Deputy Editor of 5Pillars, Dilly Hussain, has slammed Breitbart London and the Daily Mail’s “irresponsible” reporting of the ‘Quiz a Muslim’ event, which he claims has resulted in him receiving death threats.
As several high-profile Muslim speakers gathered in Bedford last Friday for Quiz a Muslim, carnage was unfolding in Paris which they were unaware of.
Bedford-born journalist, Dilly Hussain who hosted the event said the ‘Question Time’ style debate was a “huge success”, but said the right wing media’s attempts to link it with the Paris attacks were “embarrassing” and “irresponsible”.
“Whilst the event was going on, attacks were unfolding in Paris and we were unaware of it,” he told Bedford Today.
“The panellists’ phones, including mines were either switched off or on silent.
“It’s unfortunate but not surprising that as a result of Breitbart London making that ridiculous spin, it received further coverage in the Daily Mail.
“I think the right wing press were very reckless in how they spun Quiz a Muslim with the Paris attacks.”
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The line-up of speakers included: Moazzam Begg (CAGE), Abdurraheem Green (iERA), Dr Haitham al-Haddad, Shaykh Sulaiman Gani (Iqra TV), Taji Mustafa (Hizb-ut Tahrir), and Adnan Rashid (Hittin Institute).
It is estimated that around 240 people attended the event including 30 to 40 non-Muslims, which was held in the Harpur Suite in the Bedford Borough Council-run Corn Exchange.
Mr Hussain said: “I commend Mayor Dave Hodgson for allowing this event to go ahead and I would advise other local councils to follow suit in facilitating dialogue for people of all faiths and none to discuss the most contentious topics affecting their respective communities.”
Death threats and hate mail
Soon after the Breitbart article was published on Saturday, the Daily Mail published a piece on the event on their website and then in print on Tuesday.
Dilly said he has received death threats, as well as hate mail on the 5Pillars Facebook page.
5Pillars was told to, “go join your ISIS Caliphate in Iraq and get out of England”, and “join your bloody caliphate in Iraq, we don’t want your evil Islam in England anymore.”
Dilly was directly messaged on Twitter, threatened with beheading for Paris, whilst another message stated that he would be “hunted in Bedford” and killed “Islamic-state style”.
The threats have been reported to the police and they are currently investigating it.
Yesterday night, Dilly posted the following status on Facebook in response to the death threats:
“In three years of public commentating and writing, I have said and written things that have been deemed by some as “controversial”, “distasteful” and “illiberal”, but I have never received death threats over them.
“Due to Breitbart and the Daily Mail’s irresponsible and intentional spin on the Bedford ‘Quiz a Muslim’ event and the Paris attacks, I have received death threats on social media.
“I really didn’t want to make an issue out of this, but it was imperative to highlight that this was directly linked to how Quiz a Muslim was spun and linked to the Paris attacks.
“Make no mistake, intentional propagandist and reckless reporting can and has led to attacks against Muslims.”
Since the event and the subsequent media frenzy, Dilly has already been invited to host Quiz a Muslim in London, Birmingham and numerous universities across the UK.
The full unedited video of ‘Quiz a Muslim’ will be released tomorrow.
