Greens on the London Assembly have reacted angrilly to the alledged comments by muslim cleric, Dr al-Qawadawi, about Tsunami victims and have asked the Mayor to give a clear undertaking that he won’t invite the cleric to any future City Hall events. In today’s special meeting of the London Assembly on the running of the Mayor’s office, Ken Livingstone and his advisors will face a grilling from Green Party Assembly Member, Darren Johnson, over his open invite to the controversial muslim cleric, Dr al-Qawadawi to speak at City Hall.
The London Mayor has previously made clear that he intends to keep open a dialogue with the cleric and to invite him to future GLA events. However, the Mayor may have to reconsider if the latest comment from the cleric is accurate, as Dr al-Qawadawi seems to blame the debaunched nature of people’s lifestyles for their deaths, by asking if they "deserve punishment by Allah."
Cllr. Darren Johnson AM commented, "The Mayor must do everything he can to establish if these latest comments are accurate. Many Londoners lost friends and family in one of the worst natural disasters of modern times. We need to establish the truth about what this cleric said, as many Londoners are not going to take kindly to having anyone being given a platform to speak from at City Hall, who appears to be blaming the dead for being sinners who have faced divine retribution."
"The Mayor claims this man is a leading moderate yet he has justified the death sentence for homosexuals and denounced homosexuality as an evil and unnatural practice. He was not a fit and proper person to invite to City Hall as an "honoured guest" and the Mayor and his advisors completely failed to consider the impact of his visit on other communities."
"The Mayor keeps suggesting that anyone critical of Dr al-Qawadawi is motivated by Islamaphobia but this is plain nonsense. My views cannot be characterised as those of the rightwing tabloid press. I believe we should be accepting more asylum seekers into this country not less, given our international obligations. I have spoken out against the appalling police harassment that Muslims face through the misuse of stop and search powers. And I have consistently condemned the bombing of innocent Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine. However, we must also rightly condemn homophobia, whether it comes from the far right, from the far left, from Christians, from Jews, or from Muslims."
ENDS> Notes to Editors> The full text of Darren> ‘> s question to the Mayor is as follows:
City Hall – platform for public statementsQuestion No: 13 / 2005
Darren JohnsonShould City Hall really be used as a platform for people who make public statements such as this:
"Almighty Allah has prohibited illegal sexual intercourse and homosexuality and all means that lead to either of them. This perverted act is a reversal of the natural order, a corruption of man’s sexuality, and a crime against the rights of females…. Muslim jurists hold different opinions concerning the punishment for this abominable practice. Should it be the same as the punishment for fornication, or should both the active and passive participants be put to death? While such punishments may seem cruel, they have been suggested to maintain the purity of the Islamic society and to keep it clean of perverted elements."?