London, UK, July 24 – Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, the non-violent global Islamic political party, strongly condemns the heavy handed police tactics that led to the unnecessary death of Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian electrician.

Dr Imran Waheed, the Representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, said, "The death of de Menezes is yet another failure of intelligence in a catalogue of errors that stretches from the failure to find WMD in Iraq to the alleged Al Qaeda plot to blow up Old Trafford. Such failures of intelligence only serve to further weaken the legitimacy of the 'war on terror'"

"Only 32 years ago, in the course of 12 months, more than 20 innocent Irish men and women were branded "terrorists" and convicted by English courts on false evidence. The argument then, as it is now, was that the ends justify the means. The killing of de Menezes has raised a lot of discussion in the Muslim community. Muslims are already subject to disproportionate use of 'stop and search' procedures. If a non-Muslim can be targeted in this manner by police and killed on mere suspicion alone, what fate awaits Muslims?"

Notes to Editors:

Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain is the UK branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a global independent Islamic political party. The global leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir, Ata Abu Rushta, is in the Muslim world. The party works throughout the Islamic world to resume the Islamic way of life by re-establishing the Islamic Khilafah [Caliphate].