Altikriti said the two targeted institutes train imams who will be able to help with the indigenisation of Islam in Britain.

CAIRO, July 29 (IslamOnline.net) - A British Muslim group accused the Conservatives of backing a fierce anti-Muslim press campaign targeting the community figures and organisations.

"We note with disappointment again the role of the Conservative Party" in the "hunting season that has been declared on Islam and Muslims", the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) said on its web site.

"The right-wing really needs to get its act together. They have to ask themselves who is feeding them these stories about the Muslim community almost on a weekly basis now, all which later turn out to be deliberate cons," said the Muslim group.

The MAB cited the recent attack by The Times against two of the main institutes of Islamic learning in Britain, namely the Markfield Institute of Higher Education and the European Institute of Human Sciences.

The Muslim group regretted the Conservatives "have once again dived straight in on this issue calling for a raft of official investigations.

"A simple call to the Muslim community would have clarified the position, and it is sad to see the Official Opposition acting in such a cack-handed manner."

The Time had taken some quotes from an article by professor Khurshid Ahmad, Rector of the MIHE, out of context to allegedly claim he supports the ousted Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

It also criticised Azzam Tamimi, a MIHE lecturer and prominent Muslim scholar, of supporting Palestinian resistance against Israeli occupation.

The MAB said this does not amount to a charge because Tamimi's position is shared by countless other Muslims and non-Muslims in Britain and across the world.

Tamimi is currently in Japan on a visiting professorship with the University of Kyoto, and known for moderate views beamed on several British TV channels.

The Times report stated that the main British regulator Charities Commission, a watchdog in charge of monitoring charities, will be investigating the two institutes' alleged links to terror.

The MAB dismissed the charges as baseless, saying: "We have no doubt that, as in the case of Interpal last year, the investigations will turn up nothing".

In August, the British charity regulator froze the assets of Interpal, a non-governmental organization collecting money to help Palestinian children and homeless, after US President George Bush claimed it is linked to "terrorism".

Weeks of investigations by the Charity Commission gave the group a clean bill of health , as Washington failed to provide evidence of the accusations.

"A common thread is appearing of legal and official investigations taking place on the Muslim community, with it being shown time and again that the community acts within the law," stressed Anas Altikriti, spokesperson for MAB.

Altikriti, who unsuccessfully run for a seat in the European Parliament  at the slate of George Galloway's Respect Party, stressed that both the MIHE and the EIHS are aiming to produce imams and people of learning who will be able to help with the indigenisation of Islam in this country.

"These ventures should be supported rather than them also coming under the same hysteria which has unfairly surrounded so much of the Muslim community recently."

One of the two organisations, the EIHS, has been the subject of a positive BBC Newsnight report which placed the institute as a model for producing moderate imams for Britain.

The MAB said the Time's report is part of attacks campaign against the community by other newspapers.

"British Muslims are beginning to become accustomed to attacks on their most beloved institutions. Over the last year, they’ve seen right-wing and Zionist assaults on their scholars (Sheikh Yussef Qaradawi), their charities (Interpal), their religion itself, and their organisations and leading individuals," said Altikriti.

Sheikh Qaradawi came under fire from some newspapers during his visit  to London after an official complaint was lodged by the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

But the case embarrassingly fell flat on its face within less than 48 hours of it being submitted.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone apologized to Qaradawi for the vile campaign and invited him back to London next October.

"On behalf of the people of London, I want to apologize to the Sheikh for the outbreak of xenophobia and hysteria  in some sections of the tabloid press which demonstrated an underlying ignorance of Islam," Livingstone said.

On July 15, the Sunday Telegraph also falsely attributed  statements to the prominent Muslim scholar.

Observers note that Muslim groups are beginning to react appropriately to such attacks against the community, in what they called "lobby-minded" approach.

In January, the Muslim Council of Britain lodged a complaint with the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) and the BBC urging robust disciplinary action against columnist and presenter Robert Kilroy-Silk.

Thanks to an immediate Muslim action, the BBC suspended the presenter's morning show pending an investigation, while Kilroy-Silk offered an apology over lambasting Arabs as  "suicide bombers, limb amputators, women repressors".

On June 9, the BBC 1 aired a controversial episode of the MI5 drama, Spooks, featuring an Imam of a fictional mosque in Birmingham who recruited Muslim students and teenagers to be "suicide" bombers.

The airing prompted nearly 1,000 complaints and an email campaign by Muslim viewers slamming the show as "reckless behavior ".