Apple monitors Infowars app for content violations

August 10, 2018 Article

Apple Inc. said on Wednesday that an app belonging to popular conspiracy theorist Alex Jones remains in the company’s mobile App Store because it has not been found to be in violation of any content policies.

The Infowars Official app has become the App Store’s third most-downloaded news app this week after Apple removed access on Sunday to some of Jones’ podcasts from its digital store. Apple had said the podcasts violated the company’s rules against hate speech.

The company had not explained why the app remained available until issuing a statement on Wednesday.

“We strongly support all points of view being represented on the App Store, as long as the apps are respectful to users with differing opinions, and follow our clear guidelines, ensuring the App Store is a safe marketplace for all,” Apple told Reuters in a statement.

Jones’ podcasts differed from the Infowars app in a key way. The podcast app allowed access to an extensive list of previous episodes, subjecting all of those past episodes to Apple’s content rules.

The Infowars app contains only rebroadcasts of the current day’s episodes, subjecting a much smaller set of content to the rules. Apple said it regularly monitors all apps for content violations.

“We continue to monitor apps for violations of our guidelines and if we find content that violates our guidelines and is harmful to users we will remove those apps from the store as we have done previously,” Apple said.

Google parent Alphabet Inc, Facebook Inc and Spotify Technology SA also removed some content this week that had been produced by Jones. Google has not said why the Infowars app, which offers live streams and articles, was not removed in its app store as part of the actions.

Twitter has drawn public outcry for not removing Jones’ account. The company is responding by expediting a review of its content policies, according to an internal email that Chief Executive Jack Dorsey shared on Twitter on Wednesday.

The message noted that Twitter would have taken action against Jones had he posted the same content on its service as he had on Facebook and YouTube.

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Categories: Alex Jones, app, Apple, applications, Content, content violation, Google, Infowars, News, Spotify

Bereaved Charlottesville mother keeps daughter’s cause alive

August 2, 2018 Article

Every few weeks, Susan Bro walks down 4th Street in downtown Charlottesville, Virginia, until she gets to a brick wall covered in chalked messages like “Love over hate” and “Gone but not forgotten.”

“I come just to absorb the energy of the place,” Bro, 61, said on Tuesday as she stood on the block now named for her daughter, Heather Heyer, who was killed a year ago while marching against a white supremacist rally.

Since August 12, 2017, when James Fields rammed his car into counter-protesters, killing 32-year-old Heyer and injuring several others, Bro has channelled her rage and grief into spreading the same message that drew her daughter downtown that day.

Bro said she made a promise to her daughter at her funeral, when she saw her bruised, broken body for the first time and broke down in tears.

“I held her hand and said, ‘I’m going to make this count.’”

Heyer’s death capped a day of clashes after hundreds of white supremacists, neo-Nazis and others descended upon the city, drawing national attention to the “alt right” movement that had grown bolder since President Donald Trump’s election.

Trump faced intense criticism after the protests when he seemed to equate the white nationalists with the counter-protesters, saying there were “very fine people on both sides.”

Bro said she chose not to return several phone calls from the White House after learning of the president’s remarks.

As the city prepares for the first anniversary of the so-called “Unite the Right” rally, Bro is readying herself for another difficult milestone in a year full of painful moments without Heather.

“The ‘firsts’ are always hardest,” she said, her voice cracking. “I got through the others: Mother’s Day, her birthday, Christmas. This will be the last one.”

Bro said she would bring flowers to Heather Heyer Way on August 12 before speaking at an event to mark the anniversary.

Law enforcement agencies have made extensive plans to combat any potential violence, though the leader of last year’s gathering, local white nationalist Jason Kessler, failed to secure a permit for a sequel this year. Instead, he has obtained a permit to hold a rally in Washington outside the White House.

Before last summer, Bro, a former elementary schoolteacher, led a relatively quiet life, doing secretarial work and living in a modest trailer home about 30 minutes north of Charlottesville.

At Heyer’s memorial service, which drew nearly 2,000 mourners and was broadcast live on large screens, Bro said the national response to the tragedy was “just the beginning of Heather’s legacy.”

“They tried to kill my child to shut her up. Well guess what? You just magnified her,” she said, drawing a standing ovation.

Within weeks of Heyer’s death, Bro created the Heather Heyer Foundation, in part to install a formal and legal structure to handle the hundreds of thousands of dollars in funds that poured in from sympathizers around the country.

Bro runs the foundation from her home and from an office at a Charlottesville law firm, filled with tributes to Heyer that she has received over the last year: a portrait painted by an artist, a humanitarian award given posthumously by the Muhammad Ali Center, notes written by Heyer’s friends at her memorial service.

The foundation has organised a scholarship programme and is planning to launch a social justice youth programme.

Bro found herself making appearances on Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show and at MTV’s Video Music Awards. She acknowledged that the intense media attention has caused resentment among some activists in Charlottesville who feel the focus on Heyer, a white woman, has distracted from the racial issues at the core of the clashes.

It has been a bit of a balancing act, she said, to amplify Heyer’s message without making it seem as though her daughter was the only victim who mattered. She noted that violence against black people often does not generate the same level of interest and warned against the “white-centred” narrative that portrayed Heyer as a leader rather than simply one of many people who decided to march.

“The issues have not changed,” Bro said. “We still have police shootings, over-policing, a lack of affordable housing, the prison pipeline.”

A year after burying her daughter, Bro reflected on the activism that brought Heyer to the protests.

“The point of Heather’s death is that we have a responsibility to rise up to address that hate,” Bro said. “Don’t sit by and wring your hands.”

The post Bereaved Charlottesville mother keeps daughter’s cause alive appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: America, Charlottesville, identity politics, killing, News, Trump, United States, US, Virginia, visibly Muslim

Michigan man seized overseas charged with providing material support to Islamic State

July 30, 2018 Article

(Reuters) – A Michigan man seized overseas by a U.S.-backed Syrian militia has been charged with providing material support to Islamic State militants, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.

Ibraheem Izzy Musaibli, 28, of Dearborn, Michigan, provided support to the group from 2015 until last month, the department said in a statement. Musaibli, a natural-born U.S. citizen, will be arraigned in federal court in Detroit on Wednesday, it said.

U.S. prosecutors in Indiana said Musaibli was transferred from the custody of the Syrian Democratic Forces along with a U.S. woman, Samantha Elhassani, who has been charged with making false statements to the FBI.

Elhassani was accompanied by her four minor U.S. citizen children, who were placed in the care of the Indiana Department of Child Services, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana said in a statement.

Both defendants arrived in Indiana on Tuesday. Musaibli was transferred to Michigan, and Elhassani, also known as Samantha Sally, will appear in federal court in Hammond, Indiana, at a later date, according to the statement.

The New York Times said last week that Musaibli was captured by the Syrian Democratic Forces in northern Syria earlier in July as he tried to escape the Middle Euphrates River Valley, where the group has been working to drive Islamic State militants from one of the last areas they control.

The man’s younger brother said he believed Musaibli was innocent, the Detroit News reported on Tuesday.

“I don’t just believe he’s innocent. I KNOW he’s innocent,” Abdullah Musaibli said via Facebook Messenger, according to the newspaper. Musaibli will have a court-appointed lawyer, the brother said.

Abdullah Musaibli said last week his brother was not a terrorist and that he had been lured by fellow Muslims into going to Syria to study religion and to work, the Detroit News said.

(Reporting by Mohammad Zargham in Washington and Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by James Dalgleish and Peter Cooney)

The post Michigan man seized overseas charged with providing material support to Islamic State appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Daesh, Detroit News, Islamic State, News, Syria, Syrian Democratic Forces, terrorism, The New York Times, US

Extremist Islamist Group in Pakistan was Promoted in a Birmingham Election Meeting

July 26, 2018 Article

In an exclusive to Faith Matters, we can today highlight how an Islamist extremist group, Tehreek-e-Labaik, was being promoted in Birmingham in the run up to the Pakistani elections, the results of which are expected tomorrow.

Faith Matters has been at the vanguard of ensuring that Facebook pages of the Islamist extremist group, Tehreek-e-Labaik, were taken down, though recently, a whole host of Facebook pages supporting and promoting the extremist cleric, Khadim Hussain Rizvi, have gone up again. This also demonstrates the weakness of social media platforms who cannot stop new accounts being opened up by extremist individuals or groups.

After a tip-off from a concerned member of the public, we came across mobile phone footage which clearly shows two clerics promoting Tehreek-e-Labaik in an electioneering meeting in Birmingham, which also fuses in religious incantantations in order to build up interest from the crowd. We have highlighted the extremist nature of this group before and we have also pointed out the failures in Twitter to remove the social media account of the spiritual leader of Tehreek-e-Labaik, Khadim Hussain Rizvi.

Rizvi has repeatedly inflamed tensions in Pakistan in November 2017 when he rallied his Islamist followers in the tens of thousands against perceived changes to a piece of statute law called Ordinance Twenty. Introduced by the military dictator, General Zia-Ul-Haq, it stripped Ahmadis of their rights to call themselves Muslims. Rizvi mobilised his Islamist followers in an attempt to stop any perceived changes to Ordinance Twenty, culminating in a humiliating set of pleas by the Pakistani military for demonstrators to leave, whilst handing out money to them. Rizvi’s call to maintain the status quo and keep the isolation of the Ahmadis literally shut down Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan.

Furthermore, the primary campaigning theme of Tehreek-e-Labaik is ‘Death to Blasphemers’ and Rizvi has repeatedly praised the murderers of the late Punjab Governor, Salman Taseer, and the Glasgow based Ahmadi shopkeeper, Asad Shah, who was brutally murdered in March 2016. He has referred to the killers, Mumtaz Qadri and Tanveer Ahmed, as ‘ghazis’ or Islamic warriors, even highlighting in graphic detail in one mosque based sermon, how many times Ahmed stabbed the defenceless Shah on a street in Glasgow. Rizvi is adept at using the concept of blasphemy to whip up his audience into a frenzy, further demonstrating the dangerous rhetoric of the man and his political party in Pakistan.

Facebook Posting

The following Facebook post from ‘Rivi Media’ clearly shows two clerics speaking to what seems to be a meeting of Barelwi Muslims in Birmingham. The first cleric starts off by saying that he has been with and has served Rizvi for 8 years and that Rizvi has worked tirelessly for the ‘deen’ – the faith of Islam. This is followed by cries of ‘SubhanAllah’, (God is perfect), by the young audience. It is clearly a sales pitch for the youth who have come to listen, and who may well be able to vote in the Pakistani elections.

The young preacher then asks the audience to come to Pakistan to know more about Tehreek-e-Labaik and engage with them. What he forgets to tell the audience is that the whole basis of the political party has been to lionise murderers of ‘blasphemers’ meaning that anyone deemed to be a blasphemer, effectively has a target on their head.

Worst still the second preacher breaks out into anti-Hindu sentiment and states that a vote for Tehreek-e-Labaik is a vote for ‘martyrs’ in heaven like Mumtaz Qadri, the bodyguard of Salman Taseer who killed the Punjab Governor when he defended a young Christian woman, Asia Bibi, from the nebulous charge of blasphemy in Pakistan. The preacher is heard to say that a vote for Tehreek-e-Labaik blesses and honours individuals like Mumtaz Qadri. He clearly is pushing for support for Imran Khan and Tehreek-e-Labaik.

Deep Concerns

We have been deeply concerned as to how the extremism of Tehreek-e-Labaik is bleeding into Muslim communities of Pakistani heritage here in the UK. We have seen how some British Imams have cross-posted propaganda from this Islamist extremist cleric and we now have tangible evidence of campaigning by representatives of this group in places like Birmingham.

After the murder of Asad Shah and open calls for murder by Tehreek-e-Labaik, we call upon the Home Office to consider proscription of this group. The group has past form in promoting violent extremism, just because they deem that someone has blasphemed Islam. This is not politics, it is the behaviour and rhetoric of extremists. It really is as simple as that.

The post Extremist Islamist Group in Pakistan was Promoted in a Birmingham Election Meeting appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Birmingham, Blasphemers, Islamist extremists, Mumtaz Qadri, News, Opinions, Pakistani Elections, Tanveer Ahmed, Tehreek-e-Labaik

European human rights court rejects appeal by Norwegian mass killer

June 21, 2018 Article

The European Court of Human Rights rejected on Thursday an appeal by Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik who says his near-isolation in prison amounts to inhuman and degrading treatment.

Breivik, who has legally changed his name to Fjotolf Hansen, killed 77 people in a car bombing in central Oslo and shooting spree on Utoeya island in 2011, the worst act of violence in the Nordic country since World War Two.

The Strasbourg-based court “rejected the application as inadmissible for being manifestly ill-founded”, according to a ruling by a committee of three judges.

“The decision is final,” it said.

Breivik, an anti-Muslim right-wing fanatic, says his near-isolation in a three-room cell violates a ban on inhuman or degrading treatment and a right to privacy and family life under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Oslo district court agreed with him in a 2016 ruling, but it was overturned by an appeals court in March 2017. Norway’s Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal in the case.

Norway says that draconian measures, including hundreds of strip searches and no contact with other inmates, are justified for an unrepentant 39-year-old far-right extremist who could be attacked by other prisoners.

Breivik is serving Norway’s longest sentence — 21 years with the possibility of an extension. His only contacts are lawyers and professionals such as guards and health workers.

Breivik’s lawyer was not immediately available for comment.

 

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Categories: Anders Brievik, Fjotolf Hansen, human rights, News

Londoners mark anniversary of mosque attack with minute’s silence

June 19, 2018 Article

Senior British political figures joined faith and community leaders on Tuesday to commemorate the anniversary of an attack by a far-right extremist who drove a van into Muslim worshippers leaving a London mosque.

Darren Osborne, 48, ploughed his rental van into a crowd leaving Ramadan prayers in Finsbury Park, north London, in the early hours of June 19 last year, killing 51-year-old father of four Makram Ali and injuring 12 others, two seriously.

Authorities said it was the fourth deadly terrorism incident in Britain last year, following three Islamist attacks which killed 35 people.

On Tuesday, the British capital’s mayor Sadiq Khan was joined by the opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and interior minister Sajid Javid and figures from the local community for a minute’s silence outside Islington Town Hall.

“It’s a time to support and pray for the victims,” said Toufik Kacimi, the chief executive of the Muslim Welfare House whose worshippers were targeted in the attack.

“It’s also a time to reflect on the outstanding response from the community. We believe the terrorists will never win and this is shared by the British people of this country as seen by their messages of peace, love and tranquillity.”

Osborne, who was jailed for at least 43 years in February, had become obsessed with Muslims after watching a BBC TV drama about a child sex abuse scandal involving British Pakistani men.

He told his trial he had initially wanted to kill Corbyn and Khan, a Muslim, at a march in central London but had been thwarted by road closures.

“Last year’s cowardly attack which targeted innocent worshippers leaving Finsbury Park Mosque was an attack on all of us,” Prime Minister Theresa May said in a statement. “As with all acts of terrorism, the intention was to divide us. But we will not let this happen.”

The post Londoners mark anniversary of mosque attack with minute’s silence appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Attack, Darren Osborne, Finsbury Park, Islamophohbia, Makram Ali, News, Worshippers

We Welcome the Landmark Ruling Against Alison Chabloz

May 25, 2018 Article

Today is a landmark judgment that has been brought against Alison Chabloz who was convicted of two counts of causing obscene material to be sent and one of sending obscene material. These incidents occurred in 2016. It is another line that is drawn on those who think that freedom of expression entitles them to make grossly offensive and menacing statements: in Chabloz’s case, denying the Holocaust and accusing Jewish people, including Holocaust survivors, of fabricating claims of genocide.

Holocaust denial is far more than a false presentation of history. So-called Holocaust ‘revisionists’ are motivated by their own Jew-hatred.  Their aim is to expose the Jewish people to further hatred by making the indefensible claim that Jews are lying about a historical reality which destroyed the lives of more than a third of the world’s Jewish population.

I have seen the impacts of the Holocaust first-hand having visited the death camps in Poland and the Yad Vashem memorial to the Holocaust’s victims.  I saw the personal items of those who walked to their deaths in the vain hope that they were having a shower. They were killed because they were Jews.  Seeing the shoes, the wedding rings, the photographs and confiscated property left an indelible mark on me. It is our duty to never forget the victims and to educate the generations that come after us about the vicious consequences of antisemitism.

The sad reality is that people like Chabloz are adept at exploiting people and playing off communities against each other to further their malicious aims. Chabloz even attempted to use the national project opposing hatred against Muslims, Tell MAMA, to pursue her vendetta against Jewish people.  In 2013 and 2014, she sent written reports to Tell MAMA in the hope that this would lead to the investigation and humiliation of Jewish people for pushing anti-Muslim hatred.  In reality, she didn’t care about the Muslim community or the Tell MAMA project.  This was a disguised attempt to target Jews, because they were Jewish. In September 2014, when we learned of Chabloz’s disturbing antisemitic views, we cut off all communication. I am glad to see that today justice has been served.   

There’s a lesson for all of us here.  In the fight against hatred and discrimination, not everyone who offers help and assistance is a friend. Their smiles may hide other motives, reinforcing the need for enhanced due diligence and vetting of sources.  Alison Chabloz’s antisemitism and Holocaust denial show her true colours, which run totally contrary to the values of Tell MAMA, which works closely with groups like the Community Security Trust.

That’s why Tell MAMA and Faith Matters have added layers of compulsory internal due diligence checks on all those who communicate or engage with us. Whilst this has increased our admin load, rigorous vetting is essential in today’s world. Chabloz’s attempt to divide the Muslim and Jewish communities has also resulted in us seeking to work ever more closely with Jewish communities in the fight against antisemitism. We are partnering with the Jewish community to ensure that the younger generation understand what antisemitism is and that it is an affront not only to the victims and survivors of the Holocaust, but also the dignity of Jewish communities today.

We must send out the strongest possible message that no-one can take sides in the battle against hate. There is no ‘picking and choosing’. In the end, antisemites have no problem abusing both Jews and Muslims – something we must never forget.

To effectively fight anti-Muslim hate we must all of us learn about the unique hatred that is antisemitism. I, for one, have sought to further my understanding of Jewish history, culture and heritage. I think it’s important that everyone travels to the sites in Europe where the crimes of the Holocaust were committed and pays homage to the memories of those Jewish brothers and sisters that were murdered only because they were Jewish. Seeing what the Jewish people endured only 70 years ago has helped me see why we should never allow the flags and symbols of terrorist groups that have a history of kidnapping and murdering Jews to be displayed on the streets of London.

We must protect the memory of the Holocaust, highlight it, shout about it.  It’s everyone’s responsibility to tackle anti-Semitism wherever it is found.   Hatred against Jews is an attack on our society as a whole and an attack on our common values. It’s our responsibility to show our Jewish brothers and sisters that they are not alone.

Fiyaz Mughal was the Director of Tell MAMA from 2012-2017 and is the Director of Faith Matters

The post We Welcome the Landmark Ruling Against Alison Chabloz appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Alison Chabloz, Antisemitism, Holocaust, Holocaust Denial, Jewish communities, Jewish people, Judgement, Landmark ruling, News, Yad Vashem

Muslim Convert Says ‘Enough of the Denial: It’s time to face the ugly truth of extremism’

May 20, 2018 Article

I’ve been a Muslim for a few years now and from day one I knew that Islam did not promote terrorism. Before I became Muslim, I was already well-informed about Islam as a whole through self-learning and I was also explicitly taught by everyone I knew and encountered in my journey that terrorism was unequivocally un-Islamic. There was no question about it: Islam is about peace, faith, love and humanity. 

However, several years later, I’ve become shocked and quite frankly tired – incredibly tired in fact – at just how widespread extremist ideology is within certain segments of the British Muslim community. Certain bodies, speakers and publications are pushing harmful, divisive, reactionary and toxic narratives. Time and time again they have been found to express extremist beliefs and proved links to extremist individuals and groups. Yet time and time again, no one says anything. 

I have been on a long path of discovery and I know I am not alone in saying that this extremism ranges from the intolerant to the violent. It’s not simply about those in on the front page when a terror attack hits. It’s a wide, long path that is not being exposed and redirected. From sectarianism – vilifying Shia and Ahmadiyya Muslims – to rampant anti-Semitism, homophobia and sexism, I find myself questioning more and more, how can the government deal with this? And more so, why is nothing being said? More importantly, beyond the government, there’s the role of civil society. Yet there’s sadly a lack of inward reflection and dialogue by certain segments of the Muslim community. 

I’m in fact shocked at how much of these beliefs and behaviours are being ignored both within and outside the Muslim community. Ignorant, intolerant, extremist views are not only existent among certain segments of the community but in fact often normalised, with some Muslims even in denial of the disturbing and irrational nature of these doctrines. These leaders and individuals promote a self-proclaimed message of peace and harmony on the face of it – or at the very least denounce acts of terror – but on their terms, as at the same time they accept and promulgate vile, morally abhorrent or at best completely outdated beliefs. 

This is a serious issue. Young men do not suddenly wake up one day and decide to take up arms and join ISIS out of the blue. It’s a slippery slope. Just as the path to genocide is a slippery slope of “otherising”, discrimination and exclusion, so is the blackened slope of extremism. It’s marred with self-victimisation, ignorance of Islam and social, political, geographical and cultural complexities – as well as of course other key factors such as racism and socio-economic exclusion. In the end though, healthy mature adults accept the dark path of jihadism for themselves. No matter what circumstance we are under, as long as we are healthy, mature and of full age, the way we think, believe and ultimately react is down to us.   

And this is where it becomes quite clear. We cannot sit back and simply just blame other people. Having spoken to Muslims from a variety of Muslim countries across the globe, I can quite honesty unequivocally state that some are shocked at the extremism rampant in this community, choosing not to attend mosques. How very sad yet telling this is…

We are confronting debates that are not even apparent overseas. Yes, as a human rights campaigner, I am all too aware of the issues within Muslim countries themselves, including the demonisation of political and social dissent as it becomes labelled automatically as “terrorism” and the lack of freedom of belief and association. This however does not negate the issues so widespread here in a free democratic society. Whilst we not should look to these nations as an example of freedom and democracy, on a social level we can examine how faith is practiced. At times, I am indeed shocked by certain levels of intolerance yet on other occasions I have witnessed a much more nuanced, intellectual and rational version of Islam – regardless of the level of “religious practice” or not.  

Here in the UK, I’ve seen babies – yes babies – in headscarves. I’ve witnessed horrible cases of anti-Semitism and I’m tired of a complete black and white naivety when it comes to conflict in the Middle East. Freedom of choice and belief is paramount, as is diversity of opinion – and also the crucial “middle path” as Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) declared himself so many years ago.   

Freedom of belief covers all range of faiths and teachings. Yet I am not simply talking about the need to accept differences of opinion and religious practice – which are in fact part of a rich yet often unheard of intellectual and theological diversity in Islam. No, instead I am talking about understanding, accepting, allowing and promoting basic freedoms, rights and levels of tolerance. I am speaking up against the vilifying of Jews (referred to as “pigs”), the exclusion of Ahmadi Muslims (called “Qadanis”) and the behaviour of certain Muslim men and women who excuse rape and victim blame by expressing at how women who are uncovered or “dressed “provocatively” are a “problem”. No. I am instead talking about those who openly denounce democracy in both implicit and explicit terms.  

I have myself been unfortunate to have visited a mosque where a fellow “brother” openly denounced democracy as un-Islamic. Yes. This is 2018. Yet, you’d think we’d gone back to the time of the Spanish inquisition or crusades. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was an embodiment of the Qur’an, where Allah Almighty tells us Himself: la ikra fii deen – there is no compulsion in religion (2:256). So, tell me: where have such people lead themselves to?

Cultural patriarchal attitudes, religious sectarianism and Wahhabi-style teachings imported from overseas across the globe to Britain are avow. I can count on more than one hand the number of preachers, mosques and bodies who have a murky history and who I alone have to avoid/reject or sever links with. This isn’t hearsay. These issues relate to things that they have explicitly said, platforms they have shared and beliefs that they promote.

For example, whilst many Muslim men and women alike – including myself – continue to speak out about cultural misogyny, declaring cultural practises such as forced marriage as un-Islamic, we’re not really tackling the elephant in the room. We’re not grabbing the bull by its horns. Religious ultra-orthodoxy is an issue. All religions have different groups, doctrines and beliefs. We should not try to stifle diversity yet the fact is that there are people out there that who – according to their interpretation of Islam – believe that homosexuals should be executed and that homosexuality should be criminalised here in the UK. Likewise, there are people (respected preachers) who openly state that FGM/C is a “recommended practice” (even if not “compulsory”).

Likewise, certain Muslims cannot distinguish between anti-Semitism and the defence of human rights in Israel/Palestine. And yet they enjoin in the religious freedom we all cherish as they live their faith freely here in the UK. At the same time, there are many who also reject the same rights for Ahmadi Muslims, as for example those British Muslims who called for a recent Ahmadi advertisement to be withdrawn. Large segments of the Muslim community refuse to engage left, right and centre with this peaceful community. How sad that when attending a Muslim-led interfaith engagement, you’re joined solely by “Sunni majority” Muslims for example amongst members of other faith communities. Likewise, when attending an Ahmadi event as a friendly ally keen to engage with members of other faith traditions such as Christianity and Hinduism, there are no other Muslim representatives in the room. Would they attend? Quite simply no. Yet I ask, can we not see the blatant hypocrisy in standing for interfaith unity when there is such a blanket refusal to promote intrafaith cohesion?

One question I ask myself time and time again is: when you’re (again quite rightly) speaking out against human rights violations in places such as Myanmar and Palestine/Israel where other faith communities are involved (albeit the conflict/issues being political): where is your criticism of Saudi Arabia? Are you speaking out about the bombing and starvation of innocent Yemeni men, women and children before you enjoin in travels to KSA? Are you campaigning against forced veiling in Iran when you protest (again rightly so) about discrimination against Muslim hijabi women in non-Muslim countries? Furthermore, are you fighting against human trafficking when you visit the Gulf States – often practically built on modern slavery? 

I reiterate, Islam is a blessing of mercy. It is not a violent curse. God calls upon us to use our minds, to rationalise, to be merciful, to think, to reason – not to bellow, to curse others or to alienate brothers and sisters in faith and humanity. And before you cry “Islamophobia!”, let me stress: I am Muslim. I stand against anti-Muslim hate. I stand against Islamophobia and I stand against the far-right. I also however stand against anti-Semitism, homophobia, racism of all kinds and quite crucially the abuse of human rights across the globe. Yet at the same time, I have also been met with slurs such as “oreo” (although I’m “white”), “whore” and “munafiq” (hypocrite) when speaking out against Islamic extremism and intolerant practices. Well, no. I am none of these. What I am in fact is honest – honest to my heart, my soul, my mind and to God. 

So, to conclude, I stand up and say: when will so many of those who do not question open their eyes, their ears and realise that they speak for themselves? There can be no double standards. Human rights are for all. Islam is a humanistic universal faith. Islam does not stand for hatred, violence, bloodshed and exclusion. It stands for justice, self-sacrifice, tolerance, love and unity. We cannot keep simply blaming the media, government, colonialism and not look within our own community. We too must play our part. Ultimately, either you stand for everyone or you stand for no one.

The post Muslim Convert Says ‘Enough of the Denial: It’s time to face the ugly truth of extremism’ appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Ahmadi, Muslim, Opinions, Segments of the Muslim community, terrorism

Muslim Communities Can Help Keep Us All Safe By Re-Integrating Convicted Islamist Terrorists

May 14, 2018 Article

TACT Offender Ressttlement Report - The 'Sunnah' Programme 2018

Report by Ian Acheson, Former Prison Governor and Reviewer of Islamist Extremism in Prisons, Makes the Case.

This report – “Faith, Hope and Clarity”, commissioned by Faith Matters, and published today makes the case that Muslim communities, working in a unique new partnership with statutory services, can reduce risk of released extremist prisoners re-offending through a community re-integration programme called the ‘Sunnah’ concept.

This concept empowers a core of carefully selected community based supporters who provide a ‘virtuous circle’ around the offender. These core supporters carry out a number of functions. They can challenge Islamist ideology, ensure behaviour is appropriate, monitor risk and provide practical help. In this way the community is given formal responsibility for helping resettle offenders with more prospects for them abandoning toxic behaviours and beliefs than the state creates on its own.

Acheson is a former prison governor with a long track record of work in the extremism field. He was responsible for the ‘landmark’ 2016 independent review of the threat posed by Islamist extremism in the criminal justice system and is the architect of the separation units for highly subversive extremist offenders. He writes extensively for the media continues to advise government nationally and internationally on combatting violent extremism.

The report highlights:

  1. That terrorism trials and convictions are rising,
  2. That the offender profile is changing as the police and security services get better at detecting and disrupting plots at an early stage
  3. Better detection and disruption can mean shorter prison sentences or in a rising number of cases, community penalties.
  4. Our national security depends on the state but the state alone can’t keep us safe from future harm. We need to look imaginatively at other models including greater use of communities to resettle ex-extremist offenders successfully.
  5. We need to mobilise communities to help people convicted of extremism stop being a threat to us and change their hateful beliefs for good.
  6. The vast majority of those convicted of extremism offences are Muslims inspired by Islamist extremism. The faith communities they return to after custody have a potentially huge role to play in partnership with the state to keep us safe.   
  7. The ‘Sunnah’ concept is a radical way to apply tried and tested thinking on sex offender management in the community to extremist prisoners.

Speaking on the launch of the report, Ian Acheson said:

‘Considerable numbers of terrorist offenders are now on the criminal justice conveyor belt. Most of them will return to their communities and increasing numbers are being given short sentences or community penalties. Many of these offenders will face unique and specific difficulties reintegrating with the communities they have come from and harmed. It’s not clear to me that the state should carry the burden of managing this risk or even if it can get ideologically extreme behaviour and beliefs changed on its own.  

I’ve argued that a partnership of community and statutory authorities is the best approach to reintegrating terrorist offenders and keeping all of us safe in the long term. It requires imagination and courage to take this approach but if the prize is safer communities who have a stake in protecting our national security, it’s worth exploring seriously. This is what I hope Government will do”.

Notes

  1. Download the report HERE.
  2. 695 people in this country have been convicted after facing terrorism charges since September 11th 2001.
  3. As of September 2017 (the latest available statistics), 213 are currently in custody.
  4. The remaining 482 will have served their sentences and are in the community.
  5. 20 terrorist related offenders were released from custody between Jan 15 and September 17..
  6. Non-custodial sentences for terrorist related offences is climbing steadily  – it’s now 9% of all terrorist sentences – underpinning the need for community based solutions.

The post Muslim Communities Can Help Keep Us All Safe By Re-Integrating Convicted Islamist Terrorists appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Criminal Justice System, Former Reviewer of Extremism in Prisons, Ian Acheson, News, Prisons, Publications / Reports, Sunnah Programme, TACT Offenders