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Islamic Human Rights Commission
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21 July 2008
Sunday Times (UK) apologises to IHRC chair Massoud Shadjareh
The Sunday Times newspaper has apologised to the Chair of the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) Massoud Shadjareh.
In an article by Shiraz Maher [1] entitled ‘A failure to confront radical Islam’ (December 2, 2007), it was stated that Shadjareh has made moral equivalents between the situation of Muslims in Guantanamo Bay and Gillian Gibbons, when he appeared on the Today programme on Radio 4. Whilst later, on the advice of Maher, The Sunday Times had tried to argue (based on the further advice of Maher, who stated he had sought clarification from Ed Hussain) that Shadjareh had made comparisons not to Guantanamo Bay but to Muslim prisoners in America, a review of the transcript of the programme revealed that no such comparison had been made.
The Sunday Times now acknowledges that not only were no such comparisons made, but that Shadjareh clearly condemned Gillian Gibbons’ treatment (see full text below).
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From The Sunday Times
July 13, 2008
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4322547.ece
Correction: Massoud Shadjareh
An article last year (A failure to confront radical Islam, News, December 2, 2007) stated that Massoud Shadjareh, the chairman of the influential Islamic Human Rights Commission, “began drawing moral equivalents between Muslims in Guantanamo Bay and the fate of Gillian Gibbons [the teacher jailed in Sudan after her class named a teddy bear Mohammed] when he appeared on the Today programme”. In fact, Mr Shadjareh did not make any such comparisons. Furthermore, he condemned outright Mrs Gibbons’s treatment by the Sudanese government. Accordingly, the suggestions in the article that Mr Shadjareh had failed to condemn such human rights violations and condoned the radical actions of the Sudanese government were totally untrue. We apologise for any embarrassment caused.
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