London, UK, August 16 – Leading Muslim groups and personalities in the UK have come together in an unprecedented way, formulating and issuing a six point statement in response to some of the recently proposed anti-terrorism measures in the aftermath of the London bombing. Signatories of the statement include Islamic Human Rights Commission, Muslim Association of Britain, FOSIS, Q News magazine, An-Nisa Society, Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, Yvonne Ridley and Islam Channel, Shaikh Haitham Haddad, and Islamic Forum Europe amongst others. More organisations and personalities within the community continued sending in their support even after the deadline for release, and the signatories remain open to many others endorsing the message.

The statement reiterates the Muslim community’s unequivocal denunciation of acts of terrorism and stresses that the Muslim community “has always been a law-abiding community and all its endeavours to create a just society have been entirely peaceful”.

In brief, the six points of the statement are:

1.The term extremism has no tangible legal meaning or definition and is therefore unhelpful and emotive.
2.The right of people anywhere in the world to resist invasion and occupation is legitimate.
3.Questioning the legitimacy of the State of Israel is legitimate political expression.
4.The proposal to ban the non-violent organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir is unwarranted, unjust and unwise.
5.Arbitrary closure of mosques may prevent legitimate political discourse in mosques fuelling a radical sub-culture.
6.Deporting foreign nationals to countries known for gross human rights abuses is abhorrent.

The signatories of the statement conclude by saying, “This list of concerns is not conclusive, but we are putting these issues forward to help prevent a knee-jerk reaction to recent events which would drive a rift between communities in the UK and set the course of British politics onto the slippery slope of intellectual censorship and totalitarianism.”

THE FULL TEXT OF THE STATEMENT AND SIGNATORIES
IS ATTACHED AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE

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Note for Editors:

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