British Muslims are angry over Greater Manchester police tactics of sending informants into mosques to spy on worshippers, warning that the move risks sewing mistrust between the religious minority and security agencies.
“It’s alarming, you’ve got one community that is being targeted,” Yasmin Dar, a member of the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) Mosques and Community Forum, told the BBC on Thursday, November 24.
“I’ve not heard of any cases of undercover officers going into churches or synagogues, so why a particular faith? Relations with the police have hit rock bottom.
“It’s created a lot of mistrust with the police.”
Relations between the Muslim and police were strained following an investigation by the North West Counter Terrorism Unit in which officers posed as Muslims inside mosques.
The police informants attended prayer meetings and services at a dozen mosques in Manchester.
During such visits, they befriended four Muslim men for more than a year after which three of the men, Munir Farooqi, 54, Israr Malik, 24, and Matthew Newton, 29, were convicted of terrorism charges in September. Another man was acquitted.
The court heard Farooqi had tried to recruit the undercover policemen to go to Afghanistan to fight British soldiers.
Farooqi was given four life sentences, Newton was jailed for six years and Malik was given an indeterminate sentence and told he would serve at least five years.
Moreover, the police decided to confiscate the home where Farooqi’s family live, leading to all 15 members of the Mosques and Community Forum walking out of a meeting with the police earlier this month.
At the meeting they had called on the Chief Constable Peter Fahy to reconsider the decision to apply to court for a forfeiture order.
Facing British mistrust, Britain’s two million Muslims have taken full brunt of anti-terror laws since the 7/7 attacks.
They have repeatedly complained of maltreatment by police for no apparent reason other than being Muslim.
A Financial Times opinion poll has showed recently that Britain is the most suspicious nation about Muslims.
Society Scar
The covert nature of the operation has led to tensions between Greater Manchester Police and its Islamic advisory group.
“Mosques are a special place for Muslims and when people were told that this had happened they just felt betrayed,” Rabnawaz Akbar, another Forum member, said.
“It’s left a scar on the good relations that had been built over the years.”
Imam Habib-ur-Rehman, the imam of the Madina Mosque in Levenshulme, says that he feels insulted by the fact that non-Muslims pretended to be part of the faith.
Members of the Islamic communities were angered when they heard that police officers had posed as Muslims, he said.
“We will never welcome such people who record our messages secretly, not such undercover activities, definitely not. We will never support them,” the imam said.
“We were disappointed and angry but at the same time we remained peaceful, we tried to remain law abiding – an angry person can do anything.”
The Muslim Safety Forum (MSF) represents more than 30 Islamic organizations including the Muslim Council of Britain, Muslim Parliament, Federation of Student Islamic Societies, and mosques.
It offers advice to the Metropolitan Police and Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) on Islamic issues.
Its counter terrorism spokesman Shamiul Joarder argues Muslims are already taking the lead in the fight against extremism.
“We’ve seen it through Finsbury Park Mosque – it was the Muslims who took out Abu Hamza.”
He says the authorities need the support of the Muslim community in order to counter terrorist activity effectively.
“The police haven’t managed to foster positive relationships with the Muslim community, otherwise they could use these channels to get the information they need.
“This kind of infiltration is not the way forward.”
Source: OnIslam & News Agencies
Comments