LONDON,
December 15, 2005 (IslamONline.net & News Agencies) – The
British government dropped on Thursday, December 15, a controversial
plan to close down mosques allegedly used by extremists after
opposition from police and the Muslim minority.
"I
will not seek to legislate on this issue at the present time, although
we will keep the matter under review," Home Secretary Charles
Clarke said in a written statement to parliament cited by Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
He
said both Muslim leaders and senior police officers believed
strengthening relations between police and the minority would be more
effective.
Clarke
proposed in October that police should have powers to temporarily
close mosques "used as a centre for fomenting extremism,"
and forcing trustees or registered owners to take action.
Failure
to do so would have been a criminal offence, with continued extremist
activity potentially leading to the "last resort" of
shutting down the venue.
The
proposal was part of a 12-point plan of anti-terror measures drawn up
in the wake of the July 7 attacks on London's public transport system
that killed 56, including four Muslim bombers.
However,
it has drawn rebuke and fierce opposition from police and the Muslim
minority.
The
new decision follows Prime Minister Tony Blair's first lower House of
Commons vote defeat in his eight-year tenure in November, over a
proposal to hold terror suspects for up to 90 days without charge.
Not
Favored
 |
|
"The power suggested seems to us to amount to a desire to 'get someone, anyone'," said Mylne.
|
Clarke's
letter followed consultation with 66 people and organizations around
Britain, the majority of whom were not in favor.
"There
would need to be significant changes to the intentions and wording of
the legislation for it to be either desirable or enforceable,"
said Rob Beckley, the Association of Chief Police Officers'
counter-terrorism spokesman.
Graham
Sparkes, of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, said his group would
be "very sensitive" towards anything that threatened
"hard-won" freedoms of expression.
Morag
Mylne, convenor of the Church and Society Council of the Protestant
Church of Scotland, also more critical.
"The
power suggested seems to us to amount to a desire to 'get someone,
anyone'.
"We
think there is no point trying to adjust or amend the proposal. We
believe it should be abandoned forthwith."
The
proposal has been severely criticized by opponents including many in
Blair's own Labour Party who said they could radicalize the Muslim
minority and erode civil rights while doing nothing to make the
country safer.
Stereotyped
 |
|
"The notion of influential 'back-door' mosques is a figment of the imagination," Sacranie insisted.
|
Sir
Iqbal Sacranie, the General Secretary of the Muslim Council of
Britain, said they have been deeply disturbed that the government was
associating "the evil of violence" with their places of
worship.
"We
therefore feel that mosques are being misidentified and stereotyped as
incubators of violent extremism, while the social reality is that they
serve as centers of moderation," he said in a statement.
Sacranie
stressed that the July 7 bombers were "indoctrinated by a
sub-culture outside the mosque."
"The
notion of influential 'back-door' mosques is a figment of the
imagination."
He
asserted that British foreign policy and the "double
standards" of London and Washington in their dealings in the
Middle East were a major factor in the rise and spread of terrorism.
Sir
Christopher Meyer, the former British ambassador to Washington, said
Saturday, November 5, that the Iraq war has fuelled home-grown
terrorism in Britain.
"There
is plenty of evidence around at the moment that home-grown terrorism
was partly radicalized and fuelled by what is going on in Iraq."
A
leaked secret memo written by Foreign Office Permanent Secretary
Michael Jay warned Blair a year ago that the Iraq war was fuelling
extremism at home and making Britain seen as a crusader state.
A
report from Britain 's Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) further
said that events in Iraq "are continuing to act as motivation and
a focus of a range of terrorist-related activity in the UK".
Also
read:
