House of Islamic scholar raided by UK police

The house of an Islamic scholar, a maulana, was raided in the UK in connection with yesterday's arrest of a 16- year-old boy under anti-terror legislation, according to the Muslim News.

The boy, who is the maulana's grandson, was arrested as he was leaving his school in Dewsbury, northern England, where he had been taking the GCSE exams.

His grandfather's house, which has a huge library, was raided at the same time as two other houses -- the 16-year-old's family home and a second property owned by his parents.

The Muslims News said that it was told by a family friend, who visited the maulana just after the raid, that the family of the boy was "shaken" from the experience.

They has not been told the reason for the arrest and were said to be "upset" as they cannot understand why the boy was being detained at Bidwell Police Station, the family friends said.

The BBC linked the 16-year-old's arrest with the detention Tuesday night of a 21-year-old man for questioning at Manchester Airport, northwest of England.

A police spokeswoman was quoted as saying the operation was a "continuation of last night's operation at Manchester Airport." Security sources have reportedly said the arrests were linked to a Canadian inquiry into an alleged Al-Qaeeda plot.

The raid on the house of the maulana, who has authored many books in Urdu and Arabic, comes amid concern over last week's shooting of a 23-year-old Muslim during another anti-terrorism raid in east London last Friday.

Last Friday's pre-dawn raid involved 250 officers on a family home in Forest Gate, but police have admitted that they have been unable to find any evidence of chemicals weapons, which was alleged as justification for the intelligence-led operation.

Muslim convert Yvonne Ridley, who is a British journalist, urged Muslim leaders yesterday to withhold their cooperation with the police until they show respect for the country's 1.8 million community.

The police were "unfairly" targeting Muslims, with more than 3,000 arrests but fewer than a dozen convictions, said Ridley, who is an active member of the anti-war Respect Party.