Category Archives: Scotland

Complaints of anti-terror police harassing Muslim communities

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Intelligence gathering operations by police in Tayside, aimed at preventing a future terrorist attack, have led to a deterioration in relations with Islamic communities, a leading Muslim organisation has warned.

The Muslim Association of Britain (Mab) said it had received numerous complaints over moves by Special Branch officers to contact university associations, businesses and members of the Islamic community, claiming that members of the public were being subjected to harassment.

It has now written to Tayside Police to lodge a formal complaint over the Special Branch Community Contact Unit (SBCCU), which was established in the wake of last year’s terrorist bombings in London to provide information on potential extremism.

The force has defended the measures, claiming they have led to closer community links and are likely to be taken up by other forces in Scotland.

Osama Saeed, Mab’s Scottish spokesman, said young Muslims had been approached by members of the unit and quizzed about their political views at their homes, workplaces and Islamic society meetings at Dundee and Abertay universities.

Plain-clothed officers had spoken to Muslim students at freshers stalls during the first week of university, asking them questions about their views on the conflict in Lebanon, he said: “Obviously, if people are talking about bombings or killing infidels, they would be reported to police. But it’s not clear what sort of other activities are supposed to be reported. Parents are concerned that their children are coming under the eye of the police.”

The Herald, 20 October 2006

Via Rolled Up Trousers

Glasgow demo: Unite Against Islamophobia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Unite Against Islamophobia

Called by Glasgow Stop the War Coalition and Muslim Association of Britain

Saturday 21st October, 12 noon George Square, Glasgow

There is a feeding frenzy of anti-Muslim stories in the media that has contributed to taking Islamophobia to a new level:

• Jack Straw claimed that women wearing the niqab makes him feel ‘uncomfortable’ and creates social division

• John Reid lectured Muslim parents on how to bring up their children, implying that they are responsible for terrorism

• David Cameron got the headline with ‘I’ll smash Muslim ghettos’

The up-shot of this is that Muslims are being verbally assaulted and even physically attacked. Recently, a mosque in Falkirk was fire-bombed, an Imam in a Glasgow mosque was seriously attacked and a woman in England had the veil ripped from her face.

Stop the War Coalition is proud to work with the Muslim Association of Britain to stop the war and terror in Afghanistan and Iraq. We will not allow politicians to whip up hysteria against Muslims. Everyone who is against racism, scapegoating and persecution must unite together and stand shoulder to shoulder on Saturday 21st October.

No Justice No Peace!

Another week, another racist onslaught against Muslims

Posted on by Eddie Truman

Another week, another racist onslaught against Muslims

By Eddie Truman

“Ban The Veil” screamed the Daily Express, in Glasgow Imam Shamsuddin is subject to a violent assault, in Liverpool a Muslim woman has a veil ripped from her face by a man shouting racist abuse, in Falkirk a mosque was deliberately set ablaze.

The cause of this renewed wave of attacks on the Muslim community?

Home Secretary Jack Straw’s political ambitions. Such is the all pervading climate of Islamophobia, it is now regarded as a political badge of honour to outbid your political rivals in being seen to be racist towards Muslims.

So now we have a situation in which Labour Party, yes Labour Party, ministers are falling over themselves to match the rhetoric of the British National Party. Incredibly, Race Relations minister, yes you read that right, Phil Woolas, joined the row over the teaching assistant suspended for wearing a veil by demanding that she be sacked.

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Woolas comments have only achieved greater demonisation of Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Government minister Phil Woolas’s call to sack a Muslim teacher for wearing the veil has made race relations worse by adding to the current demonisation of Muslims, according to anti-racist organisation The 1990 Trust.The minister’s tactless and opportunistic intervention merely whips up Islamophobia and contributes to a climate of racism against an increasingly marginalised community.

The 1990 Trust are today calling for a code of conduct on dealing with “Muslim issues” to halt the overly-simplistic approach which is contributing to the demonisation of all Muslims. Politicians have a responsibility not to worsen race relations for political gain, and every party must have a duty crack down on Islamophobia within their ranks.

BLINK press release, 16 October 2006

See also Osama Saeed’s comments at Rolled Up Trousers, 15 October 2006

Muslim leader assaulted at mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A 53-year-old imam has been punched and kicked by a man who entered a mosque in the west end of Glasgow. Strathclyde Police confirmed that the incident, at the Dawat ul Islam centre, happened at about 1800 BST on Friday. Mohammed Shamsuddin was taken to the nearby Western Infirmary, but later discharged following treatment.

The suspect is described as white, possibly 35-45 years, approximately 5ft 7 to 5ft 9 tall, of medium build with short greying hair and wearing jeans.

Witnesses to the attack said the suspect verbally abused Imam Shamsuddin before punching and kicking him and then hitting him with a chair and other office equipment. Abu Mohammed, who was in the building at the time, said:

“I was downstairs getting ready for prayer when I heard a noise coming from upstairs. Me and a few other people went upstairs to see what was going on and we saw the Imam being attacked. He had blood pouring down from his face, the attacker saw us and ran away.”

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‘Why the veil is a feminist issue’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“We are on the wrong track if we believe that veils are a religious issue. They’re not. Like fat, they’re a feminist issue. The clothes that women wear, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, are a powerful political statement about where they’re at; about the amount of freedom, self-esteem or independence they possess.

“The veil which covers the face, the niqab, is an enormously potent symbol of subjugation to a (male-controlled) religion. It is what Muslim men want. It is about control of women; about forced chastity. The veil sends out a very clear message that the woman behind it abides by the conventions of the Muslim faith; that she places the approval of men above her own self-expression.”

Melanie Reid in the Herald, 10 October 2006

Witch-hunt launched against Mohammad Khatami

Posted on by Bob Pitt

KhatamiSince Gemma Tumelty took over as president of the National Union of Students earlier this year the NUS has taken a sharp turn to the right. We’ve already witnessed the NUS executive voting down a motion that called for an immediate ceasefire during Israel’s war against Lebanon and censuring George Galloway for backing Hizbollah in its resistance to Israeli aggression. (The NUS executive evidently had no problem with anyone supporting Israeli state terrorism against the Lebanese civilian population.)

If further proof were needed of the mistake made by FOSIS in blocking Pav Akhtar’s election as president, we now have leading figures in the NUS calling for public protests against St Andrews University’s decision to award an honorary degree to former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami duting his visit to the UK later this month.

The first NUS executive member to be quoted in a Sunday Times article witch-hunting Khatami (“Fury as St Andrews honours Hezbollah backer“) is, significantly, Sophie Buckland – a supporter of the rabidly Islamophobic pseudo-left sect the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty.

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Arson at Falkirk Islamic Centre

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Falkirk Islamic CentreA fire that caused 10,000 worth of damage to Falkirk’s Islamic Centre is thought to have been started deliberately. Officers are investigating the cause of the blaze in the doorway of the Burnhead Lane premises, but don’t believe it to have been an accident.

The fire was discovered at around 2.30 a.m. on Monday by a Muslim taxi driver, who then raised the alarm. The Fire and Rescue Service attended, but the the blaze was extinguished before they arrived. Islamic Centre member Shoeb Farooqui made the call to the emergency services after the taxi driver alerted him.

Mr Farooqui said the man, who did not wish to be named, saved the centre from burning to the ground. “He normally works the night shift and was visiting the centre for a night prayer,” Mr Farooqui explained. “He just opened the door and saw the fire – it was in the early stages and if he hadn’t gone there at that time it could have burned down the whole building. It was very brave of him and lucky for our community that the fire was caught in time.”

Shaken members of the Muslim community said the Islamic Centre had been located in Burnhead Lane for 13 years and had never been targeted in this manner before. Several representatives of the centre gathered outside later on Monday morning to assess the damage, which they believed could exceed the £10,000 estimate.

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‘Crude stereotyping’ – Osama Saeed replies to Muriel Gray

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muriel Gray doesn’t let the facts get in the way of a good rant against Islam and Muslims (Comment, September 24). The 7/7 bombers were not all, in fact, from devout Muslim families. Jamal Lindsay, for one, was a convert, as indeed was Richard Reid, the previous shoebomber.

But the main point is yet again we see Gray adopt the most extreme formulation of Islam to advance her argument, and then paint the whole Muslim community with it. Bin Laden would be proud of her. I regard myself as a pretty devout Muslim, but don’t recognise the views she ascribes to me about women, homosexuals, freedom of speech, democracy and the West.

What she is guilty of is exactly what she accuses Muslims of when it comes to the West – caricaturing and stereotyping with the “kaleidoscopic richness and beauty of the country’s (in this case “religion’s”) culture erased”.

It would be easy to debunk her argument that practising Islam leads to bombing by making a similarly stupid argument that anyone that drinks alcohol, doesn’t pray, has sex outside marriage, and indeed writes foaming-at-the-mouth articles against Muslims in newspapers, is just a stone’s throw away from waging military war on the Muslim world.

Osama Saeed
Scottish spokesman
Muslim Association of Britain

Sunday Herald, 1 October 2006