UK media is reporting that the mayor of Tower Hamlets, a London borough with a large British Bangladeshi population, has been removed from office following a heated corruption investigation. According to a Daily Mail report:
April 23, 2015 A London mayor who ‘cynically perverted’ the religious feeling of his Muslim community and ‘silenced his critics with accusations of racism and Islamophobia’ has been removed from office after a bitter legal battle with voters.
Disgraced Lutfur Rahman repeatedly played the ‘race card’ in his bid to seize the mayoralty of Tower Hamlets and later cling to power, Election Commissioner Richard Mawrey found yesterday.
The judge said the case ‘starkly demonstrated what happens when those in authority are afraid to confront wrongdoing for fear of allegations of racism and Islamophobia’.
He added: ‘Even in the multicultural society which is 21st century Britain, the law must be applied fairly and equally to everyone. Otherwise we are lost.’
The judge ordered that last year’s mayoral election – which was riddled with corruption of Third World proportions – be run again and barred Rahman – who was re-elected to the position after forming his own party, Tower Hamlets First – from standing again.
Rahman, who was not in court for the judgement, was ordered to pay £250,000 costs following an Election Court trial estimated to have run up legal bills in the region of £1 million.
Election Commissioner Richard Mawrey (pictured) said the case ‘starkly demonstrated what happens when those in authority are afraid to confront wrongdoing for fear of allegations of racism and Islamophobia’
Rahman is the first person since the 19th century to be found guilty of the Victorian-era misdeed of unlawfully using religious influence.
Last night, the Metropolitan Police belatedly said it would now consider ‘whether’ to launch a criminal inquiry into his conduct.
In his ruling yesterday, Judge Mawrey branded Rahman a pathological liar who had ‘driven a coach and horses’ through the law.”
In November of 2014, the GMBDW reported that the British government had issued what was described as a “damning report” on corruption in the London borough of Tower Hamlets whose mayor Lutfur Rahman is close to the Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE). In February 2014, we reported on an article which looked at the corruption in Tower Hamlets.
UK media has described the Islamic Forum of Europe as the European wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami, the Southeast Asian Islamist political party close to the Global Muslim Brotherhood. According a report by the Center for Social Cohesion, the Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE) operates out of the East London Mosque and shares many of the same trustees and senior management including Muhammad Abdul Bari, the former Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB). The CSC also reports that In October 2003, IFE invited Anwar al-Awlaki to speak at its ‘expoislamia’ event. Anwar al-Awlaki is the pro al-Qaeda imam based in Yemen whom the Fort Hood shooter had been in contact. It should also be noted that the London Islamic Center, an $18 million facility built in 2004 that houses the Islamic Forum of Europe and its associated East London Mosque, also contains the offices of Muslim Aid, known to have been a member of the the Union of Good, a worldwide coalition of charities headed by global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi that helps to raises funds for Hamas. According to the Daily Telegraph, the IFE has placed sympathizers in elected offices including gaining significance influence over a local government council.
