Extremists call for “death penalty” for gays
Islamic Research and Education Academy conference this Sunday
The Ibis international hotel group has been accused by lesbian and gay human rights campaigners of “irresponsibly hosting conferences by extremist anti-gay hate preachers”.
The next conference by the Islamic Education and Research Academy (iERA) will be held on Sunday 16 January at the Ibis Hotel in Earl’s Court in London.
The Ibis group is being urged to cancel the iERA booking and “stop hosting speakers who variously incite homophobic hatred and the killing of gay people.”
The iERA has featured Muslim fundamentalist preachers who advocate the criminalisation of homosexuality and even the death penalty for same-sex acts. They argue that it is necessary to execute gays to keep society pure. They defend these extreme teachings about homosexuality as a model that should be followed by contemporary societies.
The headline speakers at Sunday’s conference are associates of the hate preachers Dr Zakir Naik and Bilal Phillips. Both banned from entering Britain by the Home Secretary, Theresa May, last year. Another iERA advisor, Hussein Yee is also banned from entering the UK.
The iERA speakers at the Ibis Hotel on Sunday are:
- Shaykh Abdullah Hakim Quick
- Abduraheem Green
- Shaykh Ala El Sayed
- Shaykh Yusuf Estes (tbc)
- Shaykh Shady Suleiman,
- Hamza Tzortzis
- Yusuf Chambers
See below examples of their homophobic incitements against lesbian and gay people.
“The Ibis Hotel group should not facilitate speakers who promote homophobic discrimination and violence. They should cancel this booking,” said Peter Tatchell of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender human rights group OutRage!
“Lesbian and gay people – and straight people of conscience – should not use Ibis Hotels while they continue to host extremist anti-gay preachers. A boycott campaign might be necessary if Ibis does not change its policy.
“Neither the government nor the police would allow an event with speakers who had called for the killing of Muslims to ‘keep society pure’ and stop the spread of their religion. Such extreme anti-Muslim hate speech would not be tolerated. The event would be stopped and the speakers arrested if they expressed those views. Why the double standards?
“Most Muslims in Britain do not believe that lesbian and gay people should be killed. These extremists are out of touch with the majority of Muslim opinion. They are divisive and they damage community cohesion. Their homophobic fanaticism is being exploited by the far right to unfairly tarnish the wider Muslim community,” Mr Tatchell said.
OutRage! is urging you to email your protest to the General Manager of the Ibis Hotel in Earl’s Court, Patrice Millot:
patrice.millot@accor.com
Please also email your protest to Jean-Jacques Dessors, CEO of the Ibis Hotel parent company, Accor, via his PA, Charlotte Young:
charlotte.young@accor.com
Brett Lock of OutRage! added:
“This is not the first time Ibis Hotels have hosted such extremist events. It is quite shocking. I doubt they would host racist and anti-Semitic conferences.
“We do not wish to ban people with religious convictions from expressing their moral opposition to homosexuality. People should have the freedom to say that they think homosexuality is a sin and incompatible with their religious beliefs. However, supporting the execution of lesbian and gay people and equating them with rapists and paedophiles is dangerous incitement. It crosses the line,” he said.
Below are samples of anti-gay incitements by Sunday’s speakers at the Islamic Research and Education Academy conference in London:
Abdullah Hakim Quick
Six years ago, Quick was condemned by New Zealand’s broadcasting authority for his fiery anti-gay broadcasts which included these claims:
– AIDS is caused by the “filthy practices” of homosexuals
– Homosexuals are dropping dead from AIDS and “they want to take us all down with them”
– The Islamic position on homosexuality is “death”
– Homosexuals are “sick” and “not natural”
– “Muslims are going to have to take a stand [against homosexuals] and it’s not enough to call names”.
Unrepentant, he continues to hold this position: “They said ‘what is the Islamic position [on homosexuality]?’ And I told them. Put my name in the paper. The punishment is death. And I’m not going to change this religion.”
Abdur-Raheem Green
In an essay on his website entitled, “Terrible and brutal Islamic punishments or wise and just guidance from Allah?”, Green argues that homosexuality and adultery are “inexcusable, and justly punished with severity.” For this he stipulates death: “a slow and painful death by stoning. It is indicative of just how harmful this crime is to society.”
He concludes by arguing that that people should not quibble about whether the Islamic punishments are too harsh or not according to their own cultural experiences, but should just accept that Islam has a long track record and trust that Islamic law works.
Yusuf Estes
In an article on his website he says: “Scholars of Islam have already made it clear what the position is on those who engage in homosexual activities.” And he links to a fatwa ruling:
“In order to maintain the purity of the Muslim society, most Muslim scholars have ruled that the punishment for this act should be the same as for zina (i.e. one hundred whiplashes for the man who has never married, and death by stoning for the married man). Some have even ruled that it should be death for both partners, because the Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, said: ‘Kill the doer and the one to whom it was done.’
Estes further reprints and endorses an email on his website referring to gay people as “deviants” and “devils”.
Hamza Tzortzis
Hamza Tzortzis wants to criminalise homosexuality. He argues:
“Some people object to Islam making the public expression of homosexuality a criminal act. This is subjective and only strikes a chord amongst those who cannot escape the social constructs in their own societies. There are societies past and present which accepted paedophilia and cannibalism as normal parts of human life and they would find Western society oppressive preventing them from carrying out these practices.”
He concludes by stating: “Those who claim that making homosexuality a criminal act is wrong are totally inconsistent.” He suggests this would mean saying that God is wrong. He explicitly rejects the argument that the historical context is different to the modern context: “Islam does not change with the tide or the fashion of the day,” he says.
Yusuf Chambers
Yusuf Chambers, an associate of Abdur-Raheem Green, reportedly says that homosexuality is a sickness and can be cured. He interviews a Dr Zakir Naik (banned from Britain for hate preaching) for one of his broadcasts and specifically asks the scholar what the punishment for homosexuality should be (the answer is “death”) and to refute suggestions that homosexuality has any natural or genetic origins.
Shady Suleiman
He says: “Also homosexuality that’s spreading all these diseases. Let’s not deny the fact. Don’t call it the name of freedom. Don’t talk about freedom and, you know, this is the freedom of action and we could do whatever we want. It doesn’t mean that freedom of action you destroy a nation. These are evil actions that bring evil outcomes to our society… Remember that if there is an Islamic state the punishment of zina (sex outside marriage), the punishment of those who commit zina, if they have never been married before, they will be lashed 100 lashes. If they are married while they committed zina, or previously been married and divorced, and they committed zina, then their punishment is stoning to death.”
People wishing to protest to Ibis Hotels for allowing their venue to be used by homophobic extremists can write to the General Manager of the Ibis Hotel in Earl’s Court, Patrice Millot:
patrice.millot@accor.com
Please also email your protest to Jean-Jacques Dessors, CEO of the Ibis Hotel parent company, Accor, via his PA, Charlotte Young:
charlotte.young@accor.com
