Recently in Crime Category

In my last blog, I wrote about the decision to ban an al-Qaeda supporter from a London local council.  The government's Research, Information and Communications Unit (RICU) have now released a statement about this move.

The Muslim Safety Forum (MSF) is one of the groups reported to have influenced the Chief of the Metropolitan Police's decision to scale down police stop and seach powers. This comes two months after revelations that the founding chairman of the MSF and, according to the most recent reports, its current treasurer, Azad Ali, held extremist Islamist views and praised one of the godfathers of modern jihad, Abdullah Azzam.

Guest blog from CSC Research Intern Abdul Munin:

The Chief Inspector of Prison Anne Owers today stated that Muslim prison gangs are attempting to radicalise inmates.

Owers said: "There was a perception among officers that some Muslim prisoners operated as a gang and put pressures on non-Muslim prisoners to convert, and on other Muslim prisoners to conform to a strict and extreme interpretation of Islamic practice."

Guest blog by Tom Parkinson, CSC Research Intern:

In what has been described as a ‘British legal first’ today, the jury at Manchester Crown Court convicted 44-year-old Syed Mustafa Zaidi for two counts of child cruelty after effectively ruling that he forced two Muslim youths to flog themselves as part of the Ashura ceremony.

The Ashura takes place during Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, and commemorates the death of Husayn, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed and a central figure in the Shia faith. The ceremony involves Shia Muslims flailing themselves with a zanjeer zani, an implement with a wooden handle and five chains attached to sharp knives. The youths were left with several deep cuts across their backs.

Guest blog by Mohamed Tarraf, CSC research intern:

Mohammed Al-Majed, an English language student from Qatar has been murdered in Hastings, East Sussex, in what appears to be a racially motivated attack.

He and his friends were ganged-up on by drunken youths as the group made their way home after socialising at a local take away restaurant.

Haroon Akhtar, 28, has been found guilty today for treating his young 20 year old wife as a ‘slave’ and for constantly beating her. His mother Zafia Bibi has also been found guilty for causing fear of violence and harassment. Akhtar has been found guilty on five counts of actual bodily harm.

Sania Bibi, the young wife, came from Pakistan for an arranged marriage to Haroon Akhtar. She lived with Akhtar’s family and was forced to work 17 hours per day doing household chores for his family.

Another May, another Mayor mercifully less prone than some to praising preachers of hate, and now, to add further icing to the cake of all who long for this country to return to the days when it was a tolerant, peaceful and civilised place in which to live, another moderate Muslim organisation to join the recently launched Quilliam Foundation in tackling the pockets of extremism and intolerance that remain among Britain’s Muslim community.