Verily, Allâh enjoins Justice and Correctness, and helping kith and kin and forbids lewd acts and all kinds of evil deed and oppression. He admonishes you so that you may take heed. (An-Nahl: 90)

Liberty - Hypocrisy and Double Standards

The supine nature of muslims living in Britain or the west generally knows no bounds it seems .A harsh statement indeed and one that ought to be backed by evidence for sure .Well lets start with the war on terror or more accurately the war on muslims who are all branded terrorists merely because of their faith. The majority of ordinary muslims despite their failure to articulate their feelings understand that the y are labelled as the enemy within -the 5th columnists .Muslims are the target of the assault on civil liberties in the west which has led to unprecedented injustice .The not so ordinary ones ,in other words those who shuffle in the corridors of power are less vocal -indeed it is baffling that there is so little said about the issue -the focus appears to be on condemnation of the "bad apples"- Abu Hamza is now facing further charges ,this time for incitement to racial hatred in the main. Quite extraordinary when you think that new laws were brought in allowing the removal of citizenship only to get him .He was later imprisoned to be extradited and now he is to be put on trial here. Whether you agree with Abu Hamza is irrelevant -why does one man attract so much resource and energy of the state .Moreover why does no one even question the mushrooming legal charges that he faces -he was after all a free man a few months ago. The campaign against a man who is disabled and requires medication even to sit in court to hear charges against him, have to be viewed against the backdrop of the rising tide of anti-muslim prejudice unleashed by the war on terror - not my words but those of the Director of Public Prosecutions [DPP] .The statistics are clear -a 302 per cent increase in stops and searches ,and 50 per cent increase in racial attacks. Over 600 arrests and less than 100 charged with a less than one percent conviction rate - even then the convictions include Irish paramilitary members. The DPP says that the situation for Muslims is akin to the use of the notorious "sus" laws in the 1970s ,when black men were the overwhelming victims. This led to riots in Brixton and other major cities in England. There was a massive campaign against abuse of power by the police. Bernie Grant and others were regularly in the media accusing the police and government of racism - there were large demonstrations and public outcry. Paul Boateng was a civil rights lawyer and made his name criticising police brutality - he now sits in the cabinet which is vicious in its use of state terror. As for the situation which the DPP says is similar -there is no outcry .Instead the racists are attacking Muslims in Northern Ireland daily in what is even according to the authorities an increase in islamaphobia. A young Lebanese man is on a life support machine after a recent attack in north London after he together with two others was attacked after prayers at a local mosque.

What about the Extradition Act 2003 which allows fast track banishment to the USA. Again there has been no outcry regarding the fate of Babar Ahmed who is awaiting extradition or Abu Hamza who has been spared the trauma of an American gulag for one of Blunketts.The response to the same process for three former Natwest Bankers Gary Mulgrew,Giles Darby and David Bermingham caught up in fraud allegations with Enron executives who have admitted guilt, is markedly different. They are not in custody but on bail ,and even still engaged in business. When it was asserted that Babar Ahmed would not get a fair trial in America the Whitehall Muslim shufflers were pained as it was seen as being extremists. Well -the three bankers have no such qualms and assert directly that their lives will be screwed if they get taken to Texas and that they will not get a fair trial [see The Lawyer 11 October 2004].Better still they have the support of Liberty who have said that they will intervene if the first stage of the extradition goes against Mulgrew and co .They say its a breach of the Human Rights Act and they argue that as the alleged events took place here the individuals should be charged here. The arguments are familiar as they are the same ones made on behalf of Babar Ahmed but in his case there is no support from Liberty - but that’s not surprising - since nor did Yassar Siri nor Abu Hamza or the other Muslims who have faced extradition. So much for Liberty when the civil rights movement criticizes the government regarding Belmarsh not on the grounds that it is wrong and unjust but that it is a "propaganda victory for the extremists" and "an own goal " by the government. Even worse that "it will create martyrs for their cause".

What do we take from these events and failings by the defenders of civil rights and those who lobby on Muslim issues. The lesson is that principles that are right have to be defended no matter who is the victim -yes even Abu Hamza -and that that the defence of the principle has to be articulated in its purest form. In the UK and elsewhere we have two legal systems -one for Muslims and another for everyone else -it seems that we also have two sets of civil rights -the ones for Muslims are less and defended with perverse logic.

Its high time that Muslims learnt that the only solution is for grass roots activity linked with local communities based on the principles of fairness, justice and equality. As the DPP says himself, a whole generation of Muslims are being criminalised and demonised. The need of the time is to understand that Muslims have to join with right thinking and fair individuals to create campaigns that are geared to raising awareness amongst the wider public of the scandalous conduct of the government and their supporters. On the basis of the record so far they will not get the right kind of support from traditional sources - there has to be a new beginning and a new movement otherwise the rights of not just Muslims will be destroyed but all decent people who resist oppression and injustice.


Abu Yusuf
Human Rights Lawyer