An Islamist group, whose goal is to combine all Muslim countries in a unitary Islamic caliphate and which is regarded as an ‘organisation of concern’ by the Home Office, has secured more than £100,000 of taxpayers’ money for grants to teach their ideology to children.
Hizb ut-Tahrir group is established to promote ‘an elaborate and detailed program for instituting an Islamist state’ that will ‘establish the laws of the Islamic Shariah and to carry the Da'wah of Islam to the world.’ The Islamic group regards integration as ‘dangerous’ and says that British Muslims should ‘fight assimilation’ into British society.
It was reported this weekend that accounts filed at the Charity Commission show that the Government paid a total of £113,411 last year to a foundation run by senior members and activists of Hizb ut-Tahrir. The money was granted to help run a nursery school and two Islamic primary schools where children are taught key elements of the group’s ideology from the age of five.
The group says that ‘those [Muslims] who believe in democracy are Kafir’, or apostates. It orders all Muslims to keep apart from non-believers and boycott ‘corrupt’ British elections and political processes. It has a tiny following and its views are rejected by most British Muslims.
Chris Grayling, the shadow home secretary, last night described the disclosure as ‘astonishing and outrageous’ and accused the Government of ‘sleeping on the job’.
Patrick Mercer, Conservative MP for Newark and Chairman of the Parliamentary Sub-Committee on Counter-Terrorism, condemned grants to schools with connections to extremist groups. He said:
'Hizb ut-Tahrir may not be illegal but it has definitely been identified as part of the conveyor-belt to terrorism. That Hizb is involved with vulnerable youngsters is deeply disturbing.'
It is revealed that three schools — in Tottenham, north London, and Slough, Berks — are run by the Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation, a registered charity. The foundation’s lead trustee is Yusra Hamilton, a leading Hizb activist who is married to Taji Mustafa, Hizb ut-Tahrir’s chief spokesman in Britain.
In July 2007, Leader of the Opposition David Cameron asked the new Prime Minister Gordon Brown why the organisation had not been banned from the United Kingdom, arguing it was an extremist group.
In November 2006, the BBC reported that a street gang in South London, which claimed to be Hizb ut-Tahrir, encouraged an undercover reporter to rob another gang to ‘prove his loyalty’. The short documentary ended with the reporter claiming that the gang may be a lone out-of-control group simply influenced by Hizb ut-Tahrir's notoriety.
Dr Abdul Wahid when questioned on the program, condemned the behaviour, asked the BBC to hand over all material to the police and said he would be extremely surprised if any of the gang were members of his organisation, and that if they were, he would have them removed.
Commenting on the grant, a Department for Children, Schools and Families spokesman said: ‘We give that money to local authorities and they are responsible for ensuring that providers are appropriate.’
Last week, the central bank of Bangladesh ordered the commercial banks to freeze accounts of Hizb ut Tahrir Bangladesh, three days after authorities banned the Islamic outfit on charges of destabilizing the country. A senior official of the Bangladesh Central Bank said:
‘We've issued the directive in line with the existing Anti-Terrorism Act. We have also asked the banks to immediately freeze accounts of those involved with the organization.’
The country's Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikdar said the Government feared that the Islamic group posed a threat to peaceful life.
'The government has decided to ban Hizb-ut Tahrir because they are against the interest of law and pose a threat to public security,’ he said.
The German Government has also banned Hizb ut-Tahrir from public activity after a charge of spreading anti-Semitic propaganda and of being ‘hate preachers’. German Interior Minister Otto Schily ruled that the group was ‘spreading hate and violence’, and had called for the killing of Jews.
In February 2003, the Russian Supreme Court put Hizb ut-Tahrir on a list of banned terrorist organizations. In June 2003, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) arrested 121 illegal immigrants suspected of having ties with the group.
The Egyptian Government also banned Hizb ut-Tahrir in 1974 after an alleged coup attempt.
Media links