Is Supporting Assassination a Red Line for Labour?
If you support the religiously motivated assassination of a politician, will the Labour party accept you as a member?
This may seem an absurd question to ask, especially of the party that lost Jo Cox to a fanatic.
Well, consider Mahmood ul Hassan Raja, a Waltham Forest imam. In this clip, he praises Mumtaz Qadri, the hideous man who shot dead Pakistani politician Salman Taseer in 2011 for “blasphemy”.
The Evening Standard reported this chilling story in 2016:
In an online video published last month, hours after Qadri’s funeral following his state execution, Mr Mahmood, of Waltham Forest, hails him “a hero” and blesses his “martyrdom”.
He adds: “We are praying to Allah that he will grant us the same martyrdom… this is a man who loves God and his Prophet.
“People are crying for him and praying for him…. and you can see how moving the funeral is… God help us to take his mission forward.”
The local council was certainly shocked, or so it said:
“Qari Mahmood’s video which was later published by Mr Malik after it appeared online in March is clearly of huge concern and the matter has been referred to our monitoring officer so that a full and independent investigation can be carried out.”
He said Councillor Khan had stepped down from his health and wellbeing cabinet role to aid the investigation.
“Both he and the mayor have stated they do not support the views of Mr Malik or Mr Mahmood and consider any such intolerance unacceptable and irresponsible,” he added.
Ul Hassan’s mosque had words too:
Junaid Alam, one of three imams at Lea Bridge Road mosque, said Mr Mahmood and Mr Malik’s comments were “against Islam”
This a clear-cut case, right? Surely Labour would never let such a man on board.
Oh yes it would. Actually, it has. Here’s Corbynista vicar and Labour PPC for Cities of London and Westminster Steven Saxby fawning over Ul Hassan and welcoming his “friend”to the party. Saxby says the news is “marvellous” and that Mahmood is “very well-respected in the community”.
Saxby knows Mahmood’s awful views. Evidently, he doesn’t care, even though his local party in Walthamstow has figured him out:
Arch-Corbynite Steven Saxby last night won a vote to fight the Cities of London and Westminster seat by 199 to 191. But the Standard has learned that last year Reverend Saxby was told by local party chiefs that they did not want him to stand in elections in Waltham Forest.
Labour sources revealed that they had concerns over his candidacy and political views, including sharing a platform at a high-profile local event with George Galloway.
Activists in his new seat also expressed their concerns. One member of the local party’s executive told the Standard: “He is hugely divisive.”
Indeed, Saxby has plenty of form.
With a shameful record like this, one can be confident that Saxby could go quite far in Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party.
