Woolwich Case Alibi to Suppress Muslims
The British government is mulling new restrictions on Muslims by setting up a new anti-terrorism task force which it claims will tackle radical preachers and extremism, amid fears that the government is exploiting the recent murder of a soldier to suppress Muslims.
British Home Secretary Theresa May said the group will review powers and laws to crack down on what she described as extremist Muslim hate-preachers.
May told the BBC the moves include pre-emptive censorship of Islamic websites, easing regulations to ban more Islamic groups, putting pressure on universities and mosques to dismiss the so-called hate preachers and closing the so-called unregulated Islamic schools.
May, who made no reference to hate-preaching by anti-Muslim extremists including the English Defense League, also claimed the move aims at preventing the threat of Muslims’ radicalization.
The Muslim Council of Britain later expressed concerns about her remarks saying the discussions about “what constitutes extremism” are hugely “muddled” as the government can easily interpret what it deems as a threat as extremism.
“A muddled discussion about what constitutes extremism over, say, social conservatism, or disagreement of foreign policy, will not assist us in our end goal: the prevention of future attacks,” MCB’s secretary general Farooq Murad said.
Murad also reminded the government that “any Task Force must examine extremism from all quarters” rather than focusing on Muslims.
This comes as the British government has refused to condemn anti-Muslims extremism especially in the aftermath of the murder of the British soldier Lee Rigby in London.
According to anti-extremism charity Faith Matters, more than 160 incidents against Muslims have been reported since the attack on Wednesday while the average number previously stood at four to eight a day.
Along with the incidents reported by Faith Matters, there have been several arson and pain bomb attacks on mosques and a handful of racist demonstrations by far-right groups specially the English Defense League.
Source: Press TV
May told the BBC the moves include pre-emptive censorship of Islamic websites, easing regulations to ban more Islamic groups, putting pressure on universities and mosques to dismiss the so-called hate preachers and closing the so-called unregulated Islamic schools.
May, who made no reference to hate-preaching by anti-Muslim extremists including the English Defense League, also claimed the move aims at preventing the threat of Muslims’ radicalization.
The Muslim Council of Britain later expressed concerns about her remarks saying the discussions about “what constitutes extremism” are hugely “muddled” as the government can easily interpret what it deems as a threat as extremism.
“A muddled discussion about what constitutes extremism over, say, social conservatism, or disagreement of foreign policy, will not assist us in our end goal: the prevention of future attacks,” MCB’s secretary general Farooq Murad said.
Murad also reminded the government that “any Task Force must examine extremism from all quarters” rather than focusing on Muslims.
This comes as the British government has refused to condemn anti-Muslims extremism especially in the aftermath of the murder of the British soldier Lee Rigby in London.
According to anti-extremism charity Faith Matters, more than 160 incidents against Muslims have been reported since the attack on Wednesday while the average number previously stood at four to eight a day.
Along with the incidents reported by Faith Matters, there have been several arson and pain bomb attacks on mosques and a handful of racist demonstrations by far-right groups specially the English Defense League.
Source: Press TV
