HUMAN RIGHTS/THE WAR ON TERROR
Although the judiciary are revelling in their latest show of liberal snobbery, the granting by the Court of Appeal of the appeal by Shabina Begum against a decision by the High Court regarding her demand that she need not wear a school uniform (of which there were several versions), in the name of human rights, the full extent was coming to light of their unsuitability and the desperate need to subject judges to the democratic process by making them elected by the very Hoi Polloi whom they look down their noses at.
It has now been reported in Friday’s Daily Mail, that Shabina Begum, who began her protest when she was still only a 14 year old orphan, has in fact been helped and encouraged in her stand by the Hizb ut-Tahrir organisation. Her brother, Shuweb, who is a Hizb ut-Tahrir supporter originally confronted the assistant head and told him that Shabina Begum would from then on be wearing the jilbab robe. Shuweb has been acting as a ‘litigation friend’ throughout the legal proceedings.
A spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir confirmed that the organisation had given advice to Shabina Begum, who was represented in court by Cherie Blair and had been granted £35,000 in legal aid.
The school headmistress had told the Court of Appeal that she had been concerned at the attempts by fanatics to influence her pupils towards Islamic extremism, but the judges clearly have not been too fussed about that.
Hizb ut-Tahrir has been banned in many Arab and European countries for its extremist politics. It is an a political organisation, although for many Muslims politics and religion are the same. The BBC website contains the following passage relating to an August 2003 Newsnight programme:
‘An influential British Muslim has told Newsnight that unless action is taken against an extreme Muslim group operating in the United Kingdom then we could soon be experiencing terrorist attacks along the lines of those in Baghdad and Jerusalem. Hizb Ut Tahrir or HT is an Islamic splinter group, which is banned in many countries around the world. It operates freely in Britain (needless to say - erc). But Newsnight has discovered that its website promotes racism and anti-Semitic hatred, calls suicide bombers martyrs, and urges Muslims to kill Jewish people.’
The BBC is hardly an institution that is unduly critical of Muslims. The website goes on to quote a passage from an HT promotional video:
‘I think Muslims in this country need to take a long, hard look at themselves and decide what is their identity. Are they British or are they Muslim? I am a Muslim. Where I live, is irrelevant.’
The website then goes on to quote a senior Muslim figure who would only speak anonymously:
‘I believe that if Hizb Ut Tahrir are not stopped at this stage, and we continue to let them politicise and pollute the youngsters minds and other gullible people minds, then what will happen in effect is that these terrorism acts and these suicide bombings that we hear going on around in foreign countries, we will actually start seeing these incidents happening outside our doorsteps.’
The website makes the following report:
‘In 1994, Newsnight reported on fears over their rising influence and their militant message. Hizb Ut Tahrir was controversial and condemned as openly racist. The National Union of Students described them as “the single biggest extremist threat in the UK” and tried to ban them from campuses. After fading from view in the late 1990s, today the group is once again visible. And this time, it's apparently respectable.’
That is not so. It is respectable only to its followers and the Court of Appeal.
It has now been reported in Friday’s Daily Mail, that Shabina Begum, who began her protest when she was still only a 14 year old orphan, has in fact been helped and encouraged in her stand by the Hizb ut-Tahrir organisation. Her brother, Shuweb, who is a Hizb ut-Tahrir supporter originally confronted the assistant head and told him that Shabina Begum would from then on be wearing the jilbab robe. Shuweb has been acting as a ‘litigation friend’ throughout the legal proceedings.
A spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir confirmed that the organisation had given advice to Shabina Begum, who was represented in court by Cherie Blair and had been granted £35,000 in legal aid.
The school headmistress had told the Court of Appeal that she had been concerned at the attempts by fanatics to influence her pupils towards Islamic extremism, but the judges clearly have not been too fussed about that.
Hizb ut-Tahrir has been banned in many Arab and European countries for its extremist politics. It is an a political organisation, although for many Muslims politics and religion are the same. The BBC website contains the following passage relating to an August 2003 Newsnight programme:
‘An influential British Muslim has told Newsnight that unless action is taken against an extreme Muslim group operating in the United Kingdom then we could soon be experiencing terrorist attacks along the lines of those in Baghdad and Jerusalem. Hizb Ut Tahrir or HT is an Islamic splinter group, which is banned in many countries around the world. It operates freely in Britain (needless to say - erc). But Newsnight has discovered that its website promotes racism and anti-Semitic hatred, calls suicide bombers martyrs, and urges Muslims to kill Jewish people.’
The BBC is hardly an institution that is unduly critical of Muslims. The website goes on to quote a passage from an HT promotional video:
‘I think Muslims in this country need to take a long, hard look at themselves and decide what is their identity. Are they British or are they Muslim? I am a Muslim. Where I live, is irrelevant.’
The website then goes on to quote a senior Muslim figure who would only speak anonymously:
‘I believe that if Hizb Ut Tahrir are not stopped at this stage, and we continue to let them politicise and pollute the youngsters minds and other gullible people minds, then what will happen in effect is that these terrorism acts and these suicide bombings that we hear going on around in foreign countries, we will actually start seeing these incidents happening outside our doorsteps.’
The website makes the following report:
‘In 1994, Newsnight reported on fears over their rising influence and their militant message. Hizb Ut Tahrir was controversial and condemned as openly racist. The National Union of Students described them as “the single biggest extremist threat in the UK” and tried to ban them from campuses. After fading from view in the late 1990s, today the group is once again visible. And this time, it's apparently respectable.’
That is not so. It is respectable only to its followers and the Court of Appeal.
posted by erc @ 1:56 pm
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