The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) has issued a statement congratulating Muslims all on the recent decision by a British court to uphold the appeal by Israeli Muslim Brotherhood leader Raed Salah against a deportation order. According to the MAB statement, the decision was a “victory for the Palestinian community against the Zionist lobby in Britain and all over the world”:
MAB congratulates Muslims in Britain and all over the world, and especially the Palestinian community and their supporters for the victory of Sheikh Raed Salah against the decision for his deportation outside the UK. After several rounds in British courts since June 2011; on Sat 7th April 2012, Sheikh Raed Salah received the final and decisive decision of the immigration court which confirms the innocence of the Sheikh against all charges brought against him. The Judge concluded that the decision made by the Home Office to deport Sheikh Raed was not based on legal grounds and was adopted according to misleading information. The Palestinian forum in Britain considers that the case against Sheikh Raed was fabricated by the Zionist lobby and the extreme right-wing media in Britain. The President of the MAB Dr. Omer El-Hamdoon said that this is a victory for the Palestinian community against the Zionist lobby in Britain and all over the world”. He seized this occasion to express his solidarity with Palestinians against the occupation of their land.
According to a BBC report, the basis for the decision was that the detention had been conducted “incorrectly” and that the Home Office was considering its own appeal. A post from last October discussed the deportation order.
An earlier post reported on the ongoing support offer to Mr. Salah by the U.K. Muslim Brotherhood. Other posts have discussed the arrest of Mr. Salah in the U.K. and the support offered to him by the Global Muslim Brotherhood. A BBC producer and MEMRI have both covered the anti-Semitic and extremist views of Mr. Salah. In 2010, the Jerusalem Post profiled Mr. Salah who leads the Northern branch of the Islamic Movement, essentially the Israeli Muslim Brotherhood.
The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) had for many years been the most active organization in the U.K Muslim Brotherhood but many of the leaders of the MAB left in 2007 to form the BMI. According to an Israeli think-tank report, the breakup appeared to be the result of a conflict between traditionalists in the MAB who were unhappy with the high level of involvement in U.K left-wing politics while those who who formed the BMI wished such activity to continue.