Posted on 12/14/2004 5:36:48 PM PST by sarah_f
LONDON (AFP) - The leader of the rightwing British National Party(BNP), Nick Griffin, was arrested Tuesday after he called Islam a "vicious, wicked faith" in a television documentary.
Griffin, 45, was arrested on suspicion of "incitement to commit racial hatred" and held for questioning by police in northern England before he was released on bail several hours later.
When asked if he considered Islam a "vicious, wicked faith", Griffin urged reporters to study the Koran for themselves before saying: "There are aspects of that religion which are wicked."
He then condemned the treatment of women under Islam.
The BNP, which won 800,000 votes but no seats in the European elections in June, charged the arrest was part of a "crude" bid by Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites)'s government to win back Muslim votes lost over his war in Iraq (news - web sites).
A BNP spokesman said four non-uniformed police officers raiding the family farmhouse in Wales "awoke the Griffin household from their sleep" early Tuesday.
Griffin was the 12th person arrested in connection with the investigation into the BBC documentary aired in July.
The BNP's founding chairman John Tyndall, 70, was arrested on suspicion of the same offense on Sunday following a speech he made in the northwestern city of Burnley in March.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
No free speech in Britian, obviously.
Sheesh. Britain sure has a screwed up sense of things. Yup. No free speech there!
The rest of the West has gone insane.
Banning knives, no free speech. And some brits on here the other day were going on about how much freedom they have.
Really is bizarro land.
which one is supposed to be the fascist?
Heck - who needs the Muslims to silence their opponents, when the British government is willing to do it for them.
I wonder if the 1 or 2 million Muslim women in Britain, who live with daily beatings from their Koran-inspired husband support this arrest.
Had John Tyndall condemned Christianity - that would have been politically correct. Ditto if he called for jihad against Israel. But criticizing ANY aspect of Islam is off-limits in the U.K.
Bad message
The truth hurts, eh???
Stew Pid Brits !!!
Come on now, how come the Islamic preachers can say whatever they want to incite violence in England, and still walk free? Crazy!
"incitement to commit racial hatred"
And how many British imams have been arrested lately? Enquiring minds want to know.
Its a good thing they have the Chunnel....the sane ones can flee to France. (what a twist, eh)?
While hate-spewing imams walk free?
Aha.... the well-dresse anglo-nazi was arrested for stating a fact?
People, do NOT sympathize with the BNP as they are a neofascist organization.
My wife is a Brit, and she has told me that there is no freedom of speech there.
In fact, her pastor from England came over and went to church with us. He told me that he would have been arrested for giving the sermon that he heard in our church. It is truly sad.
This is freaking scary!!
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