London, UK, January 26 – Leaked emails revealed by the New Statesman in relation to the proposal of Tony Blair to proscribe the non-violent Islamic political party Hizb ut-Tahrir are the clearest evidence to date of Blair's wider political agenda in trying to ban an Islamic political party that has a 50 year history of opposing, through non-violent means, Western supported dictators and tyrants in the Muslim world.
The emails illustrate how, despite Hizb ut-Tahrir being a non-violent
Islamic political party that has condemned terrorism, Tony Blair has
been placing pressure on the intelligence services and the Home Office
to create a false legal justification to ban the party. In one of the
emails, the Home Secretary's doubts about banning Hizb ut-Tahrir are
clearly stated: “There is no apparent case to proscribe Hizb ut-Tahrir
because its activities abroad include involvement in terrorism. Indeed,
it is not entirely clear whether they would be caught under a future
criterion of ‘justifying or condoning violence’.”
Dr Imran Waheed, a media representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, said, "This
whole affair is reminiscent of the WMD and 45 minute claim saga used to
justify the war on Iraq. On that occasion, faulty intelligence was used
to illegally invade and occupy Iraq. Once again pressure has been
placed on the intelligence services to back the government's political
decision. It seems that Blair is eager to silence Hizb ut-Tahrir as it
is at the forefront of leading the Muslim world towards a
representative and accountable Islamic Caliphate that will end the era
of unelected dictators and tyrants."
"Ever since Blair's pronouncement on August 5th 2005, Hizb ut-Tahrir
Britain has reiterated its commitment to non-violent Islamic political
work. The proposals to ban the party have been criticised by Acpo, the
Joint Committee on Human Rights, the Home Office taskforce on extremism
and over 180 leading Muslim organisations and personalities. In the
light of these startling revelations we now expect that these draconian
measures which have no justification whatsoever will be shelved."
To view the leaked emails first published on the News Statesman website, click here