How did the Crown Prosecution Service and West Midlands Police come to refer
Channel 4’s Dispatches programme, Undercover Mosque, to Ofcom? It
is one of the most bizarre decisions taken by public authorities in recent
times. Having decided that they could not or would not prosecute the
purveyors of Wahhabite hate speech portrayed in the film – mostly from the
Green Lane mosque in Birmingham – they instead turned round on the
documentary-makers and investigated them for allegedly stirring up racial
hatred.
This controversy will run and run. Tomorrow the Edinburgh International
Television Festival hosts a seminar, Don’t Mention Islam, at which one of
the star turns will be the man at the heart of the fuss, Kevin Sutcliffe,
deputy head of news and current affairs at Channel 4.
Paul Goodman, MP, the Shadow Communities Minister, yesterday piled on the
pressure, writing to the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, and to the Home
Secretary, Jacqui Smith. Effectively, he inquired whether the Saudi
Government and its proxies – which are desperately sensitive about the role
of Saudi religious institutions portrayed in the documentary – have made
representations about Undercover Mosque (shown on Channel 4 in January) to
the Government or to other national and local agencies. And how, he asked,
have civil servants, acting officially or unofficially, responded to these
complaints?
In a packed seminar at Policy Exchange last week, speaker after speaker
denounced West Midlands Police for shooting the messenger and for appeasing
some of the most sectarian elements in their force area. Evan Harris, the
Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West, who courageously led the fight against
the proposed religious hatred Bill, charged that this constabulary has
“form” over defending certain liberties: it apparently equated the Sikh
protesters who sought the cancellation of the allegedly blasphemous play
Behzti at Birmingham’s Repertory Theatre in 2004 with those seeking to
maintain theatrical freedom.
So once again, it was the poor “Old Bill” that got it in the neck, rather than
the CPS – which was at least an equal partner in the process. This is no
doubt unfair. But it does illustrate how damaging it is for police forces,
perhaps more than any other public bodies, to blunder into such
controversies.
The peculiarity here is that the senior officers of West Midlands Police are
not exactly dedicated followers of political fashion. Thus, Sir Paul
Scott-Lee, the Chief Constable, has been known to tell a home secretary
where to go when that department sought to push him beyond his remit as a
police officer.
Indeed, Sir Paul is so much his own man that the Director-General of the
Security Service, Jonathan Evans, went to see him not long ago to urge him
to reorder his force priorities – and devote more resources to the “sexier”
topic of counter-terrorism. The Assistant Chief Constable who led this
investigation, Anil Patani, is a cautious fellow with no apparent
ideological agenda. Indeed, when West Midlands Police suspect a real threat,
they can act quickly and efficiently – as I have seen myself in the case of
one Muslim associate in Birmingham who was endangered recently.
But it is in the area of “soft power” that West Midlands Police, like so many
other forces, is at its weakest. According to Whitehall reports, the broader
Midlands region has seen some of the most dramatic recent “spikes” in
radicalisation of Muslims anywhere in the country.
West Midlands Police is desperate to get to grips with that trend through
intensified “community engagement”. As part of that, it has selected what it
deems to be “credible” Muslim “partners” who can help to “deliver” young
Muslims – youths who might otherwise take a walk on the wild side.
The trouble is that policemen are too often insufficiently discerning in their
choice of “partners”. They are not best equipped to “pick winners” – often
plumping for the loudest voices. Thus, the West Midlands Police website
lists the Birmingham Central Mosque as its official partner – whose
chairman, Mohammed Naseem, believes in all sorts of dottinesses, such as the
claim that Muslims were not responsible for 9/11 and 7/7 (though he
condemned terrorism against innocents).
Much the same official mindset was on offer at a Wilton Park conference
sponsored by the Foreign Office and the Department of Communities and Local
Government late last February, Countering Terrorism in Europe and North
America: How Can a Community-Based Approach be Developed? According to one
official, officers from West Midlands commended to the gathering the efforts
of two Muslims whom they stated were from the Green Lane mosque.
Neither man appears in the Dispatches programme; perhaps they were horrified
by what some of their co-religionists said there. If so, they appear not to
have stated it publicly. When these officers from West Midlands gave them
such favourable references at the Wilton Park conference, was the force
already investigating some of those elements at the mosque for alleged hate
speech? What balance of forces was West Midlands Police – in conjunction
with other elements of government – seeking to foster in the mosque? Has
Channel 4 been an inadvertent casualty of that? Whose poor advice did the
force take before stepping on this landmine?
West Midlands Police, like another force or security agency, will obviously do
everything it can to stop bombs going off. Sometimes that means supping with
some people who don’t necessarily come up to the antiracist, antihomophobic
standards of postMacpherson policing.
But rubbing shoulders with such elements in back alleys is not the same as
according them public recognition. By referring this matter to Ofcom, West
Midlands Police showed that its preferred associates in the Muslim community
are Wahhabites and assorted radical Islamists rather than the nonsectarian
Muslim mainstream. It is a choice that is profoundly demoralising for
genuine moderates and will ultimately undermine, rather than strengthen the
very community cohesion that the force seeks.
Above all, the referral caters to the sense of “victim culture” peddled by the
Muslim Council of Britain and others: that our current discontents are
caused as much by media sensationalism and “Islamophobia” as by Islamist
ideology itself. It will reinforce that strain of opinion within the MCB
that holds that mosques and other institutions don’t need to clean up their
act.
It is often said that war is too important to be left to the generals. The
case of Channel 4’s Undercover Mosque surely proves that community cohesion
is far too important to be left to the CPS and the police.
Dean Godson is research director of the Policy Exchange think-tank
I would be more worried about these people if I were you;
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3664960863576873594&hl=en-GB
Tony Rawlings, Woking, Surrey
While we sleep safely in our beds I just wonder how our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, who are fighting and dying to prevent exactly the kind of sentiments proposed in some of these mosques, will be feeling about the actions of the West Midlands Police. Would they feel undermined and betrayed?I think so and if this is the attitude of Police in the UK then they are being sacrificed for nothing and their mission is made pointless. This action by the Police is the best argument I have seen yet for bringing the troops home.
Keith Budden, Rayleigh, UK
Mike Medina
Yu can watch the programme on youtube at the click of mouse and if it's been taken off there try TV Links. I never saw it on TV, as I live abroad. They may wish to censor, but it's no longer possible
John, Helsinki, Finland
People increasingly bandy about the phrase "political correctness gone mad".
In my book, what is happening here is known as fascism, and it should be labelled as such.
It seems totally wrong to the vast majority of us, but what are we all doing? In our horror at what is happening, we are leaving the country in ever-greater numbers, because we are afraid that saying anything will get us arrested for one of the many varieties of "crime" that voicing possibly contentious opinons now is.
When they come for you, there will indeed be no one left to defend you, because all the good people will have gone.
Freya, London,
Also on youtube are video's from the muslim community in response to the C4 programme, in particular Yasir Qahdi, these are worth watching for contextualising the statements from the dispatches programme.
J Green, Stockport, UK
What the preachers allegedly said in the C4 Dispatches programme about Jews is no different from what the majority of the White population say about Muslims in private and increasingly in public. For example, the recent attack on the Imam at Regents Park Mosque, London, where the attacker tried to gouge the old mans eyes out are typical of the rising Islamophobic attitude in this country.
Samuel, Glasgow,
Why dont the C4 Dispatches producers and editors give us ALL the film for ourselves to determine if the programme was a 'cut and paste' job or not? What do they have to hide?
Samuel, Glasgow,
It is no good complaining about the attitude of the West Midlands Police. They are simply following the dictates of the previous incumbent of 10 Downing Street that the most grievous sin in present day Britain is to be beastly to any ethnic community and in particular to Moslems. You wouldn't expect a chief constable to do anything that might affect his career prospects now would you.
Anthony Back, Wellington, Telford, England
Perhaps Mr. Godson, or one of your contibutors, would like to follow up with an article explaining the muslim doctrine of taqiyya and how this would explain the disparity between the public prostations of muslim leaders and their teachings in 'private'.
Michael Fitt, Colchester, England
You can see the Channel 4 Dispatches programme on You Tube.
I just searched for 'Channel 4 Dispatches' and I found it at the top of the list.
ben, harrow,
The impression I get is that most if not all the police forces are tip-toeing around these radicals in the hope of not rocking the boat and causing unrest - which the liberal media will undoubtably blame them for.
You cant have it both ways. If you want human rights and liberalism and a reformed and enlightened Police Force (I mean Police Service) to match then this is what you get.
A Police force jumping from one foot to the next trying to please everyone all the time.
And when the lid blows off who gets the blame? The police.
You have to decide what you want, an effective Police Force or a liberalised ineffective Police Service.
Phill Barlow, Heswall, UK
Is this the latest example of political correctness gone mad?
I saw the program and it was clealry evident that some of the Mosques shown were being used as places to indoctrinate Muslims to hate the rest of us! For the police to then seek to prosecute the programme makers, rather than those who were clearly peddaling hate is quite astounding.
This seems to be just another example of political correctness and comwardice when it comes to facing up to the extremists within the Muslim community. The islamists will no doubt take heart from this and be emboldened further to spread their message of hate, knowing that the police and those in authority will turn a blind eye.
Equally worrying was the indication that the Saudi government are actually funding and encouraging many of these hard liners. Saudi Arabia is suppposed to be an ally, but it seems they are actually working in our won country to foster hatred and discord. Is it worth taking Saudi money?
Andrew Brown, derby, UK
I saw the Channel 4 programme which left me in no doubt that many Mosques in the UK are being used by extreme Islamist groups to indoctrinate Muslims to hate the rest of us. The decision of the so called forces of law and order to seek to prosceute Channel 4 instead of those who are inciting religious and racial hatred in Mosques was really quite astounding! It demonstrates a cowardice among those in power to deal with a very real problem. This cowardice plays into the hands of Islamist extremists who see this as a weakness and are then encouraged to be more outspoken and extreme in their views.
The programme also raised serious concerns about the activities of the Saudi government in this country. It should be a concern to all of us that the huge amounts of money at the Saudi's disposal seem to be buying it influence both with the UK government and within the Mulsim community. If the Saudi's are financing these radicals, can they be considered as allies?
Andrew Brown, derby, UK
You can rewatch the programme on Google Video here
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2668560761490749816
J Green, Stockport,
I missed this Ch 4 Dispatches programme as no doubt did many others: thus the only impression I have now is that of Censorship, real or intended, for the future.
An answer might be to re-run the programme with sufficient advance publicity, directly linked to a follow-up debate in which key parties are invited to "clarify" their position: this could work wonders for the confused majority of us that simply do not understand why any group in our country should so hate others that they incite/carry out, amongst other activities, indiscriminate mass murder.
I believe that this would actively assist in relieving the unspoken suspicion which now exists between ordinary Muslims and the rest of our society, by isolating the madmen.
Mike Medina, St. Albans, England
Oh how right this article is. On a 'personal' mission I have been to many mosques (including the one mentioned in the Dispatches programme) and without fail all have preached messages of hate and terror particularly against the Christian and Jewish communites of this country and beyond.
I have been appalled at what I have discovered about the so called 'peaceful' religion that I was brought up with. So much so that I have turned my back on it. Despite reporting what has been said to many police officers in many parts of the country, all I have been told is 'we dare not upset the Muslims and we don't care about a few Jews being upset '
Salim, Solihull,
'Mohammed Naseem, believes in all sorts of dottinesses, such as the claim that Muslims were not responsible for 9/11 and 7/7 (though he condemned terrorism against innocents)'.
This is not 'dottiness' this is dangerous blinkered thinking that leads them to brainwash the many gullible followers of Islam into thinking the same stupid way. This continual training in delusion is the backbone of Islam and the stepping-stone to terrorism! As for condemning the deaths of innocents, it is well documented by many muslims what an 'innocent' is. There are not many non-muslims in that category!
This kind of 'dottiness' is prevalent in all of our so-called moderate muslim leaders, well hidden in many, until you ask the right questions. They should be removed/deported.
David Smith, Stourbridge, UK