A petition has been launched to urge Britain’s media to stop giving the former leader of al-Muhajiroun a platform to disseminate his views.
Anjem Choudary has been accused by Muslims and non-Muslims alike of portraying Muslims as extremists and of sowing division amongst communities.
The Change.org petition was launched in the light of the Woolwich soldier killing last week, after which Choudary refused to condemn the attack or the main suspect who he knew personally.
By this evening the petition had been signed by over a 1,100 people and only needed around 400 more to be delivered to Britain’s press and audio-visual media platforms.
The petition has also been supported by Britain’s largest Muslim umbrella group, the Muslim Council of Britain. Choudary says that he is being persecuted for speaking the truth and is only exercising his freedom of speech.
You can read his full views on the Woolwich killing in this interview he did with 5Pillarz a few days ago:
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Petition text
Meanwhile, here is the full text of the petition as it appears on Change.org:
“This man says the most outrageous things, reflecting an untrue message of Islam, the Muslim community and for being responsible for dividing communities.
“We, the Muslims of the United Kingdom, implore Britain’s press corp, journalists and producers, planners and writers, to resist the temptation of giving a platform to the rent-a-gob extraordinaire, Anjem Chaudary.
“This is a man who thrives in with the oxygen of publicity, of saying outrageous things, and for reflecting an untrue message of Islam that none can recognise.
He neither speaks for us, nor does he have any authenticity to speak about Islam or the British Muslim experience.
“The best way to confront extremism is to ensure that demagogues like these are denied the one thing they seek most, attention. That is what was reportedly sought after by the murderers of Woolwich. And it is the one commodity that unites terrorists around the world, the propaganda of the deed.
“So, we ask journalists to take a more proactive and a more responsible stance when it comes to representation of other communities. Giving the platform to Anjem and his Un-Merry Band of Attention Seekers only fuels hate and Islamophobia.”
