Another Muslim organisation saying something dangerously stupid: Khurshid Ahmad, of the British Muslim Forum, has apparently come out in support of the Labour government’s proposals to increase detention without charge to 42 days. He claims that he has been “reassured that the safeguards proposed go a long way in protecting civil liberties”.
The government has failed to convince members of its own Cabinet, some of its own MPs, the Opposition, senior police offers, the former Attorney General, a House of Commons select committee on human rights, the government’s own human rights watchdog, the country’s leading public prosecutor, MI5; even the Home Secretary is said to hold doubts (privately) about the policy she is publically advocating. This is all before we consider the views of The Usual Suspects.
But ignore all that; Kurshid Ahmad has been reassured and that makes everything alright.
Stupid.
Curiously, Ahmad’s attempt to link the plans to extend the limit to 42 days sound much like the spin the government and its loyalists are putting out. Does anyone know if these quotes lifted from a press release or taken from an interview with Ahmad?
