Press Release
The Times headline on 23 September, which described the Muslim Council of Britain as a “Muslim group that opposed al-Qaeda ban”, has been corrected following correspondence from specialist libel lawyers Carter-Ruck. To be absolutely clear, the MCB has always and will continue to oppose Al-Qaeda. We have condemned their acts, and any terrorist atrocities since, on the public record, time and again.
This is yet another example of why The Times simply cannot be trusted on stories relating to Muslims or Muslim-led organisations given its current track record. Last year The Times admitted to attributing false views to an MCB Secretary General candidate. This is part of a long record of distortions about Muslims and Muslim-led organisations published by The Times.
Specifically, The Times published this on 23 September, ahead of the Labour Party conference where MCB was speaking at a fringe event. The MCB has longstanding engagement with all major political parties that share our vision of a prosperous and tolerant United Kingdom. Ministers know this too, with the current Prime Minister, the current Defence Secretary and the current Equalities Minister being amongst many who have engaged with the MCB over the years, because they would rather speak directly to British Muslim communities through trusted partners than through self-appointed interlocutors.
We will continue to challenge misleading and sensationalist journalism, and we will hold publishers, journalists, and the media to account.
Appendix
The MCB has always and will continue to oppose Al-Qaeda. We have condemned their acts, and many terrorist atrocities since, on the public record, time and again. At a conference in London on 12 November 2015, “Terrorism and Extremism: How Should British Muslims Respond?”, convened by the MCB, participants issued resolutions declaring that British Muslims “abhor and condemn terrorism” and committing to articulate “more clearly and loudly” the understanding of Islam “which unequivocally rejects the violence of the likes of Al-Qaeda and Daesh”. The conference launched a national community consultation on how British Muslims should respond to terrorism.
The headline rests on a statement the MCB issued more than 25 years ago and six months before 9/11. It did not mention al-Qaeda. It criticised the Government for drawing up, without meaningful consultation, a list of 21 organisations which Parliament could only approve or reject as a single block. Members of both Houses said the same at the time. Lord Archer of Sandwell, a Labour peer who told the Lords that the principle of the Terrorism Act had “no more enthusiastic supporter” than him, also said that “we cannot oppose the inclusion of any one organisation without opposing the entire order” and asked, “if Parliament is not to exercise any control over the executive why do we have these debates?” Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes told the Commons the order was being decided on a “take-it-or-leave-it basis, largely as a result of representations from foreign Governments about concerns abroad”.
Labour peer Lord Clarke of Hampstead said: “It is a nonsense that we are not able to consider these organisations separately and it is a shame that no proper consultation took place”. Then Conservative MP John Bercow, who later served as Speaker of the House of Commons, said that “it is obviously a weakness of the arrangement that the Government have adopted that there is no opportunity to cherry pick and consider the merits of each organisation. We are invited en bloc to give our approval or en bloc to withhold it”. None of them questioned al-Qaeda’s place on the list, and neither did we. Criticising how a law is passed is not support for terrorism. To suggest otherwise is not only false but defamatory.
Headlines like this have real consequences. Falsely linking a faith-based non-profit organisation like us to support for terrorism puts the safety and security of our staff and volunteers at risk. At a time when violent attacks towards minorities including in the British Muslim community is rising, journalists and editors have a responsibility not to publish misleading statements and present them as facts, and they must ensure the public is reliably informed with the truth.
[ENDS]
[FOR MEDIA ENQUIRIES, CONTACT [email protected]]