A UK Islamist organization is reporting that two UK Muslim Brotherhood leaders have joined with known extremists in signing a joint UK statement “in respect to the ongoing demonisation of Muslims in Britain.” According to the report:
March 11, 2015 This joint statement expresses a position with respect to the ongoing demonisation of Muslims in Britain, their values as well as prominent scholars, speakers and organisations.
We, the undersigned Imams, sheikhs, advocates, activists, community leaders, community organisations and student bodies of the Muslim community, make the following points in this regard:
1) We reject the exploitation of Muslim issues and the ‘terror threat’ for political capital, in particular in the run up to a general election. Exploiting public fears about security is as dishonourable as exploiting public fears about immigration. Both deflect attention from crises in the economy and health service, but are crude and divisive tactics, where the big parties inevitably try to outdo each other in their nastiness.
2) We deplore the continued public targeting of Muslims through endless ‘anti-terror’ laws. There have been around ten pieces of legislation since the year 2000, all giving huge powers to the state, which have fuelled a media hysteria even though in most cases no crime was committed. This has created a distressing and harmful backlash towards Muslims, especially women and children.
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One of the signatories to the letter was Ibrahim Hewitt, who is chairman of the Palestinian charity INTERPAL, part of the Hamas infrastructure in the UK and designated by the US in 2003 as a terrorist organization for its funding of Hamas. Also signing was Daud Abdullah, former Deputy Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain and currently associated with the British Muslim Initiative, both part of the UK Muslim Brotherhood. Previous posts have discussed the controversy surrounding the statement signed by Abdullah which called for violence against Israel and thought to condone attacks on British troops. The original statement was the result of a February 2009 meeting in Istanbul where religious scholars and clerics met with senior Hamas officials to plan a “third Jihadist front” centered on Gaza and was first publicly reported by the GMBDW based on a translation from Muslim World News.
Joining the two UK Muslim Brotherhood leaders as signatories to the statement was Abdul Wahid of Hizb ut-Tahrir (HBT), Britain. HBT is an international pan-Islamic political organization calling for an Islamic state or caliphate ruled by Islamic law (sharia) and with a caliph head of state elected by Muslims. It has been banned in a number of countries around the world. Also signing was Haitham Haddad who has been described in UK media as an extremist Muslim who has claimed Jews are descended from ‘apes and pigs’, called gays ‘criminals’ and has made controversial comments about domestic violence. The GMBDW has reported that Haddad has been a featured speaker at events hosted by the Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS), an umbrella grouping of most major university Islamic societies in the UK that also has ties to the UK Muslim Brotherhood.
