Press Release
After Sweden bombing, British media targets ‘radical views' in an echo of McCarthyism

For understandable reasons, the airwaves have been full of news of the bomb that killed one, and injured two people in Sweden last weekend.It has being alleged that a Muslim from Sweden who lived and studied in the UK was responsible, and that he cited Sweden's role in the insulting cartoons of the Prophet (saw) episode and its role in occupying Afghanistan as reasons for his actions. We know it is forbidden for Muslims to undertake such actions.  However, the British media has once again focussed on the issue of 'radicalisation', again ignoring the issues that are said to cause the grievances.It has been proposed that the alleged bomber expressed 'radical' views - though it has not been said violent views - in a mosque in the UK, and that the mosque officials should have reported him to the police.Once again, what constitutes ‘radical views' conveniently remains undefined. 

The media has been unashamed in calling for Muslims to report other Muslims to police whose political or religious views they have decided are unacceptable - calling for the policing of thoughts amongst this community alone. Media organisations have even added that advocating a Caliphate in the Muslim world was ‘extreme'. Others presented arguments that the alleged bomber wanted a second wife, who was a 'good believer' and who sought 'Jannah', implying that these were somehow stepping stones towards violent action. The effect of the media reporting is to encourage mosques to report people's personal religious and political views to the police, regardless of their links to violence, never mind incitement to violence.Questions have even been put to mosques suggesting they have done something wrong by failing to report these issues to the police. The same has been said of University lecturers who fail to report people with 'radical views'.There is no difference between this and the climate of the 1950's in the USA under Senator McCarthy and his House Committee for 'Un-American' activities. The media's response is utter hypocrisy. 

They will defend leaks, and insults of religion and the sacred as ‘free expression', but clamp down on legitimate Islamic views, labelling them 'extreme' or 'radical'.Muslims should know what their agenda is. It is imporatant that we do not allow ourselves to be fooled into accepting terms such as moderate or extreme following the whims of the British media. While we clearly know that these violent actions are prohibited in Islam we must never allow ourselves to be bullied into denouncing any political opposition to violent western occupation of Muslim lands, the right to resistance in those countries or condemnation of insults to the Holy Prophet (saw).

Taji Mustafa
Media representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain