Press Release
Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain issues open letter, challenging David Cameron to a public debate

London, UK, December 1 2009 - Following David Cameron's allegations at last week's Prime Minister's Questions, subsequently shown to be false, and his apologies for some of his errors - but by no means all of them, Chairman of the Executive Committee of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, Dr Abdul Wahid, has written an open letter to Mr Cameron challenging him to a public debate on the substantive issues.

In the letter, Dr Abdul Wahid, criticises him for his links with neoconservatism - in particular Michael Gove and the fact that his recent allegations were a repeat of those made by Douglas Murray's Centre for Social Cohesion and reminded him that "when George W Bush came to power he was seen as a moderate conservative, much in the way you are, but left office humiliated due to his extreme and radical policies based on this political philosophy."

It addresses his ‘pseudo-libertarianism' saying his portrayal of the Tory's as the defenders of liberty could not "be a real or principled position if you seek to ban our party - with its history of non-violence for more than fifty years" and reminded him that "Tony Blair's attempts to label us as terrorists and proscribe our group rapidly appeared ludicrous once people started examining our party and its history". He also writes that  his "calls to ban our group seem to be a mirror of Bush and Cheney insofar as they abandoned any pretence to uphold freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law they claimed they were fighting to preserve in the war on terror."

 The letter also addressed Cameron's neo-McCarthyism saying he and other neocons "decide who's an ‘extremist' - usually based on someone being an advocate of Islamic beliefs - then associate others with them (by family ties, past associations or other casual connections) and then hound them to be dismissed from jobs or silenced from speaking publicly. By treating them in a way no other community is treated in this society you relegate Muslims who hold these beliefs to a second class status and exposes the myth, paraded to the rest of the world, that a liberal society upholds pluralism, freedom of belief and equal citizenship before the law."

 The letter concludes by repeating the invitation to a public debate with Hizb ut-Tahrir saying  a "debate could discuss British Foreign Policy, the emergence of the Caliphate in the Muslim world, and look at the impact of Secular-Liberal-Capitalism in the world against the potential impact of Islam in the contemporary world - and would be a refreshing change from the spin and smear we have seen from you to date, often made under the cover of parliamentary privilege."

Hizb ut Tahrir Britain