Islamophobia Watch

An elderly Sikh who describes Islam as a "beast" and once provided a character reference for Nick Griffin during his racial hatred trial is set to become the British National Party's first non-white member.

Rajinder Singh has been sympathetic towards Britain's far-right party for much of the past decade even though he currently remains barred from becoming a member because of the colour of his skin.

But last weekend the BNP's leadership took their first steps towards dropping its membership ban on non-whites after the Human Rights Commission threatened the party with legal action. The move will be put to a vote of members soon.

Martin Wingfield, the BNP's communications and campaigns officer, has already put forward the case for Mr Singh's membership, telling members on its website: "I say adapt and survive and give the brave and loyal Rajinder Singh the honour of becoming the first ethnic minority member of the BNP."

A BNP spokesman said last night: "He is perhaps the kind of immigrant you want if you are going to have them." Mr Singh, a former teacher from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, says he would be "honoured" to become a card-carrying member of the BNP.

Mr Singh and another Sikh from Slough who goes by the pseudonym Ammo Singh have previously co-operated with the BNP and have been used by the party's leadership to try to woo Asian supporters, particularly Hindus and Sikhs living in areas where tensions with Muslims run high. The party has had little success, however, with all mainstream Sikh and Hindu groups widely condemning the BNP.

But Rajinder Singh and Ammo Singh – who keeps his identity secret but is thought to be an accountant in his late thirties – have answered Mr Griffin's call, thanks to the BNP's staunchly anti-Islamic rhetoric since September 11.

Mainstream Sikh groups said they were appalled. Dr Indarjit Singh, director of the Network of Sikh Organisations, said: "Sikhism stresses equality for all human beings. Therefore Sikhs who are true to their faith, will having nothing whatsoever to do with any party that favours any one section of the community."

Independent, 20 November 2009

Click to read more ...

As the police are granted more time to question the five individuals apprehended on suspicion of inciting terrorism overseas, the family of Shaikh Asif Farooqui has released a statement expressing their shock and dismay at the arrest of the 62 year old preacher. The family's statement reads:

"It is simply incredible to those that know him and his work to imagine he could be involved in the promotion or incitement of any kind of violence. It is particularly shocking that, having influenced so many, young and old, male and female, to live as law-abiding, trustworthy citizens, he is now being accused of actions which he has so openly opposed for so long. He has always gone out of his way to foster good relations with the local police in order to work together as a community and this makes his arrest all the more disgraceful and unacceptable."

ENGAGE, 19 November 2009

Peter Tatchell is given space at Comment is Free to promote the "Universal Children's Day and International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women" demonstration on Saturday – which, despite its grandiose title, is just another stupid stunt by One Law for All, a front organisation for Mariam Namazie and the Worker Communist Party of Iran.

Tatchell writes plaintively that "the turn out in Hyde Park will probably be quite small" – which, based on previous experience, is a realistic prediction. The explanation is that anyone with a shred of political judgement baulks at stirring up Islamophobia in co-operation with a bunch of sectarian nutters like the WPI. For Tatchell, however, the problem is that leftists and liberals "get squeamish when it comes to challenging human rights abuses committed in the name of Islam".

The WPI appeals to its supporters to "Show your opposition to Sharia law and all religious-based tribunals in Britain, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and elsewhere" (emphasis added), and Tatchell himself claims that he and other supporters of Saturday's demonstration "reject all religious laws and courts, including those inspired by Judaist and Christian fundamentalism". Why, then, do Tatchell and the WPI concentrate exclusively on attacking Islamic religious tribunals? We never hear a peep from them about the Beth Din courts that operate within the Orthodox Jewish community, even though their rules on divorce are considerably more discriminatory against women than those of Sharia tribunals.

The reason of course is that Tatchell is less interested in women's rights than in generating some publicity for himself by stoking the fires of anti-Muslim bigotry.

The family of a student left with a pendant embedded in her face after a sickening racist assault have expressed their anger after her attackers escaped jail. The two girls and one boy, all aged 16, were given referral orders or community sentences at Rochdale Magistrates Court on Monday morning, following the incident, which took place in June in the children's playground in Springfield Park.

The uncle of the victim, who has asked not to be named, said his family would be disappointed with the sentences. He added: "This was an horrific attack so it is disappointing that the perpetrators have escaped custodial sentences. It sends the wrong message that if you launch a racist attack, you won't be jailed."

The victim had gone to the park with her three young sisters, aged between five and 11 and her sister in law, who was with her 18 month old baby. The pair took the younger children to play on the baby swings, but they were confronted by one of the 16 year old girls and Kirsty Leigh Hood, 19, who began verbally abusing them, including a chant of "BNP".

The 16-year-old boy and the other girl later approached the victim and her sister in law and also became confrontational. When the boy mumbled something at the victim, she told him to speak English, to which he responded "I'm more British than you". The boy then suggested to one of the girls that she should pull the victim's headscarf off, and it was at this point that the girl punched the victim in the face, which such force that the pendant from her bracelet became embedded in her eye.

Rochdale Observer, 187 November 2009

Writing at Islam Online, Inayat Bunglawala examines how Anwar Al-Awlaki's support for the Fort Hood killings has been used to promote "a modern version of a McCarthyite witch-hunt against leading UK Islamic organizations and Muslim individuals".

Click to read more ...

Unite Against Fascism – Festival of Unity
Saturday November 21, 7pm-9.45pm
Victoria Hall, Sheepcote Road, Harrow HA1 2JE

Brent & Harrow Unite Against Fascism invites you to a celebration of Harrow's diversity with speakers, great entertainment and refreshments.

Speakers include Tony McNulty MP, Bob Crow General Secretary RMT, Weyman Bennett Unite Against Fascism, Jo Lang President Harrow NUT, Abdul-Omer Mohsin Unite Convenor, Harrow & Edgware Bus Garages.

With entertainment from Mecca2Medina, Lady S, Ian Saville Socialist Magician, Truthseeker, DPZ and Shanakee.

Come along bring friends and family and enjoy the warm atmosphere of unity that is our community, black and white. Union banners welcome.

Fathima Rifqa Bary was present only in smiling photographs at a Downtown rally of her supporters yesterday.

The 17-year-old Columbus runaway is in foster care until a Franklin County Juvenile Court judge decides where she should live. The former New Albany High School student says her father threatened to kill her for leaving Islam for Christianity. She ran away from their Northeast Side home in July, fleeing to the Florida home of married pastors whom she met on Facebook.

Mohamed Bary denies his daughter's accusations, and authorities in Ohio and Florida have found no credible threat to her safety.

But her supporters say the authorities are being ignorant at best and malicious at worst. They say the girl, who goes by Rifqa, will be killed if she is returned to her family because Islamic law mandates it and Muslim ideology is violent and dangerous.

About 120 people gathered in a small park across from the S. High Street courthouse for the rally. A hearing had been scheduled for yesterday but was postponed until Dec. 22.

Speakers included Simon Deng, a Sudanese man who spoke of his enslavement by Muslims as a child, and Nonie Darwish, director of Former Muslims United, based in Granada Hills, Calif. Behind the speaker's lectern was a banner showing Muslim girls and women who have been maimed or killed for various offenses against faith or family, said conservative blogger Pamela Geller, a rally organizer. "We don't need another martyr," she said. "We have to win."

A general theme at the rally was that Islam is threatening the U.S. Constitution and American freedoms. "My concern is for the way that Islam is creeping into our society and trying to change it," said Don Berger of the East Side. "So I'm here in support of Rifqa and that she keeps her freedom." Several at the rally wore T-shirts that read: "Islam is of the devil."

Columbus Dispatch, 17 November 2009

See also LoonWatch, 16 November 2009

Standing precariously on a bin as thousands of people swarmed into George Square banging drums and chanting, anti-racist campaigner Aamer Anwar yesterday proclaimed a victory for the people of Glasgow over "racism, fascism and the Scottish Defence League (SDL)".

His celebration followed a day in which the far-right group's threat to march on Glasgow Central Mosque came to nothing, as police penned its members into a pub before bussing them to various spots on the periphery of the city, extinguishing the chances of a conflict before it had the chance to ignite. There were a few minor skirmishes in and around the city centre between the tiny SDL contingent and rival demonstrators, who were out in their thousands. Five people were arrested.

Although both sides claimed to have achieved their aims, the sheer numbers that mustered under the banner of Scotland United, a broad-spectrum alliance of political parties, trade unions and civil society groups, demonstrated that most of Glasgow has little truck with the 'anti-Islamic' policies of the SDL and its English counterpart.

Mr Anwar, speaking at the head of a thousand protesters as they marched into George Square, said: "Just over 100 members of the Scottish and English Defence Leagues came to Glasgow today, skulked in a pub and were then bussed off away from the city centre. We proved that the only group that the people of Glasgow would tolerate on their streets were Scotland United. I would call this a victory."

At the same time as the SDL's brief protest, the Scotland United rally at Glasgow Green heard speakers including Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie, Labour MP Mohammed Sarwar and the Rev Ian Galloway from the Church of Scotland. They praised Scotland's multiculturalism and slammed the SDL, with Mr Sarwar labelling its members "nuts".

He said: "The message from here is loud and clear: BNP, Scottish Defence League, English Defence League are not allowed to march on the streets of Glasgow. Scotland is united against these thugs and fascists."

In a rousing speech, Ms Sturgeon said: "I'm proud to be standing shoulder to shoulder with Scotland's Muslim communities, with all of Scotland's communities. We are a diverse county, a multicultural county and that is what makes us strong. We are proud to defend that multiculturalism every single day or whenever it is put under attack."

Sunday Herald, 15 November 2009

Some of Britain's most dangerous Al-Qaeda leaders are promoting jihad from inside high-security prisons by smuggling out propaganda for the internet and finding recruits. In an authoritative report, Quilliam, a think tank funded by the Home Office, claims "mismanagement" by the Prison Service is helping Al-Qaeda gain recruits and risks "strengthening jihadist movements".

Sunday Times, 15 November 2005

Although the study is not yet available online, the reliability of Quilliam's allegations may perhaps be judged by the shock-horror revelation in their press release that "Faraj Hassan Al-Saad, a Libyan detainee then fighting extradition to Italy on terrorism charges, used prison call boxes to appear live on the Islam Channel" which is "run by Mohammed Ali Harrath, a convicted Tunisian terrorist who is the subject of an Interpol 'Red Notice'."

Quilliam recommends "establishing specialised a de-radicalisation centre [sic] to house imprisoned extremists, in order to tackle prison radicalisation". Now, who do you suppose might be looking to get the contract to run that de-radicalisation programme?

Still, it's good to know that Quilliam are spending taxpayers' money on something other than hiring libel lawyers to threaten their critics.