalent.
One recent shocking example of the rampant violence perpetrated
against the Iranian prisoners was the brutal raid by the prison guards
against the Ward 350 Evin Prison inmates on April 17, 2014. Rouhani has
not only remained silent about the crimes committed in Ward 350, he
promoted Head of the Iran Prisons Organization, Gholam-Hossein Esmaili,
to the position of Director General of the Justice Department in Tehran
Province.
According to Dr. Shaheed's recent testimony, there are presently at
least 895 prisoners of conscience and political prisoners in Iran. Among
them are political activists, religious practitioners, human rights
defenders, civic activists, student activists, journalists, labor
activists and other civil society activists. And most of the opposition
activists imprisoned before Rouhani became president are also still incarcerated.
As for tolerance, despite President Rouhani's initial promises to
ensure greater tolerance of religious minorities in Iran, the Supreme
Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, recently issued a fatwa calling on Iranians
to avoid any interactions with members of the Baha'i faith. Nevertheless,
the persecution of the Baha'is continues under Rouhani even more
thoroughly than before. A number of Baha'is have recently been murdered;
a larger number expelled from work and school, as well as sent to prison,
and the old Baha'i cemetery in Shiraz has been razed to ground by
bulldozers.
In the meantime, the Islamic Republic also incites hatred and violence
against other religious and ethnic minorities, and violates their
political, social, religious, economic, cultural, linguistic and
educational rights. Balochis, Kurds, Arabs, and Christians have recently
been imprisoned on spurious charges such as "spreading corruption on
earth."
Although Rouhani speaks eloquently about gender equality, women
continue to face widespread and systematic discrimination in education,
employment, state benefits, family relations and access to justice.
Journalists are still prosecuted under Rouhani. Lesbian and gay people
also continue to be victims of discrimination and violence under Rouhani.
We just wanted to bring these facts to Mr. Kamali Dehghan's attention
so that he will know, in case he does not know, that this is why Canada
is not fooled by the Islamic Republic and warns that "kind words, a smile and a charm
offensive are not a substitute for real action." In the end, we must
congratulate Mr. Kamali Dehghan for his clever choice of words throughout
his recent article that casts reality in such a misleading light.
Just to mention one case, when he says that "Zahra Kazemi died
while in jail in Iran under torture because of a skull fracture," he
attempts to downplay that Kazemi was indeed ruthlessly raped and then
killed in prison under torture -- a murder committed by Tehran's Chief
Prosecutor, Saeed Mortazavi, who struck her on the head and thereby
caused the fatal skull fracture. No need to mention, of course, that he
got away with it.
- Dr. Avideh Motmaen-Far,
Journalist, Political Activist,Toronto
- Shabnam Assadollahi,
Human Rights Activist, Freelance Journalist, Ottawa
- Dr. Ahmad Mostafalou,
Political Activist, Montreal
- Afshin Afshin Jam, Human
Rights and Political Activist, Vancouver
- Shadi Paveh, Human Rights
Activist, Ottawa
- Sima Tajdini, Human
Rights Activist, Toronto
- Mehrdad Rahbar, Human
Rights Activist, Artist, Vancouver
- Marie-France DelBorrello,
Human Right Activist, Vancouver
- Mehran Mahboobi, Workers
Rights Activist, Toronto
- Cyrus Assadi, Retired
Engineer, Ottawa
- Soheyla Dorostkar, Human
Rights Activist, Ottawa
- Dr. Nouri Assemi, Ottawa
- Dr. Manouchehr Assemi,
Ottawa
- Nina Taban, Toronto
- Shahbaz Sobhani, Halifax,
Nova Scotia
- Parivash Zati,Retired
Teacher, Toronto
- Shahrzad Haddadi, Retired
Nurse, Ottawa
- Mehran Amiri, Human
Rights Activist, Vancouver:
- Shohreh Ghanbari, Artist,
Human Rights Activist, Vancouver
- Moe Eskandarpour, Human
Right Activist, Vancouver
- Mehrdad Amiri, Human
Right Activist, Montreal
- Shirin Mehrbod, Singer,
Human Right Activist, Montreal
- Taha Hassaniani,
Journalist, Political Analyst, Toronto
- Mansoureh Nasserchian,
Political Activist, Radio Producer, New Brunswick
- Hamid Ghahramani,
Political Activist, Toronto
UK:
"The Islamic Republic of Tower Hamlets"
Who Is Mayor Lutfur Rahman?
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"One
day our representatives will govern this country." — Mayor Lutfur
Rahman, standing for reelection as Mayor of Tower Hamlets.
"There
was a clear diversion of funding away from secular bodies serving the
whole community to faith-based or religious groups serving only sections
of the community." — Andrew Gilligan, The Telegraph.
Lutfur Rahman, the Bangladesh-born Muslim elected mayor of Tower
Hamlets, East London, was accused by BBC's Panorama of
doubling public funding to Bangladeshi and Somali Muslim groups from £1.3
million ($2.9m) to £3.6 million ($6m) at the recommendation of council
officers.
The Secretary for the Department for Communities and Local Government
[DCLG], Eric Pickles, had apparently sent inspectors into Tower Hamlets
to investigate Rahman's activities. But when, on April 4, the
Metropolitan Police Service received three files from the DCLG, and
police investigators reviewed the allegations, they found no evidence of
fraud or other offenses. In response, Mr.
Rahman labeled BBC's Panorama report as having "clear racist and
Islamophobic overtones targeting the Bangladeshi Muslim community in
Tower Hamlets."
Rahman, a solicitor specializing in family law, describes himself as a
liberal and a social democrat. But many consider him as secretive,
sly, inept, anti-gay and a frontman for Islamists. The question now
in London, before local elections on May 22, is whether Rahman is a
liberal or actually a fundamentalist.
In September 2010, Lutfur Rahman was selected by the Tower Hamlets
Labour Party as its candidate for the first directly elected mayor of the
borough. The party's national executive committee removed him as the
party's candidate, however, after an allegation that he was closely
linked with the Islamic Forum of Europe, an Islamic fundamentalist group.
The Islamic Forum of Europe has a youth wing, Young Muslim
Organization, based in Tower Hamlets and established mainly by the
Bangladeshi expatriates.
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Lutfur Rahman.
(Image source: lutfurrahman.com)
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Journalist and radio presenter Andrew Gilligan, who was named
Journalist of the Year at the 2008 British Press Awards for his work on
London's mayoral elections, wrote a series of reports on Lutfur Rahman
and Tower Hamlets. Gilligan
writes:
Rahman has created funds that organise pre-election events and reward
his supporters and potential supporters with public money. Of the
£593,512 granted, at least £327,645 (55 per cent) has gone to Muslim
organisations.
Grants (listed here and here) included a total of £37,195 to several groups
closely associated with the IFE. A further £32,500 of public money has
been paid to UK-based Bengali-language newspapers, media organisations
and TV stations – influential with Rahman's electorate – which have given
the mayor fawning coverage.
Other grants included £1,800 to an Islamic religious teachers'
organisation for its annual day out to the Isle of Wight and £1,500 for a
"festival of sneakers."
...
Of the £907,180 given to run lunch clubs for residents over 50,
£515,280 (57 per cent) was allocated to Muslim organisations, to lunch
clubs described by the council as exclusively for Bangladeshis or
Somalis, or to clubs which from their own publicity are aimed at an
exclusively Muslim clientele.
Muslims make up 34.5% of Tower Hamlets' population; 32% of Tower
Hamlets' people are Bangladeshi. Lutfur Rahman has been accused of
serving a community for his own purpose. Gilligan also wrote:
You wouldn't know this from the makeup of Lutfur Rahman's ruling
cabinet, which is 100 per cent Bangladeshi and Muslim, or from his
grants. In 2012, the council changed its policy to ensure that "the decisions
for all awards over £1,000 were to be made by the Mayor under his
executive authority".
After that time, as both the BBC and I have catalogued, there was a
clear diversion of funding away from secular bodies serving the whole
community to faith-based or religious groups serving only sections of the
community.
Labour Party leader Ed Milliband hinted the same during a visit to
Brick Lane on May 7 to support Labour's mayoral candidate, John Biggs. Milliband
said, "Not serving one set of people in the borough as against
another set of people in the borough. It's serving all the people right
across the borough. That is the politics that John represents."
Abdul Gaffar Chawdhury, a Bangladeshi journalist, who lived in London
for more than three decades, wrote in an April 16 article in a
national Bengali newspaper, that Tower Hamlets has become a stronghold
for Jamaat-e-Islam, a Wahhabi religious and political group. He writes,
"Some progressive Bangladeshi expatriates, living in London, are now
labeling the borough under Lutfur Rahman as 'Islamic Republic of Tower
Hamlets'." Chawdhury continues that in 1980s and 1990s, Tower
Hamlets was a center of cultural movement and progressive people, but
that after Rahman became mayor, unfortunately it turned into a den
for Jamaat-e-Islam.
In 2008, Rahman, then the council leader, received
a visit from the controversial Saudi cleric Sheikh Adel Al-Kalbani,
who last year was refused entry into Britain. At the time, Al-Kalbani's
visit gave Rahman -- also a
close ally of Anjem Choudhury, the well known Islamist and spokesman
for the Islamist group Islam4UK -- the image of an Islamist sympathizer.
The former head Imam of Mecca, Al-Kalbani was in London's East End to
meet local council leaders for a "private meeting" at Tower
Hamlets. The meeting was hugely
controversial as Rahman and others held it behind closed doors and
refused to disclose what was discussed.
Rahman, who is again standing for the post of Executive Mayor again
this month, has never discouraged some of the Islamic values that seem
incompatible with the modern European era. Instead he apparently
found it worrying
that some Muslim women were anglicizing their names and removing their
hijabs. On September 18, at a reception ceremony arranged by the
Greater Sylhet Development & Welfare Council, Mayor Rahman said,
"We Bangladeshis are not only Members of Parliament and a Mayor
here, but also a big part of British economy. In future, we will see more
Bangladeshi representatives here, and one day our representatives will
govern this country."
The Telegraph has listed
Rahman as number 53 of the "Top 100 most influential
Left-wingers" in Britain. His Bangladeshi and Somali supporters call
him "the only non-white mayor" in order to attract non-white
votes.
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