HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- Thursday, January 24, 2002 12:40 PM
We have no loyalty to this
state
Britain's internment of Islamists is feeding Muslim alienation Faisal Bodi Even with a London-based wife and
child to consider, Djamel Ajouaou was left with little choice in the end. He was
seized in a dawn swoop on his Chelsea flat as he rose for morning prayer one day
last month. British police issued him with an ultimatum: leave the country or
face indefinite detention without charge, under the new Anti-Terrorism, Crime
and Security Act.
As we nibbled salad and crevettes in a Fez restaurant a fortnight ago, Djamel
related the events that had brought him back to Morocco. And while he did so,
every now and then, he'd pause and say: "None of this is for publication, you
know. I'm telling you this as a brother." Djamel had my word. I would not
publicise his case.
As things turned out I did not need to renege on my promise. Djamel's name
has been in the news this week as human rights activists, fed information by his
solicitor, have used his example to demonstrate that the government's crackdown
on terrorism is an abuse too far.
Before Christmas the government attempted to soothe our anxieties by saying
that the new Anti-Terrorism Act was essential to deal with undesirable
foreigners whom they knew to be a security threat but who could not be proved to
have breached any criminal laws. As it would violate their human rights to send
them back to the oppressive governments in their countries of origin, Jack Straw
and other ministers moralised, we would do the decent thing and detain them here
for renewable six-month terms.
Djamel's treatment belies this. One of the first batch of eight Islamist
sympathizers to be rounded up, he spent two days in the maximum security wing of
Belmarsh prison. During this time he was not told what crime he was alleged to
have committed, nor presented with any evidence. He insists that he has only
ever acted as an interpreter and a welfare benefits adviser to other
"undesirables" like Abu Qatada - against whom there is also a paucity of proof.
At least Djamel's knowledge of English secured him access to a lawyer. The
other prisoners, none of whom speak English, had to wait weeks and only
succeeded after repeated complaints by their solicitor, Gareth Peirce, that the
frustration of her attempts at access were a gross abuse of process and an
infringement of their legal rights.
Djamel's classification as a security threat is also contradicted by the
manner of his deportation and his status in Morocco. He left Britain unshackled,
aboard a British Airways passenger flight to Agadir, flanked by three
plain-clothes policemen. In Morocco Djamel is a free man, something which rests
uneasily alongside our government's assessment that he is a terrorist risk. In a
country where people are arrested for commemorating the anniversary of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the suggestion of involvement in Islamist
violence would by now have resulted in the withdrawal of his liberty.
It is not only in Britain that the rule of law is being made to dance to the
tune of the star spangled banner. Last Thursday Bosnia's supreme court freed six
Arabs detained on suspicion of trying to attack the US embassy in Sarajevo. As
the five Algerians and one Yemeni emerged from prison they were seized by US
soldiers and bundled on to a plane for Guantanamo Bay. The six, five of whom are
Bosnian nationals, are currently the only "unlawful combatants" in Camp X-Ray to
have been brought from outside the Afghan conflict.
Despite the government's insistence that there is no direct terrorist threat
to Britain, a creeping totalitarian tendency is gnawing at our basic human
rights safe guards. Now an individual, if he is not a British citizen, can be
arrested simply for what he believes and the company he keeps. He can be
punished without proof of guilt. He will be denied the benefit of any doubt. And
his wider community will be singled out for collective punishment, as in
Leicester.
This crackdown is alienating the Muslim community further. Outside the
establishment clique of the Muslim Council of Britain the incessant attacks on
Muslim life are reinforcing a sense of victimhood that gives rise to acts of
political desperation. There are signs of a shakedown in the community's
political shape. I spoke to 200 potential new activists at a meeting in London
recently. Their number, and their anti-establishment tone was an indication of
the scale of resentment this government is storing up among the future movers
and shakers of the Muslim community. Most, like myself, felt they no longer had
any social contract with the state worth honouring.
When a community has sunk to this degree of disillusionment it is time to
take note. The alternative, continuing with pressure cooker politics, will only
lead to an explosion.
· Faisal Bodi is a writer on Muslim affairs and editor of ummahnews.com.
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