The Muslim News - Brief news UK

Issue 209, Friday 29 September 2006 - 6 Ramadan 1427

Brief news UK

Bank deals of 5,000 terror suspects tracked
The bank accounts of more than 5,000 suspected terrorists are being monitored by: Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds TSB and Royal Bank of Scotland, following intelligence from MI5. This figure is the security services’ highest estimate yet for the number of British-based individuals suspected of involvement in plotting attacks. 200 accounts have recently been frozen as part of the fight against the financing of terrorism.
The banks have been instructed by MI5 and the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to monitor “suspicious” transactions involving named individuals and companies.

Religious discrimination case lost
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has handed down the first appellate judgment concerning religious discrimination last month. The case concerned M, a Muslim of Indian origin, who was employed by WCT Ltd. M’s religious beliefs required that he have a beard of at least one fist’s length. WCT Ltd had a uniform policy under which beards were required to be neatly trimmed and smart, and upon hiring M in June 2003, had asked him to trim his beard, which M refused to do. When M’s employment ended in February 2004, he brought a claim to an employment tribunal complaining of direct and indirect racial and religious discrimination, harassment and victimisation. The tribunal dismissed M’s claims.

Girl banned from school bus because she is not baptised
Sydnie Jai from Hatfield, Hertfordshire, has been barred from taking an official bus to her Church of England school because she has not been baptised.
Jai was hoping to attend Townsend School in St Albans, travelling by bus as her two brothers had done for some years. But Hertfordshire County Council said she must use public transport because she had not been baptised. Sydnie’s mother, Frances Wood, wanted her to go to Townsend School in St Albans rather than a local school in Hatfield.

Islamic charity accounts frozen
Crescent Relief bank accounts were frozen by the Charity Commission (CC) on August 24, over the alleged abuse of funds for terrorist purposes.
The Charity, set up by Abdul Rauf, whose son Rashid is being held in Pakistan over his alleged key role in the alleged airliner bomb plot - is being formally investigated.
CC’s Director of Legal and Charity Services, Kenneth Dibble, said, “We are working with law enforcement agencies to get to the bottom of allegations of possible terrorist abuse of Crescent Relief funds. The allegations made are very serious, and we are taking this action to protect the charity’s funds while the investigation is underway.” Crescent Relief, based in Ilford, Essex, was jointly set up by Rauf and Mohammad Mumtaz. Tayib Rauf, aged 22, believed to be the son of Abdul and brother of Rashid, was released from custody in Birmingham on August 23, without charge in relation to the alleged airliner plot.

Passengers force removal of innocent Muslims in flight
British holidaymakers staged an unprecedented mutiny refusing to allow their flight to take off until two men were forcibly removed. 150 passengers on a Monarch Airlines Airbus flight from Malaga-Manchester overheard two Asian men in their twenties apparently talking in Arabic. Passengers noticed that, despite the heat, the pair were wearing leather jackets and were regularly checking their watches. Passengers told cabin crew they feared for their safety and demanded police action. Some stormed off the plane minutes before its 3am departure. Others, waiting for flight in the departure lounge, refused to board it. In another incident two British women with young children on another flight from Spain complained about flying with a bearded Muslim even though he had been security-checked twice before boarding. The Monarch pilot, accompanied by armed police and airport security staff, approached the two men and took their passports. Half an hour later, police returned and escorted the two men off the jet. The aircraft was cleared while police did a thorough security sweep. Nothing was found and the plane took off - three hours late and without the two men on board. Monarch arranged for them to spend the rest of the night in an airport hotel and flew them back to Manchester on the same day. Tory Homeland Security spokesman Patrick Mercer, said, “This is a victory for terrorists. These people on the flight have been terrorised into behaving irrationally. For those unfortunate two men to be victimised because of the colour of their skin is just nonsense.” Monarch said, “The captain was concerned about the security surrounding the two gentlemen on the aircraft and the decision was taken to remove them from the flight for further security checks. The two passengers offloaded from the flight were later cleared by airport security and rebooked to travel back to Manchester on a later flight.”

Phillips chair of new Equality & Human Rights body
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Ruth Kelly, announced the appointment of Trevor Phillips as the Chair of the new Commission for Equality (CRE) and Human Rights (CEHR) on September 8. CEHR will inherit the responsibilities of the existing equality commissions: the CRE, the Disability Rights Commission and the Equal Opportunities Commission. It will also have responsibilities on rights in relation to age, sexual orientation, religion and belief and will ensure that Unions and organisations such as the Citizen Advice Bureau have the correct training and information to advice people on these rights.

Magazine makes apartheid wall ad apology
Editor of the Week magazine, Caroline Law, has vowed not to reprint the War on Want advert denouncing Israel’s “apartheid wall” after receiving complaints. Law reassured the British weekly newspaper the Jewish Chronicle earlier in August its magazine is politically non-partisan.

Search in mosques for terrorist funds, says Tory MP
Commons Treasury, Deputy Chairman, Michael Fallon, called for investigators pursuing terrorist funds to “seriously” start targeting mosques. Speaking on August 4, the Conservative MP described the freezing of Ł476,000 of suspect funds since 2002 as “pitifully” small.