Thread by @habibi_uk

Labour might as well trash what's left of its reputation on Prevent, the counter-extremist policy programme designed to keep us all safe.

Teaming up with the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) is a very good way to do that.

Zara Mohammed's story shows why. 1/15

Prevent is complex by nature. Practitioners have time for constructive criticism.

The problem is that some criticism is ridiculous. Saying Prevent is an "abuse of Muslims", for example. This is just what Mohammed did in her campaign to become Secretary General of the MCB. 2/15

Indeed, Mohammed and the MCB line up with some of the most dubious opponents of Prevent.

Here she is speaking alongside the Islamist pressure group MEND, the terrorist support group Cage, the far-left NEU leader Kevin Courtney, the extremist imam Suleiman Ghani,... 3/15

...Weyman Bennett of the SWP front “Stand Up To Racism”, and the nasty Bristol professor David Miller.

These are people who will never accept any effective Prevent programme. In no small part because many of them are rightfully in the frame themselves. 4/15

Shortly after retiring from his position as a commander with the Metropolitan Police in 2017, Mak Chishty penned an impassioned call in The Times to Muslim leaders to “reclaim Islam from extremists”. He named and shamed Cage and MEND in the article. 5/15
thetimes.co.uk/article/we-mus…

A furious open letter was one of his rewards. Mohammed was among the signatories, alongside some of the UK’s most notorious extremists, such as Moazzam Begg, Shakeel Begg, and Haitham al-Haddad.

They “condemned” Chishty, said they were “amazed” by his words, rejected... 6/15

...concerns about extremism in mosques and on campus, and suggested he was “demonising
a whole sector of our society”. 7/15
thetimes.co.uk/article/letter…

Mohammed worked for the Islamist student group FOSIS from 2014 to 2017, rising to President.

FOSIS has a very long and troubling history in the UK extremist scene. Some of the episodes during her time were typical.

Notably, FOSIS backed the “Students Not Suspects”... 8/15

...campaign, which called for outright rejection of Prevent and enlisted Cage in its efforts.

The campaign also called on Rahmaan Mohammadi, a big cause for FOSIS. His false claims of unfair treatment under Prevent have been thoroughly debunked. 9/15

https://twitter.com/toubedavid/status/1278385083418923008

An anti-Prevent quote from FOSIS in a Guardian report in 2015, when British recruits were flocking to Islamic State to join its jihad and terrorism concerns were surging, is emblematic. Essentially, look away. 10/15

FOSIS’s attitude can also be seen in its reaction to the 2016 conviction of Suhaib Majeed, “head brother” of the King’s College London Islamic society at the time. He planned to murder soldiers, police officers and civilians in London. 11/15
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3…

FOSIS’s take amounted to a rejection of concerns about extremism on campus. Note that Aman Ali of
FOSIS, quoted here, went on to join MEND and is now a senior member of the group. 12/15

And in 2015, FOSIS promoted this Cage tour.

Zara Mohammed was proud of these activities. In 2016, she said: "Last year, along with the NUS, we ran a powerful campaign called “Students not Suspects” which toured UK university campuses raising awareness of Prevent." 13/15

FOSIS has also promoted notorious hate preachers and fanatical Israel haters for years on end. Here are a few examples from Mohammed's time with the group. 14/15

Coming back to our times, if you don't like what the police are up to, how about mob rule? "Proud!"

The Government will not engage with the MCB. This story helps to illustrate why. More fools Labour. 15/15