Latest news with #MaheenKamran
Sky News AU
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Pro-Gaza UK councilwoman wants to implement Muslim laws on British people
Author Ayaan Hirsi Ali discusses pro-Gaza candidate in the UK, Maheen Kamran, campaigning for gender segregation. The 18-year-old wants Muslim men and Muslim women not to mix freely in Britain. Ms Kamran claims Muslim women do not like being around Muslim men. 'What she is proposing is Sharia Law through the front door,' Ms Hirsi Ali told Sky News host Peta Credlin. 'It's the Sharia solution … that is what this woman is implementing.'
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Islamist sectarianism is the most frightening force in British politics and will only grow stronger
The growing tensions between India and Pakistan have prompted repeated warnings that 'sectarianism threatens to spill onto the streets of Britain'. But it's a bit too late for that. Sectarianism isn't just rife at the protests in London or even the rhetoric being spouted in the mosques and madrassas of the UK. It is fast infecting our local councils, Parliament itself and many of our great institutions. So much so, in fact, that a senior Labour source told me recently that its MPs were unlikely to get re-elected in some parts of the country. 'Leicester is lost, as are parts of Birmingham and Bradford,' he conceded. 'We won't get elected in some of these areas again.' As the focus understandably turned to the rise of Reform, few noticed that the local elections once again witnessed the elevation of a number of Islamist candidates. In years gone by, they would have stood for Labour, but the growth of Britain's nearly four million strong Muslim population means they are now able to be elected in their own right – without being tied to a national party. In Burnley Central East, Maheen Kamran was elected as an independent in the formerly Labour-held ward after campaigning in favour of segregation between the sexes. The pro-Gaza candidate, 18, won 38 per cent of the vote, surpassing Reform UK's 30 per cent and leaving Labour trailing in third place on 14 per cent. The victory came after Ms Kamran said she had been motivated to enter politics by the 'genocide' taking place in Gaza, and called for the end of 'free mixing' between Muslim men and women. Progressive stuff. In nearby Brierfield and Nelson West, Mohammed Iqbal beat Labour to win his seat as an independent with a 2,396 majority. Formerly the Labour leader of Pendle Council, the 63-year-old was suspended by the party after the Jewish Chronicle revealed that during a debate on flying the Palestinian flag above Nelson Town Hall, he said: 'The fact is that what's going on in Ukraine, Palestine, and other areas I've mentioned, reminds me, I barely passed my GCSE history at school, but many people in this room will remember what justification Hitler had for what he did to the Jews in the Second World War.' Mr Iqbal later insisted: 'I wish to publicly state I am not anti-Semitic and have campaigned all my life against all forms of racism and sexism and will continue to do so.' Another suspended Labour candidate, Azhar Ali, won the neighbouring seat of Nelson East despite being dumped by the party as its parliamentary contender for the Rochdale by-election. He was dropped after apologising 'unreservedly' following reports he had told a meeting that Israel 'allowed' Hamas's attack on October 7 in order to get a 'green light to do whatever they bloody want'. Other pro-Palestine politicians to win council seats last week include pro-Gaza Sohail Asghar for the Greens in Accrington West and Oswaldtwistle Central. Just days after the October 7 attacks, Asghar reposted a message on X which read: 'Israel = Isis'. He has promoted the posts of people associated with Holocaust denial. None of this should come as any surprise, not least when Labour's vote share in highly Muslim-populated areas dropped by 29 percentage points at the last general election, from 65 per cent in 2019 to 36 per cent in 2024. And still Labour panders to the Islamists. As the Conservative MP Nick Timothy has raised in the House of Commons, Labour pretends not to engage with groups like the European Islamic Centre (EIC) which is associated with the Islamist ideologues Jamaat-e-Islami and Abul A'la al-Maududi. And yet, Jim McMahon, the minister for Local Government and English Devolution, attended an iftar hosted by the EIC during Ramadan. The Government also insists it has a 'non-engagement policy' with the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), and yet Stephen Timms, the minister for Social Security and Disability, attended the MCB's annual dinner in January. Some are less subtle. Last November, the Labour MP Tahir Ali called on Sir Keir Starmer to introduce measures to prohibit 'desecration of all religious texts and the prophets of Abrahamic religions'. The Prime Minister did not rule it out, instead insisting that we must tackle 'Islamophobia in all its forms'. In February, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner appointed Dominic Grieve, the former Conservative attorney general, to lead a review into creating a new definition of Islamophobia, despite repeated warnings it could curb free speech. Ever the wetty, Grieve appeared to pre-empt the outcome by saying he hoped the review would 'help support positive change in our country'. And we have Lucy Powell, Leader of the House of Commons, suggesting that anyone who mentions the grooming rape gangs scandal is blowing a 'dog whistle'. Last month, a group of 20 Labour MPs petitioned the prime minister of Pakistan to build a new airport in Mirpur, the ancestral homeland of a majority of Britain's Pakistani population. Factor in the regular contributions of the four 'pro-Gaza' independent MPs in Parliament and you can't easily escape sectarianism. Iqbal Mohamed, the MP for Dewsbury and Batley, has spoken out against a ban on first cousin marriage in the Commons, suggesting that 'ordinary people see family inter-marriage overall as something that is very positive'. And this week, Adnan Hussain, the independent MP for Blackburn, criticised free speech because 'it means protecting the right to offend Muslims'. It came after Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, highlighted the case of Hamit Coskun, 50, who was charged with intent to cause distress 'against the religious institution of Islam' after allegedly burning a Quran. As Jenrick rightly pointed out, blasphemy was abolished as a common law offence in England and Wales in 2008. Even some Tories have been indulging the Islamists in their midst by this week signing a letter demanding that the UK 'recognises Palestine' in a move that would only embolden the murderous death cult that is Hamas. Meanwhile, Indhu Rubasingham, who refused to host the UK Jewish Film Festival when she was head of the Kiln Theatre in Kilburn (then known as the Tricycle) in 2014, has just been appointed to lead the National Theatre, while Minouche Shafik has been picked as the new head of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Baroness Shafik, you may remember, was president of Columbia University in the US during the outbreak of the worst anti-Semitism the campus has seen in recent times, before she resigned last year. After years of turning a blind eye to sectarianism, it is now everywhere you look. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Islamist sectarianism is the most frightening force in British politics and will only grow stronger
The growing tensions between India and Pakistan have prompted repeated warnings that 'sectarianism threatens to spill onto the streets of Britain '. But it's a bit too late for that. Sectarianism isn't just rife at the protests in London or even the rhetoric being spouted in the mosques and madrassas of the UK. It is fast infecting our local councils, Parliament itself and many of our great institutions. So much so, in fact, that a senior Labour source told me recently that its MPs were unlikely to get re-elected in some parts of the country. 'Leicester is lost, as are parts of Birmingham and Bradford,' he conceded. 'We won't get elected in some of these areas again.' As the focus understandably turned to the rise of Reform, few noticed that the local elections once again witnessed the elevation of a number of Islamist candidates. In years gone by, they would have stood for Labour, but the growth of Britain's nearly four million strong Muslim population means they are now able to be elected in their own right – without being tied to a national party. In Burnley Central East, Maheen Kamran was elected as an independent in the formerly Labour-held ward after campaigning in favour of segregation between the sexes. The pro-Gaza candidate, 18, won 38 per cent of the vote, surpassing Reform UK's 30 per cent and leaving Labour trailing in third place on 14 per cent. The victory came after Ms Kamran said she had been motivated to enter politics by the 'genocide' taking place in Gaza, and called for the end of 'free mixing' between Muslim men and women. Progressive stuff. In nearby Brierfield and Nelson West, Mohammed Iqbal beat Labour to win his seat as an independent with a 2,396 majority. Formerly the Labour leader of Pendle Council, the 63-year-old was suspended by the party after the Jewish Chronicle revealed that during a debate on flying the Palestinian flag above Nelson Town Hall, he said: 'The fact is that what's going on in Ukraine, Palestine, and other areas I've mentioned, reminds me, I barely passed my GCSE history at school, but many people in this room will remember what justification Hitler had for what he did to the Jews in the Second World War.' Mr Iqbal later insisted: 'I wish to publicly state I am not anti-Semitic and have campaigned all my life against all forms of racism and sexism and will continue to do so.' Another suspended Labour candidate, Azhar Ali, won the neighbouring seat of Nelson East despite being dumped by the party as its parliamentary contender for the Rochdale by-election. He was dropped after apologising 'unreservedly' following reports he had told a meeting that Israel 'allowed' Hamas's attack on October 7 in order to get a ' green light to do whatever they bloody want '. Other pro-Palestine politicians to win council seats last week include pro-Gaza Sohail Asghar for the Greens in Accrington West and Oswaldtwistle Central. Just days after the October 7 attacks, Asghar reposted a message on X which read: 'Israel = Isis'. He has promoted the posts of people associated with Holocaust denial. None of this should come as any surprise, not least when Labour's vote share in highly Muslim-populated areas dropped by 29 percentage points at the last general election, from 65 per cent in 2019 to 36 per cent in 2024. And still Labour panders to the Islamists. As the Conservative MP Nick Timothy has raised in the House of Commons, Labour pretends not to engage with groups like the European Islamic Centre (EIC) which is associated with the Islamist ideologues Jamaat-e-Islami and Abul A'la al-Maududi. And yet, Jim McMahon, the minister for Local Government and English Devolution, attended an iftar hosted by the EIC during Ramadan. The Government also insists it has a 'non-engagement policy' with the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), and yet Stephen Timms, the minister for Social Security and Disability, attended the MCB's annual dinner in January. Some are less subtle. Last November, the Labour MP Tahir Ali called on Sir Keir Starmer to introduce measures to prohibit 'desecration of all religious texts and the prophets of Abrahamic religions'. The Prime Minister did not rule it out, instead insisting that we must tackle 'Islamophobia in all its forms'. In February, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner appointed Dominic Grieve, the former Conservative attorney general, to lead a review into creating a new definition of Islamophobia, despite repeated warnings it could curb free speech. Ever the wetty, Grieve appeared to pre-empt the outcome by saying he hoped the review would 'help support positive change in our country'. And we have Lucy Powell, Leader of the House of Commons, suggesting that anyone who mentions the grooming rape gangs scandal is blowing a 'dog whistle'. Last month, a group of 20 Labour MPs petitioned the prime minister of Pakistan to build a new airport in Mirpur, the ancestral homeland of a majority of Britain's Pakistani population. Factor in the regular contributions of the four 'pro-Gaza' independent MPs in Parliament and you can't easily escape sectarianism. Iqbal Mohamed, the MP for Dewsbury and Batley, has spoken out against a ban on first cousin marriage in the Commons, suggesting that 'ordinary people see family inter-marriage overall as something that is very positive'. And this week, Adnan Hussain, the independent MP for Blackburn, criticised free speech because 'it means protecting the right to offend Muslims'. It came after Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, highlighted the case of Hamit Coskun, 50, who was charged with intent to cause distress 'against the religious institution of Islam' after allegedly burning a Quran. As Jenrick rightly pointed out, blasphemy was abolished as a common law offence in England and Wales in 2008. Even some Tories have been indulging the Islamists in their midst by this week signing a letter demanding that the UK 'recognises Palestine' in a move that would only embolden the murderous death cult that is Hamas. Meanwhile, Indhu Rubasingham, who refused to host the UK Jewish Film Festival when she was head of the Kiln Theatre in Kilburn (then known as the Tricycle) in 2014, has just been appointed to lead the National Theatre, while Minouche Shafik has been picked as the new head of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Baroness Shafik, you may remember, was president of Columbia University in the US during the outbreak of the worst anti-Semitism the campus has seen in recent times, before she resigned last year.
Telegraph
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Political Islam is now a feature of British elections: Gaza is just the symptom, not the cause
Reform's strength now poses perhaps a greater threat to Labour even than to the Conservatives. Contained within Thursday's results, however, is another threat to the party – but one which, unlike the Reform surge, builds on a development evident since last year's general election. That threat is the rise of independent Muslim candidates on platforms designed to appeal to their fellow Muslims. Last July showed the pattern when 'Gaza independent' MPs won in Leicester South, Blackburn, Birmingham Perry Barr and Dewsbury and Batley, after similar candidates had won two months earlier in local elections in Blackburn, Bradford and Oldham. That pattern was confirmed on Thursday. In the general election Labour's vote fell by over 14 per cent from 2019 in constituencies where the Muslim population was above 15 per cent. Overall, 37 constituencies have a Muslim population of over 20 per cent, and in another 73 seats the Muslim population is between 10 and 20 per cent. Thursday's results demonstrate again that sectarian Muslim candidates can either win or secure enough votes in such seats to pose a real threat to Labour. In Burnley Central East, for example, Maheen Kamran won with 38 per cent of the vote, beating Reform on 30 per cent. Labour trailed in third with just 14 per cent – down from 49 per cent in 2021. Ms Kamran says she wants 'segregated areas' to prevent 'free mixing' between men and women. She is joined on Lancashire County Council by her fellow independent Usman Arif from Burnley North East, who left Labour over the Gaza war. Azhar Ali, dumped as Labour's candidate in last year's Rochdale by-election, won in Pendle. Ali was removed by Labour after he had been recorded making insinuations about 'certain Jewish quarters' in the media and had said Isael 'allowed' the October 7 Hamas massacre to happen to justify a war in Gaza. It is no longer a prediction but a statement of fact that Britain has sectarian politics. The rise of Reform has led to much commentary about the shattering of political assumptions. But Reform merely challenges the existing party system. The emergence of sectarian politics challenges the foundations of our democratic norms. It is not so much identity politics as theocratic politics. This is not some organic development in the wake of the Gaza war, in the narrative pushed by the independents, but rather a long-planned and well co-ordinated move to push Islamist politics into the mainstream. Gaza energised it and gave it cut through, but the real story is the creation of The Muslim Vote, an umbrella alliance of 24 activist groups which promotes and endorses selected candidates. The Muslim Vote has a long policy agenda, of which Israel and Gaza is merely one. Others – there are eighteen in all – include the legal adoption of a new definition of Islamophobia and reform of Ofcom's rules on extremism. Labour's huge majority in 2024 masked how fragile many of its wins were, but Thursday's local elections have put the fear of God into Labour MPs. It is going to get worse. Next year there will be London-wide elections. Aspire (a de facto Bangladeshi party) already controls Tower Hamlets; last July Labour's Rushanara Ali clung on narrowly in Bethnal Green. Boroughs like Redbridge and Newham are also prime territory for sectarian candidates. Health Secretary Wes Streeting only just held his seat by 528 votes in July and in Birmingham, which will also vote, Jess Phillips scraped home by around 700 votes. The insidious impact of sectarian politics is that MPs with small majorities will tack to embrace their demands to try to head off the threat – and thus start to act as sanitised advocates for Islamist ideas, pushing them into the mainstream and changing not just politics but our country itself.
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Political Islam is now a feature of British elections: Gaza is just the symptom, not the cause
Reform's strength now poses perhaps a greater threat to Labour even than to the Conservatives. Contained within Thursday's results, however, is another threat to the party – but one which, unlike the Reform surge, builds on a development evident since last year's general election. That threat is the rise of independent Muslim candidates on platforms designed to appeal to their fellow Muslims. Last July showed the pattern when 'Gaza independent' MPs won in Leicester South, Blackburn, Birmingham Perry Barr and Dewsbury and Batley, after similar candidates had won two months earlier in local elections in Blackburn, Bradford and Oldham. That pattern was confirmed on Thursday. In the general election Labour's vote fell by over 14 per cent from 2019 in constituencies where the Muslim population was above 15 per cent. Overall, 37 constituencies have a Muslim population of over 20 per cent, and in another 73 seats the Muslim population is between 10 and 20 per cent. Thursday's results demonstrate again that sectarian Muslim candidates can either win or secure enough votes in such seats to pose a real threat to Labour. In Burnley Central East, for example, Maheen Kamran won with 38 per cent of the vote, beating Reform on 30 per cent. Labour trailed in third with just 14 per cent – down from 49 per cent in 2021. Ms Kamran says she wants 'segregated areas' to prevent 'free mixing' between men and women. She is joined on Lancashire County Council by her fellow independent Usman Arif from Burnley North East, who left Labour over the Gaza war. Azhar Ali, dumped as Labour's candidate in last year's Rochdale by-election, won in Pendle. Ali was removed by Labour after he had been recorded making insinuations about 'certain Jewish quarters' in the media and had said Isael 'allowed' the October 7 Hamas massacre to happen to justify a war in Gaza. It is no longer a prediction but a statement of fact that Britain has sectarian politics. The rise of Reform has led to much commentary about the shattering of political assumptions. But Reform merely challenges the existing party system. The emergence of sectarian politics challenges the foundations of our democratic norms. It is not so much identity politics as theocratic politics. This is not some organic development in the wake of the Gaza war, in the narrative pushed by the independents, but rather a long-planned and well co-ordinated move to push Islamist politics into the mainstream. Gaza energised it and gave it cut through, but the real story is the creation of The Muslim Vote, an umbrella alliance of 24 activist groups which promotes and endorses selected candidates. The Muslim Vote has a long policy agenda, of which Israel and Gaza is merely one. Others – there are eighteen in all – include the legal adoption of a new definition of Islamophobia and reform of Ofcom's rules on extremism. Labour's huge majority in 2024 masked how fragile many of its wins were, but Thursday's local elections have put the fear of God into Labour MPs. It is going to get worse. Next year there will be London-wide elections. Aspire (a de facto Bangladeshi party) already controls Tower Hamlets; last July Labour's Rushanara Ali clung on narrowly in Bethnal Green. Boroughs like Redbridge and Newham are also prime territory for sectarian candidates. Health Secretary Wes Streeting only just held his seat by 528 votes in July and in Birmingham, which will also vote, Jess Phillips scraped home by around 700 votes. The insidious impact of sectarian politics is that MPs with small majorities will tack to embrace their demands to try to head off the threat – and thus start to act as sanitised advocates for Islamist ideas, pushing them into the mainstream and changing not just politics but our country itself. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
