Mayor's Dodgy Dossier on Dr. Qaradawi
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Livingstone glosses over Muslim cleric’s anti-humanitarian views.
New 10-point briefing reveals the truth about Qaradawi, in his own words.
London - 22 February 2005
The Mayor of London’s dossier on the Muslim cleric Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi has been exposed as containing half-truths, misrepresentations and distortions.
A new 10-point briefing published by gay human rights group OutRage! and the Gay & Lesbian Humanist Association (Galha) uncovers misinformation by City Hall, which obscures Dr Qaradawi’s right-wing views and his support for human rights abuses.
The full 10-point briefing is available on the OutRage! website – www.outrage.org.uk
Click here to view the briefing in MS Word format:
http://www.outrage.org.uk/mayorsdossier_thetruth.doc
Dr Qaradawi visited London in July last year as the Mayor’s “honoured guest.”
The new briefing by OutRage! and Galha exposes Dr Qaradawi’s support for:
The killing of apostates – those who have rejected Islam
The killing of all Israelis – including civilians
The mutilation of women’s genitals
The killing of homosexuals by Islamic states to keep society pure
In this 10-point briefing, all quotations are taken directly from Dr Qaradawi as published on the website that he supervises, http://www.islamonline.net. They are presented on this website in English, so there can be no question about the accuracy of the translations.
Despite this incontrovertible evidence that Dr Qaradawi endorses grave human rights abuses, Ken Livingstone defends him as a “moderate” and says Dr Qaradawi has “done the most to combat socially regressive interpretations of Islam”.
“The Mayor is denying reality. His dossier glosses over Dr Qaradawi’s anti-humanitarian views,” said OutRage! spokesperson Brett Lock.
”Our new briefing quotes Dr Qaradawi in his own words, as published on the website he supervises as chief scholar - IslamOnline.net. The views of Dr Qaradawi that we quote show the Mayor's dossier is factually flawed,” added Mr Lock.
“As a left-winger and a supporter of Ken for over 20 years, I believe he has been a good Mayor of London,” said Peter Tatchell of OutRage!.
“But on the issue of Dr Qaradawi he has made a major misjudgement. He is defending a reactionary fundamentalist cleric who provides theological justification for the denial of human rights to millions of Muslims living under Islamic rule.
"While the Mayor’s attempt at dialogue with Dr Qaradawi may have been well intended, it is, in fact, a tragic betrayal of the victims of Islamist repression,” said Mr Tatchell.
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