News

The Home Secretary has banned Islam4UK and its various guises (including al-Muhajiroun).  Nigel Huddleston welcomes this decision.  

The banning order will come into effect on Thursday and make it a criminal offence to be a member, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Conservatives have long argued that the group should be banned. David Cameron asked why they hadn't been banned at PMQs on November 25th, when he pointed out that this organisation had described the 9/11 bombers as "magnificent" people and had called for "blood on the streets of London and New York".  Gordon Brown said there was no evidence to allow the authorities to proscribe Islam4UK.  The Home secretary clearly now believes there is.

Conservatives have made similar demands for proscription of Hizb ut-Tahrir and Hizbollah.

It is completely unacceptable that any group which propagates the views of banned preachers of hate in the UK and which takes part in public protests that espouse unacceptable extremist views should be able to operate freely and legally in Britain.  The Government now needs to move ahead with finding a legal route to ban other UK organisations that are part of international extremist groups.

Nigel Huddleston has experienced Al Muhajiroun’s actions first hand.  He and his family (including his two young children) were with Baroness Warsi on a tour of Luton businesses when they were verbally abused and pelted with eggs in November 2009.  The group have been highly vocal and visible in the Luton South constituency for some time.

Nigel Huddleston said:
“My gut instinct is against bans unless absolutely necessary.  The banning of Islam4Uk was indeed necessary. Their behaviour and beliefs are inconsistent with being honourable British citizens. 

In modern Britain you can think what you like, but you can not do what you like.  Our society is founded on respect for others.  Islam4Uk showed no respect, did not listen and did not want to engage in a dialogue or debate. It’s members wanted to shout, abuse, threaten and offend. 

For years this small group of extremists have tried to spread a highly distorted version of the Koran – much to the dismay of the vast majority of British Muslims.

The broader, tolerant British Muslim community have spoken loudly and clearly that these people do not speak in their name, and I know that this ban has been welcomed by the vast majority of Luton Muslims. 

Members of Islam4Uk have disturbed the peace, damaged community relations, and disrupted business in Bury Park and other areas of Luton for some time.  Even yesterday several members of Islam4Uk were abusive and completely unrepentant as they left Luton Magistrate’s court having received a conditional discharge for their disruptive behaviour at the Royal Anglian parade in Luton last year.  Enough is enough.

They brought this on themselves: whether throwing eggs at a visiting politician, shouting abuse at serving soldiers, preaching hate, or expressing sympathy for terrorists, their consistent strategy has been to cause deep offence, stir up trouble, and gain maximum publicity in the process.  No more.  The message sent today is that such behaviour is not tolerated in modern Britain.

This is a victory for the tolerant, silent majority.”

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling, said:

“We have long argued that Islam4UK should be banned, so we welcome this decision.

“We cannot permit any group which propagates the views of banned international preachers of hate and organises hate-filled public protests to operate in Britain. Now Ministers need to look at how they are going to ban other groups in the UK which are part of broader international networks of extremism.”