One of the things that the anti-Imperial Left and those Muslims who defend Assad have never been able to explain to me, is why the CIA chose Syria as the location of detention and interrogation of Maher Arar and a number of other detainees in the War on Terror? Arar was kidnapped from the US and sent initially to Jordan. Jordan was only the first part of the rendition route to Syria. The Canadian security agencies and the CIA were directly involved in providing lists of questions to the Syrians during this period.

Day 2 - Victory day for Marieha Hussain.

A 🧵 on how day 2 of the trial prosecuting Marieha ended in a resounding victory for her and her defence team, and how the CPS has been shown again to overpolice and prosecute people of colour.

@CAGEintl @nelsabbey @kehinde_andrews The morning began with defence barrister Rajiv Menon KC walking Marieha through her background as a psychology graduate and tutor, and all the circumstances that led to her holding a placard and subsequent charge by the police.

Thread on the far-right and terrorism laws:

So we’re back to some within POC communities commenting we need to apply CT legislation to the far-right even as they have been predominantly been targeted at Muslims and those within other minority communities.

This is misguided. To begin, it is important to understand that terrorism laws are predominantly used where there is no actual violence, but rather in the pre-crime space. Thus when actual violence takes place, it is usually the Fire & Explosives or the Offences Against Persons Act used to convict.

As you listen to the demands being made by the South African legal case against Israel, you really get a sense for how minimal value Israel holds for Palestinian life. These are demands that should never have to be made and it's actually crazy that we are here.

#RSAvISR South Africa starts by referring to Israel's continued colonisation of Palestine as an "ongoing Nakba" an important framing that situates Israel's violence on a timescale that pre-dates 7 October 2023

🧵 Who is Hamas?

There has been much written and said about the group that is very far from the truth of the organisation and its history.

This history of Hamas written by @AzzamTamimi is perhaps one of the best accounts of the group, and worth summarising. The targeting of al-Shifa hospital by Israel in some ways is a coming back full circle for Hamas, 36 years after its formation. It’s the general strike called by Shaykh Ahmed Yassin outside of the hospital, that leads to the formation of Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyyah

From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.

The shout of ‘river to sea’ is a call for complete justice, not an ethno-nationalist state.

A 🧵 to understand why Israel as an Apartheid state cannot exist.

#gaza #palestine #Apartheid

https://twitter.com/suellabraverman/status/1713897073915945089

The similitude with Apartheid extends beyond the different treatment of Palestinians and Arabs living within the state of Israel. If we want to understand how it applies to the land itself, we must see Gaza and the West Bank as modern day Bantustans.

🧵 on Saudi initiative in the UK

On 11-12 March 2023, the @MWLOrg_en will host an event in London: Muslim Leadership for Britain and Beyond.

There are serious concerns about the event and its purpose in promoting the Charter of Makkah - a project that will disempower Muslims. A leaked email seen by @UK_CAGE shows that invitations have been sent out on behalf of @MWLOrg_en - headed by Dr Mohammad al-Issa.

The purpose of the event is to promote the Charter of Makkah in a British context.

So let’s go through the Shawcross Prevent review together as I read it. From the very outset of the introduction, we are reminded of the exceptional framing of violence in the world. The premise of Shawcross’ engagement is that somehow 9/11 was anomalous. Further in setting the scene, no mention of the torture and violence that Adebolajo and his family were subject to, only the fact of the violent outcome. Further referencing of the Trojan hoax without any context of the lies that were told tell us a great deal.

I'm actually fine with the idea that sports are political. Yes, it should be absolutely appropriate to ask questions about the human rights record of any country you visit, as raised with Russia hosting, and now with Qatar. Be consistent though #WorldcupQatar2022 One of the first points to acknowledge, is the reason why FIFA gives the World Cup to any country in the first place, and much of it is to do with money. There is an addiction to money over any other concern. There is a hypocrisy at play here that needs to be understood.

Was intrigued to read Abdou’s book on Islam and Anarchism particularly as I recently wrote a book on the potential for an ethic of disobedience to be situated in the Qur’an and Sunnah. I can understand at many points what Abdou is trying to do, particularly in relation to his concern over governance in Muslim majority countries (particularly the extent of authoritarianism) but also share his concern over the limitations of so-called Islamist political projects

Another trip, another #travellingwhilemuslim encounter with UK borders agents.

They are really doing their best to make my re-entering the UK as difficult as possible.

وَمَكَرُوا۟ وَمَكَرَ ٱللَّهُ ۖ وَٱللَّهُ خَيْرُ ٱلْمَـٰكِرِينَ Yesterday I was in Paris for the launch of an excellent @UK_CAGE report written by my colleague Rayan Freschi. The report details the ‘systemic obstruction’ placed in the way of French Muslims - and how they are being legally persecuted.

Please do download and read the report

https://twitter.com/uk_cage/status/1499095579082645505

🧵 (will limit spoilers) Was really happy to hear @HamzaMSyed get agitated about the impact of the Trojan Horse hoax, particularly when confronting an interviewee who was blasé on the consequences. I wanted to write this thread to make visible the severe consequences #trojanhorse The revelations were a full-spectrum assault on the Muslim community in the UK. It is worth thinking through how this was felt across different sectors. First of all, it was made public in the media, the chosen journalists being Richard Kerbaj and Sian Griffiths.

Bismillah.

A 🧵 on my latest stop by the police coming into the UK. I had just returned from a work trip and was stopped for 4.5 hours.

From the outset I was reminded that I was not under any suspicion, but that was only the start of what quickly descended into parody For a start, I’m handed the information flyer under schedule 7 of the TA 2000, but one that had been used before, scuffed and had fingerprints all over it. Not hygienic or safe at all in these covid times.

TW: I just want to reflect a little on some of the demands being made that survivors of rape go to the authorities to formally lodge a complaint against an alleged perpetrator. There are a number of barriers that are worth thinking of before people make such a demand The first is that any recounting of a serious trauma regularly results in a re-experiencing of it. You are effectively asking the survivor to re-experience that violence (which the body feels during the recounting) again and again

I think we need to case study this for the sake of posterity.

Feel free to add your own in this thread 😬.

Case study #1 - Priti Patel:

Got called a ‘Paki’ at school, but still willing to deport black/brown people. Leader of the pull up the ladder movement

https://twitter.com/RealKWB/status/1270421187353600002

Case study #2 - Sajid Javid:

Son of a Pakistani bus driver, but happy to weaponise his own ‘Muslimness’ when it suits him to show representation despite fuelling dangerous narratives about Muslims. Universally reviled by people of colour and his own white constituency 🤦🏽‍♂️

Thread on solidarity:

Bismillah al-Rahman al-Raheem

I’ve been thinking to myself a lot about what this latest in a very long line of black deaths means for me, and other non-black Muslims who are concerned about the world they see. I feel that sometimes we are very quick to insert our own experiences into these moments, because we want to show some degree of empathy - the idea of: “we understand what you are going through.”