British Muslims This Week: Decline of Human Rights

In case you missed them, a few stories on Muslims in England this week.

Dr Azeem on Global Arab Network highlights how British Muslims play an active role in counterterrorism.

"Rather than seeing British Islam as a political and security problem – undermining civil and religious liberties – the British government should view it instead in the context of diverse cultural expressions within its stated policy goal of promoting community cohesion.

The British people are continually being warned about the threat of Islam, "Islamic extremism", "Islamic radicalisation", and the lack of cultural integration from a variety of sources: the media, right-wing think tanks and sometimes even the government. [...]

A positive sign of Muslim participation in political power is that the number of Muslim Members of Parliament in Britain continues to rise, with eight Muslims elected to the British Parliament in the 2010 election, including three women."

On Huriyet Daily News, Author Shelina Jan Mohammed looks at the Theos 2011 report on multiculturalism which calls for a better response from European leaders, who incidentally, feel integration is failing.

"(the) report highlights that a just multicultural democracy best emerges when moral bonds are nurtured within wider civic society rather than by government alone. This means civil society needs to take up the important work of protecting its minorities and establishing their place at a leadership level to achieve the kind of justice the report refers to."

An opinion piece on AlJazeera by FOSIS President Nabil Ahmed, grieves another low point of human rights in Britain,

"It is my belief that we face one of the greatest domestic human rights issues in a generation for which we must stand strong - and there are at least 100,000 Britons that are concerned alongside me. To this day, Babar Ahmad, a British-born IT graduate, is the longest serving British detainee, held behind bars for seven years without trial and without charge - awaiting extradition to the United States under the controversial no-evidence-required Extradition Act 2003. [...]

Whether the man is innocent or guilty is beside the point. The issue is one of fair process. Each of his alleged crimes are said to have been committed in the UK; therefore, this man should be brought with all the allegations against him before a British court, fairly, and tried here - not in the United States. This is the rallying call of the British Justice for British Citizens campaign. We cannot lose this - and it is not just Mr Ahmad that stands to lose. Britain has arrested a citizen, detained him for seven years and has agreed to extradite him without evidence or trial, dissolving yet more pillars of human rights."