|
Muslim
Leaders Say Leicester Not An "Extremist Hotbed"
LEICESTER,
England, Jan. 23 (News Agencies) - Stunned by an anti-terrorist
swoop Thursday, January 17, that led to 16 arrests, Muslim leaders
in Leicester in central England, say their city is a model of
integration and not a hotbed of extremists, news agencies reported.
The
Highfields and Spinney Hills areas of Leicester, a city whose
minority communities make up nearly half the population, have
returned to normal since last Thursday's dawn raids, according to
Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The
Muslim faithful - the men often in traditional tunics, the women
with their heads covered - pray in the mosques that proliferate
here, some of them ordinary houses or converted pubs.
Behind
closed doors, however, one can still sense the shock among the
Muslim community, which is more than 10 percent of the city's
300,000 inhabitants.
"It
was incredible - very dramatic and cavalier. It was Hollywood
style," said Ismail Patel, spokesman for a federation of Muslim
organizations.
"People
are still shocked and stressed, because they don't know themselves
whether they could be considered as terrorists."
All
16 people arrested in Leicester, and another detained in London as
part of the same operation, have now either been freed or handed to
the custody of immigration services.
Patel
condemned anti-terrorist legislation, passed only in December, which
allows some foreign suspects to be detained without trial.
He
said it discriminated against Muslims.
The
problem is "more immigration than terrorism," agreed
Suleiman Nagdi, a well-liked 50-year-old who mediates between police
and the Muslim community.
Nevertheless,
three people arrested shortly after the September 11 attacks in the
United States are still in custody.
One,
Kamel Daoudi, has been deported to France, where he is being held.
Two others were charged last week with active membership in the
Al-Qaeda network.
"They
were either new to the city, or they were very quiet. Nobody seems
to know them," Patel said of the three.
"Leicester
is the most integrated city in the country."
The
same message was heard at the Mosque of Piety, a terraced house in
Highfields, which preaches the "Salafist" strain of Islam.
The
three men prayed there but to suggest the mosque was a hotbed for
the recruitment of extremists is "rubbish," spokesman
Idrif Waraich said, adding, "Islam condemns terrorism."
Nagdi
said they used the mosque because its leaders preached in Arabic.
However,
he admitted there were a minority of extremists in Leicester, citing
in particular the Al-Muhajirun group of Omar Bakri Mohammed, who is
under close police surveillance.
Nagdi
also cited Hizb-ut-tahkir, a group that has already been banned from
university premises for their recruiting.
"Some
students come from abroad and they are more vulnerable because their
parents are not there to guide them," Nagdi explained.
Around
10 percent of the 15,000 students at Leicester University come from
abroad, mainly from Europe and Asia, said Hassan Patel, deputy
leader of its Muslim students' association.
He
said al-Muhajiroun and Hizb-ut-tahkir "give a bad image of
Islam."
Anjen
Choudary, an Al-Muhajiroun spokesman, said the group would continue
to distribute leaflets near universities, in market places and
social centers.
He
confirmed his group had representatives in Leicester, but denied it
had anything to do with the arrested men.
In
fact, Muslim leaders were keen to stress the tolerance of people in
the city. Unlike some other towns where racial tension erupted into
violence last summer, Leicester was quiet.
|
