Muslim leader sues UK minister for defamation
Regional-UK, Politics, 4/6/2009

Deepening row between the British government and the country's mainstream Muslim organization is set to further sour with the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) threatening legal action against Communities Secretary Hazel Blears.

MCB, which represents over 500 mosques, charities and schools, is planning to sue Blears for defamation if she does not retract accusations made against its deputy secretary general Daud Abdullah claiming he was advocating violence against Jewish communities and British troops.

The communities secretary is being given a week to apologize for what Abdullah's lawyers say is 'an extraordinary and malicious interpretation' of a international declaration he signed with over 90 Muslim leaders in response to Israel's latest massacres in Gaza.

MCB have already described the dispute as the worst crisis between the government and the UK's 2 million Muslim community after Blears last month threatened to cut relations and demanded that the deputy secretary general be dismissed for signing the recent Istanbul Declaration.

Abdullah has gained widespread support, including from a coalition of 30 politicians, peace campaigners and human rights activists, who have criticized the government of 'crude bullying' by suspending its relations with the country's largest Muslim umbrella group.

"It is our right to express whatever lawful views we wish in relation to the government's foreign policy and the criminal actions of Israel in relation to the Palestinian people," said the alliance, lead by former London mayor Ken Livingstone and former Labor cabinet minister Tony Benn.

The demand by Blears for the removal of Abdullah from his elected post was described as 'an attack on the democratic right of freedom of speech of every British citizen'.

The threat of a writ comes after attempts by Muslim parliamentarians failed last week to resolve the dispute with the government insisting that MCB's deputy secretary general further clarifies his views.

Abdullah has repeatedly denied allegations he was supporting violence, insisting that what he was advocating was 'the right of all British citizens to agree or disagree with government policy and to use all lawful means to democratically make their voices heard'.

The standoff comes after Blears has starved the MCB of public funding for more than two years as the government has sought to promote what the Islamic Human Right Commission (IHRC) has called its 'own version of acceptable Islam, under the guise of community cohesion'.

"Muslim leaders' not conforming with government's policy and asserting the right of Palestinians' to defend themselves once again brings them under attack as being 'anti-Jewish' and endorsing 'violent extremism'," IHCR chair Massoud Shadjareh said last week.

"If the government is to confirm its own sincerity for battling violent extremism, it can start by reconsidering its stalwart support for a murderous Israeli regime," Shadjareh suggested.

Previous Stories:
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  UK toughens rules to exclude so-called extremists   (10/28/2008)
  Prisoners held without charges or trial in US Guantanamo get support by UK protesters   (1/15/2008)

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