The Times
1 Pennington Street,
London
E98 1TA

6th April 2006

Re: The feeble helping the unspeakable

Dear Sir,

Dean Godson (Comment, Apr 5) suggested that Hizb ut-Tahrir, the non-violent Islamic political party deserves to be banned, but made absolutely no substantive case to justify his claim.

He suggests that the new Terrorism Bill is bad news for us, without reminding readers that this bill is so draconian that supporters of the ANC could be proscribed under this bill.

Amongst his numerous fallacies, the most offensive is his suggestion about why Hizb ut-Tahrir is banned in the Muslim world. Is he seriously defending the tyrants and dictators in the Muslim world who oppress their own populations, and who resort to even boiling alive members of Hizb ut-Tahrir because of our non-violent stand against their oppression.

Contrary to his claim, membership of Hizb ut-Tahrir is not illegal in Germany. His allegation that the 9/11 hijackers were lectured by HT members in Germany is also false, and nothing more than an unsubstantiated smear. His argument that we are a revolving door for more extreme groups is equally absurd. On the contrary, in places like Uzbekistan, some who viewed violence as a means to political change left such a methodology for the non-violent political methodology of HT.

Mr Godson simply repeats the lies of Zeyno Baran, a self appointed HT 'expert' , who few genuine experts give credibility to or agree with. She, like Mr Godson, who recently invited her to Britain, has shown very little accurate knowledge of Hizb ut-Tahrir.

TAJI MUSTAFA
Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain