Azad Ali is back

The Telegraph report the unwelcome news that:

'An Islamic extremist who has described al-Qaeda as a "myth" and justified the killing of British troops in Iraq has been chosen as the main link between the Metropolitan Police and the Muslim community.

Scotland Yard will now face pressure to renounce Azad Ali, the new chair of the Muslim Safety Forum, which is recognised by the Met under a formal written agreement as "the principal body in relation to Muslim community safety and security".

The deal says that the Met will "use the MSF as a consultation body to help formulate policy or practice". Mr Ali was the founding chair of the MSF in 2006, but left that job in 2008 and resigned entirely from the group last year after publicity over his extremist comments. Last week, he was quietly reappointed as its chairman.

...

Mr Ali is a senior official of the fundamentalist Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE), which works, in its own words, to create an Islamic state under sharia law in Europe. The IFE and the MSF share the same offices.

He has previously praised a key mentor of Osama bin Laden. Earlier this year, he was filmed by an undercover reporter from Channel 4's Dispatches stating: "Democracy, if it means not implementing the sharia, of course nobody agrees with that."

When the documentary was aired, Mr Ali attacked the reporter on the IFE's official radio station, saying: "We've got a picture of you and a lot more than you thought we had. We've tracked you down to different places. And if people are gonna turn what I've just said into a threat, that's their fault, innit?"

Mr Ali's comments about terrorism were made on his official blog on the IFE website. Earlier this year, he lost a libel action against a newspaper which reported them. The judge, Mr Justice Eady, said that Mr Ali "was indeed taking the position that the killing of American and British troops in Iraq would be justified", describing his claim as "bound to fail" and having an "absence of reality".

Patrick Mercer, a Conservative MP and counterterrorism expert, said: "It beats me why the police should want to take the advice of this man. They should have nothing to do with him. I know for a fact that there are just as knowledgeable members of the Muslim community who do not share his subversive views."'

Does the name Azad Ali ring any bells? If you read this blog it should... In January 2009 I blogged for the first time about 'Treasury official Azad Ali, president of the Civil Service Islamic Society'. Here are some extracts from that article so you have some background on Azad Ali:

'Shortly after this newspaper contacted the Cabinet Office, a senior official disclosed that Mr Ali had been suspended for the remarks made on his personal internet blog.

In it he:

* Quotes an Islamic extremist who says it is his ‘obligation’ to kill British and American soldiers in Iraq;

* Accuses the Government of failing to condemn the ‘Zionist terrorist state of Israel’; and

* Attacks moderate British Muslims as ‘self-serving vultures, feeding on the dead flesh of the Palestinians’.

Here's a few extracts from his blog as reported by The Mail: "‘If I found the same soldier over the border in Jordan I wouldn’t touch him. In Iraq he is a fighter and an occupier, here he is not. This is my religion and I respect this as the main instruction in my religion for jihad.’

Last week Mr Ali wrote on the ‘Between the Lines’ site: ‘We are the Resistance. The Zionist terrorist state of Israel had only one aim, to destroy all semblance of resistance. We have yet to hear any condemnation from our government.’"

The Mail also reports the unsurprising news that:

"Until his internet outburst, Mr Ali was regarded as a moderate Muslim who could help tackle Islamic fanaticism in Britain.

As a former chairman of the influential Muslim Safety Forum and the current head of its counter-terrorism work-team, he works with the Home Office, senior police officers and the Security Services trying to combat extremism.

...

The proceeds of a recent Civil Service Islamic Society annual dinner were passed to Interpal, a Palestinian charity that is banned by the US government – although not in the United Kingdom – due to allegations of links to terrorism.

The dinner was attended by Labour MP Sadiq Khan and Peter Lewis, head of the Crown Prosecution Service.

As well as being a career civil servant, Mr Ali has been a community activist for more than 20 years.

He is also on the board of London CrimeStoppers and sits on the Metropolitan Police’s Strategic Stop & Search Committee and Police Use of Firearms Group.

Mr Ali is a member of the Independent Police Complaints Commission’s Community Advisory Group and the Home Office’s Trust and Confidence Community Panel.

There are few people with a higher profile within the ‘moderate’ Muslim community. He is a trustee of the East London Mosque & London Muslim Centre. He chairs the Muslim Council of Britain’s membership committee and is a member of its central working committee.

He is also the vice-chairman of Canon Barnet School board of governors and chairman of the Saturday Islamic School board of governors.

He has a wide network of friends, making him an influential figure as the Government tries to ‘engage’ with radical Islamic groups to prevent them turning to terrorism.

Mr Ali’s friends on the Facebook website include former Guantanamo Bay inmate Moazzam Begg, Inayat Bunglawala of the Muslim Council of Britain, and journalist and Muslim convert Yvonne Ridley."

...

A second thought is if such a leading 'moderate' Muslim as Azad Ali has been freely expressing such thoughts on the internet, what are the thoughts of other (maybe less moderate) Muslims in the organisations that Azad Ali played such a leading role in?


Is the expression "fifth column" a tad tough? Maybe, but whilst such organisations as the Civil Service Islamic Society, the Muslim Safety Forum, the Independent Police Complaints Commission’s Community Advisory Group and the Home Office’s Trust and Confidence Community Panel exist and employ people with views such as those expressed by Azad Ali then one does start to.'

In July 2009 I blogged that

'Azad Ali was "punished" by being suspended on full pay for six months and is now back at work as if nothing had happened.

Could someone explain why Azad Ali, a civil servant, is back at work after a six month paid holiday with no other action being taken whilst DC Richard Horton, author of the Night Jack blog, was forced to stop blogging and given a written warning.'

And finally in February this year I blogged that:

'I see that Azad Ali is back in the news. It seems that the simply delightful civil servant who used his personal website to justify the killing of British troops in Iraq appeared at the "Progressive London" conference organised by Ken Livingstone along with Harriet Harman and Ed Miliband. So much for community cohesion or are this labour government so desperate for votes that they are willing to cosy up to people such as Azad Ali? '

Depressing, very depressing that the UK government/civil service are so blind that they cannot see what certain peoplke really stand for.

As a side matter, whilst I expect no better from Ken Livingstone, maybe the Jewish Weekly News could ask Ed Miliband about his links with a supporter of the creation of an Islamic state under Sharia law in Europe and for aspects of Islamic terrorism the next time they decide to write a puff-piece about a JINO (Jewish In Name Only) Labour politician.

The return of Azad Ali

I see that Azad Ali is back in the news. It seems that the simply delightful civil servant who used his personal website to justify the killing of British troops in Iraq appeared at the "Progressive London" conference organised by Ken Livingstone along with Harriet Harman and Ed Miliband. So much for community cohesion or are this labour government so desperate for votes that they are willing to cosy up to people such as Azad Ali?

Azad Ali update

Further to my piece back in January about Azad Ali, the senior Muslim civil servant who launched an astonishing verbal onslaught against the Government over its response to Israel’s military strikes in Gaza – and has suggested that killing British troops in Iraq is justified. At the time I reported The Mail informing us that

"Treasury official Azad Ali, president of the Civil Service Islamic Society, now faces the sack over the remarks.... Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell – who is the patron of the society – acted immediately after being alerted to the comments by The Mail on Sunday"

If you read my piece you find out more about the "moderate" Azad Ali. It was with some dismay that I read in The Mail that:

"A Muslim civil servant suspended amid claims that he used his personal website to justify the killing of British troops in Iraq has returned to work at the Treasury.

Azad Ali, an IT worker and president of the Civil Service Islamic Society, was suspended on full pay for six months following comments on his blog."

So Azad Ali was "punished" by being suspended on full pay for six months and is now back at work as if nothing had happened.

Could someone explain why Azad Ali, a civil servant, is back at work after a six month paid holiday with no other action being taken whilst DC Richard Horton, author of the Night Jack blog, was forced to stop blogging and given a written warning.


UPDATE:
Commenter "BrianE" raises a very pertinent addendum:

"You might also ask why two civil servants have been sacked for blogging. One a few months ago "Civil Serf" for commenting on the number of non-jobs where she worked, and one last week for being "unkind" to Hazel Blears.
I wonder if either will now consider going to a Tribunal on the basis that they have been unfairly discriminated against?"

More on the banning of Geert Wilders (update)

The Geert Wilders/Fitna affair took another turn today when Geert Wilders was denied entry by the Home Office and was questioned by immigration officials at Heathrow. Also in attendance was the Dutch Ambassador who made clear his government's opposition to the ban on Mr Wilders entering the UK. Lord Pearson still intends to show Fitna at the Houses of Parliament today and to hold a debate afterwards.

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, told the BBC's Hardtalk that: "The home secretary made a decision on an individual case as she is required to do." and that the film contained "extreme anti-Muslim hate and we have very clear laws in this country". He added "We have profound commitment to freedom of speech but there is no freedom to cry 'fire' in a crowded theatre and there is no freedom to stir up hate, religious and racial hatred, according to the laws of the land."

The Home Office issued a statement that included this: "The government opposes extremism in all forms... "


Meanwhile Jacqui Smith allowed Ibrahim Moussawi into the UK to address an anti-war rally at Birmingham City Council's offices last year, that's the same Ibrahim Moussawi who has been reported in the New Yorker magazine as saying that Jews are "a lesion on the forehead of history".

Meanwhile the Labour government continually listened to and consorted with Azad Ali the president of the Civil Service Islamic Society, to whose advantage.

Meanwhile a report claimed that some Muslim schools in the UK teach "repugnant" beliefs about the wickedness of Western society and Jews.

Meanwhile Anjem Choudary can host a live feed from the Lebanon by Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad and himself say that "As Muslims, we will not submit to any man-made law, any government, or any prime minister - Bush or Brown - or [to] Jacqui Smith. We submit to Allah." as well as "Jihad is a duty and a struggle and an obligation that lies upon the shoulders of us all. We will not rest until the flag of Allah and the flag of Islam is raised above 10 Downing Street."

Meanwhile Abu Rumaysah at the same meeting can say: "Women need to be covered up, men lashed for fornication [outside marriage] and hands cut off for theft and breaking Sharia law," When a woman in a burkha asked how he could justify this when Islam was supposed to be a religion of peace, the crowd mocked her. But it was Choudary who rose to put her in her place. "Islam is not a religion of peace," he said. "It is a religion of submission. We need to submit to the will of Allah."

Meanwhile the King of Saudi Arabia is accorded the honour of a full state visit and The Mall is hung with flags bearing the text (in Arabic) that: "There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger". That's the King of Saudi Arabia, the Country where:
1) No symbols of any faith other than Islam are allowed and the public practice of non-Muslim religions is prohibited.

2) Only Muslims are allowed into Mecca & Medina, the street signs are really quite shocking when you see them.

3) The Saudi government does not permit non-Muslim clergy to enter the country for the purpose of conducting religious services.

4) According Saudi policy for tourists, it is not permissible to bring Christian or Jewish religious symbols and books into the kingdom and they are subject to confiscation

5) Until March 1, 2004, the official government website stated that Jews were forbidden from entering the country - the situation now is less clear


But it is Geert Wilders who is prevented from entering the UK to speak at a meeting whilst Ibrahim Moussawi, Anjem Choudary and Abu Rumaysah can say what they like without fear of censure. It is Geert Wilders who is prevented from entering the UK whilst those who march chanting "death to the Jews" or call for the beheading of cartoonists carry on regardless. It is strange Country we live in, is it not?

Do I hear the phrase "fifth column"?

The Mail reports that:

"A senior Muslim civil servant has launched an astonishing verbal onslaught against the Government over its response to Israel’s military strikes in Gaza – and has suggested that killing British troops in Iraq is justified.

Treasury official Azad Ali, president of the Civil Service Islamic Society, now faces the sack over the remarks.

Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell – who is the patron of the society – acted immediately after being alerted to the comments by The Mail on Sunday.

Shortly after this newspaper contacted the Cabinet Office, a senior official disclosed that Mr Ali had been suspended for the remarks made on his personal internet blog.

In it he:

* Quotes an Islamic extremist who says it is his ‘obligation’ to kill British and American soldiers in Iraq;

* Accuses the Government of failing to condemn the ‘Zionist terrorist state of Israel’; and

* Attacks moderate British Muslims as ‘self-serving vultures, feeding on the dead flesh of the Palestinians’.

The Treasury lists Mr Ali’s title as ‘Business Partner’. He is understood to work as an IT administrator."

Here's a few extracts from his blog as reported by The Mail: "‘If I found the same soldier over the border in Jordan I wouldn’t touch him. In Iraq he is a fighter and an occupier, here he is not. This is my religion and I respect this as the main instruction in my religion for jihad.’

Last week Mr Ali wrote on the ‘Between the Lines’ site: ‘We are the Resistance. The Zionist terrorist state of Israel had only one aim, to destroy all semblance of resistance. We have yet to hear any condemnation from our government.’"


The Mail also reports the unsurprising news that:

"Until his internet outburst, Mr Ali was regarded as a moderate Muslim who could help tackle Islamic fanaticism in Britain.

As a former chairman of the influential Muslim Safety Forum and the current head of its counter-terrorism work-team, he works with the Home Office, senior police officers and the Security Services trying to combat extremism.

...

The proceeds of a recent Civil Service Islamic Society annual dinner were passed to Interpal, a Palestinian charity that is banned by the US government – although not in the United Kingdom – due to allegations of links to terrorism.

The dinner was attended by Labour MP Sadiq Khan and Peter Lewis, head of the Crown Prosecution Service.

As well as being a career civil servant, Mr Ali has been a community activist for more than 20 years.

He is also on the board of London CrimeStoppers and sits on the Metropolitan Police’s Strategic Stop & Search Committee and Police Use of Firearms Group.

Mr Ali is a member of the Independent Police Complaints Commission’s Community Advisory Group and the Home Office’s Trust and Confidence Community Panel.

There are few people with a higher profile within the ‘moderate’ Muslim community. He is a trustee of the East London Mosque & London Muslim Centre. He chairs the Muslim Council of Britain’s membership committee and is a member of its central working committee.

He is also the vice-chairman of Canon Barnet School board of governors and chairman of the Saturday Islamic School board of governors.

He has a wide network of friends, making him an influential figure as the Government tries to ‘engage’ with radical Islamic groups to prevent them turning to terrorism.

Mr Ali’s friends on the Facebook website include former Guantanamo Bay inmate Moazzam Begg, Inayat Bunglawala of the Muslim Council of Britain, and journalist and Muslim convert Yvonne Ridley."

A few queries come to mind, first what is the Civil Service Islamic Society and why does it exist? Is there a Catholic Civil Service Society, a Jewish Civil Service Society, a Hindu Civil Service Society? The Civil Service Society has the following: "Aims and Objectives"

* The Society will respect the non-political/non-partisan traditions of impartiality of the Civil Service
* The Society aims to foster and cultivate closer links with all faiths and build on common shared interfaith values
* Empowering people in their professional, personal and social fields
* To inform and influence policy to be more inclusive of Muslim needs
* To facilitate, encourage and engage with stakeholders and interested parties; and
* To provide guidance / advice to Senior Civil Service Management on religious issues that impact on the Muslim workforce."

and a Mission Statement of:

To raise awareness of Islam, influence areas of interests and empower its Muslim staff by acting as a representative body of mainstream Islamic affairs."

A second thought is if such a leading 'moderate' Muslim as Azad Ali has been freely expressing such thoughts on the internet, what are the thoughts of other (maybe less moderate) Muslims in the organisations that Azad Ali played such a leading role in?


Is the expression "fifth column" a tad tough? Maybe, but whilst such organisations as the Civil Service Islamic Society, the Muslim Safety Forum, the Independent Police Complaints Commission’s Community Advisory Group and the Home Office’s Trust and Confidence Community Panel exist and employ people with views such as those expressed by Azad Ali then one does start to wonder.