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BBC Censors Christian Party
UK party The Christian Choice has filed papers at London's High Court in response to broadcasters the BBC and ITV instructing London Mayoral Candidate Alan Craig to censor his Party Election Broadcasts aired last Wednesday (23rd April).
On Craig's website, he says that the broadcasters demanded that he not criticise radical Islamist group, Tablighi Jamaat, over their plans to build Europe's biggest mosque next to the 2012 Olympics site in West Ham.
The BBC ordered him to change his description of the Tabliqi Jamaat from "separatist" to “controversial” - ITV went one step further, demanding that plans to build the £75 million "mega mosque" be described as "controversial", rather than the Islamic missionary organisation itself.
Mr Craig argues that the broadcasters censorship infringes his rights under the European Convention on Human Rights; he adds that the censorship amounts to "political intervention" and furthermore, that the BBC is guilty of inconsistency.
Tabliqi Jamaat certainly seems controversial; despite the efforts of a UK PR company hired by the organisation, the Times published a hair-raising list of what it says are the beliefs of the sect. The group is said to oppose inter-faith dialogue and preaches that non-Muslims are an evil and corrupting influence; one of its British supporters "has said that it aims to rescue Muslims from the culture and civilisation of Jews and Christians by creating “such hatred for their ways as human beings have for urine and excreta”."
Intelligence agencies, as well as a number of moderate Muslim organisations, claim that the group offers a "gateway to terrorism" and that it preaches “a virulent, intolerant version of Islam”. Michael Gove MP has argued that two of the men behind the July 7 bombings as well as shoebomber Richard Reid and the "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh had links to Tabliqi Jamaat.
Tabliqi Jamaat "utterly refutes" the claims, arguing that it cannot be held responsible for the views of every individual who has attended one of its sermons. The Economist claimed that "most do not consider the group extremist".
Currently, the mosque is said to be planned to hold 12,000 worshippers; earlier projections put the capacity at up to 70,000. Critics of the project warn, however, that the figure of 12,000 may be a "first stage" capacity, and that subsequent stages maybe be planned with increased capacity. Some supporters of the mosque have argued that Tabliqi Jamaat might not be able to fill the mosque, but that its sheer size is intended as a statement of self belief "when some Muslims feel their identity under threat."
In any case, 12,000 people is five times the capacity of St Paul's Cathedral.
A site produced by friends of Christian Choice criticising plans to build the mosque has more information on the controversial building project, including a look at its (mostly) Saudi backers and the media campaign both in support of the project and against it. It reports that Muslim opponents of the Mega Mosque have received death threats
This must be music to Mayor Ken Livingstone's ears: He has enthusiastically backed the mosque project, although the UK government has yet to give it planning approval. Livingstone has described the campaign against the mosque as "particularly vicious" - something which is not evident in either Alan Craig's video or the "Mega Mosque No Thanks" website. If it's vicious Ken wants, perhaps he should look at some of the supporters of the mosque, who have responded to criticism of the proposals by posting a mock obituary for Mr Craig, his wife and two daughters on YouTube.
