“At the same time as a Muslim leader at the East London Mosque was sent to 27 years in jail for a rape, a prominent Islamic cleric and lawyer has been exposed as supporting extreme punishment for non-Muslims – including killing and rape. A question-and-answer session between a member of ‘Islam Watch’ and Imam Abdul Makin in the same East London mosque, saw the Imam asked why Allah would tell Muslims to kill and rape innocent non-Muslims, including their wives and daughters. ‘Because non-Muslims are never innocent, they are guilty of denying Allah and his prophet,’ the Imam says, according to the report. ‘If you don’t believe me, here is the legal authority, the top Muslim lawyer of Britain.’ The lawyer, Anjem Choudary, backs up the Imam’s position, saying that all Muslims are innocent.”

BNP news article, 2 April 2008

This story, which originates with Fox News and is based on a recent post at the Islam Watch website, has been doing the rounds of the right-wing blogosphere. It appears to have escaped the BNP’s attention that the “Imam Abdul Makin” referred to in the Islam Watch piece is the same Abdul Mukin Khalisadar who was convicted of rape. He is neither an imam, nor a “prominent Islamic cleric”, nor a “leader” at the East London Mosque.

The mosque’s legal representatives have already written to the Sun in connection with its defamatory report of the rape case. Perhaps they should do the same to the BNP.

As for Anjem Choudary, who heads a tiny group of nutters deriving from the now-banned Al-Muhajiroun, the revelation that he is “the top Muslim lawyer of Britain” at least has the merit of giving us all a good laugh.

And in view of its recent troubles over its London organiser and Assembly candidate Nick Eriksen, you might have thought that the BNP would steer well clear of the subject of rape.