Posted on 08/06/2005 2:15:44 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
An Islamic group facing a government ban vowed Saturday to fight the move, while activists called a new crackdown aimed at religious extremists a threat to human rights and an opposition leader warned it could worsen alienation among Britain's Muslims.
Prime Minister Tony Blair's government defended the plans to get tough with radical Islamic clerics and others who encourage terrorism, saying they are needed after the July 7 attack by four suicide bombers that killed 52 people in London and a similar July 21 assault that failed.
Britain's chief legal official, Lord Chancellor Charles Falconer, said Saturday the attacks showed that the government must act against people "who are encouraging young men who are becoming suicide bombers."
"I think there is a very widespread sense in the country subsequent to July 7th that things have changed. A new balance needs to be struck. It needs to be a lawful balance but it needs to be an effective balance," he told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.
Among the measures Blair announced Friday is the outlawing of the Muslim group Hizb-ut-Tahrir. The government did not elaborate on why the group was being proscribed, only naming it as part of the drive to uproot Islamic extremism.
A Hizb-ut-Tahrir spokesman, Nasreen Nawas, said at a news conference Saturday that the government's aim is "the curtailment of legitimate Islamic political debate."
Hizb-ut-Tahrir, formed in Jerusalem in 1953, has a presence in several European nations and has been active in Britain for almost two decades. It insists it is a nonviolent political organization, although it has been outlawed in Russia and several Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries and faces restrictions in Germany.
The group's aim is to overthrow "unelected dictators and despots who rule the Muslim world with the West's approval," Nawas said.
He said Hizb-ut-Tahrir advocates establishing a caliphate including all Muslim lands _ a state he said would have a democratically elected government, independent judiciary and respect for human rights.
Nawas, who repeated earlier condemnations of the London bombings and the Sept. 11 attacks, said the group would challenge the ban in court.
"Placing a ban on a political party with a 50-year history of nonviolence will lead many to question the talk of freedom of speech, tolerance, people power, human rights and democracy," he said.
Nawas said the proposed ban was part of a growing trend in Britain and elsewhere to equate criticism of the U.S. military presence in Iraq or Israel's policies in Gaza and the West Bank with support for terrorism.
Other Muslim groups, human rights activists and legal experts criticized Blair for the decision to draw up lists of radical preachers who will not be allowed to enter Britain and to deport foreigners who glorify acts of terror or who use extremist Web sites and bookstores.
The Guardian, a liberal newspaper, described the measures in an editorial as "ill-considered" and a "cause for alarm."
The leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, Charles Kennedy, warned that the crackdown could alienate the majority of Britain's 1.8 million Muslims and inflame tensions.
"A fundamental duty, a responsibility on all of us, whether government or nongovernment, is ... to uphold civil liberties and the right to free speech," Kennedy told BBC radio.
Musleh Faradhi, president of the moderate British Muslim group Islamic Forum of Europe, said that "if these proposed measures are allowed to see the light of day, they will increase tensions and alienate communities."
Some 25 international organizations and 14 groups in Northern Ireland already are banned in Britain under the Terrorism Act 2000. They include al-Qaida, Hamas and the Irish Republican Army.
Britain's top law enforcement official, Home Secretary Charles Clarke, can ban an organization if he believes it is involved in terrorism. Once a group is on the list, it becomes a criminal offense, punishable by a maximum 10 years in prison, to be a member.
A banned organization can appeal to the home secretary to be taken off the list and if turned down can launch an appeal in the courts.
Prime Minister Tony Blair hosts his last press conference before his summer break inside the State Dining Room of his official residence Number 10 Downing Street in London Friday Aug. 5, 2005. Blair unveiled the government's plan to extend the Home Secretary's power to deport or exclude foreigners who encourage terrorism. (AP Photo/ Andrew Stuart, Pool)
Britain's muslims better wake up and determin what side they're on.
You ARE TOO LOGICAL....and you don't have a 13th Century brain.
Well said!
Do you pronounce Hizb-ut-Tahrir.....His-but-tohairy? :-)
Do you ever read about what's going on in the world or just watch CNN?
And Blair's giving them a buzzzzz cut......
Dear Tony Blair:
Got a mess on your hands but you can begin by deporting the above listed champions of the terrorist preachers and foreigners. Then jail said preachers and foreigners for life. The rest will follow. Oh and PS: Tell the US government to take notes.
I first heard of Hizb ut Tahir, back in 2002 when they in Denmark put a bounty on the heads of Danish jews....
Non violent, my behind...
Cheers.
They better watch out for too close a cut....:-)
LOL...you're crazy!...best belly laugh of the day...maybe the week.
Thanks. I'm here to serve. No cover charge. :-)
Found this on google:
"A Muslim group in Denmark announced a few days ago that a $30,000 bounty would be paid for the murder of several prominent Danish Jews, a threat that garnered wide international notice."
This was Hizb ut Tahir in 2002.
Maybe they can extend the "shoot to kill" order to include these lowlife terrorists.
"A Muslim group in Denmark announced a few days ago that a $30,000 bounty would be paid for the murder of several prominent Danish Jews, a threat that garnered wide international notice."
This was Hizb ut Tahir in 2002"
I bet the Lib media will "forget" to put this inconvenient bit of information in their reporting. The BBC/CNN will probably portray this group as peace loving.
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