This has been an extraordinary week.
First of all, following the “Homosexuals would be executed” rant from the Manchester University Hizb ut Tahrir front, the “Global Aspirations of Women Society”, the society has been suspended and disbanded:
“Following the incident at a meeting of the Global Aspirations of Women Society last week, the society was suspended from the union pending investigation and has now disbanded.
The Exec Team continue to take a zero tolerance approach to homophobia on campus. Our focus is now on taking action as a Students’ Union to prevent similar incidents in future.
We will complete our investigation into the circumstances that allowed these views to be expressed in our building, the conduct of the individuals responsible and will be taking appropriate action as a result”.
However, even more remarkable is the news that City University – home to quite possibly the most extreme ISOC in Britain – has shut down its Muslim prayer room. This is why:
City said it acted because students had refused to submit the proposed content of sermons to the university before prayers to check its “appropriateness”.
Wasif Sheikh, who leads the group, said: “We feel we are being unjustly targeted. All of our sermons are open, we welcome all students and all staff.
“But when you start submitting your sermons to be monitored and scrutinized then there’s a chance for it to be dictated what’s allowed and what’s not allowed. We, as students, don’t accept that.”
There’s a long history of extremism and hate preaching at City ISOC. This post from 2010, at which time the ISOC was protesting about having to share a prayer room with other faiths, recounts some of its greatest hits. You should also read the Quilliam report into this ISOC.
You’ll see that this ISOC hosted (by video) a talk by the Al Qaeda recruiter, Anwar Al Awlaki in 2009:
He was joined, of course, by our old friend Haitham Al Haddad. Google him if you don’t know his record.
