The Daily Express has repeatedly carried the most disturbing propaganda about British Muslims.

Just what is it with Richard Desmond? You would think that as he is himself Jewish that he would try and ensure that his papers do not incite hatred against other religious minorities. Yet, his paper, the Daily Express, has repeatedly carried the most disturbing attacks on British Muslims. It seems almost as if Desmond actively wants to incite hatred (and perhaps worse) against Muslims in the UK.

Today's front page headline "Now Muslims Get Their Own Laws in Britain" may sound familiar. That is because it is. The Express has simply done a rehash of other front page stories it has run on exactly the same theme. I wrote about this "dual system" being utter nonsense at the time.

The fact is that under English law people are free to devise their own way to settle a dispute before an agreed third party. The Shariah courts that exist do not - at all - deal with criminal issues which are a matter for the British courts, they entirely deal with civil matters such as marriage and divorce. The arrangement is entirely voluntary and the two parties have recourse to the UK courts at any time should they wish.

The British Jewish community has a similar - but more widespread and established system of courts - known as Beth Din. Strangely though, neither the front page Daily Express story nor Leo McKinstry's accompanying hysterical comment piece (it began with "The wail of the mosque is signalling the end of traditional British justice" and got worse) saw fit to mention this. I can only guess that this was because it would have exposed the sham nature of the Daily Express story and would have undermined the real purpose behind the exercise: which was to single out British Muslims and portray them all as being subversive, anti-democratic and separatist.

The Daily Express front page seems almost designed to be used by the thugs in the BNP to whip up tensions, and indeed, past Express headlines have served this very purpose for the BNP.

Sure enough, it did not take long today for the BNP to pick up where the Express left off.

"The shocking front page story of today's "Daily Express" reports that Sharia courts exist in every major city across Britain where there is a Muslim community. Muslim clerics who run the courts dole out justice according to the teachings of the Qu'ran, the Islamic holy book...The story should be a wake-up call for all British voters. It is now or never to turn back the tide of Islamic colonisation...Voters can punish the Labour traitors on Thursday by voting for the only party which will use its influence on local councils to stop any planning applications to convert houses, former pubs and other buildings into Islamic community centres, mosques or Sharia courts. A nationwide swing to the BNP will send a loud signal of protest to the establishment that we will not tolerate the creeping Islamification of our country."

The Express story is illustrated with a photograph it claims is of a prominent Islamic scholar, Shaykh Yaqub Munshi, whom it accuses of having the goal of "introducing Shariah law into the UK". I spoke to Shaykh Munshi this morning and he confirmed for me two facts. One, that he had not spoken to anyone at the Daily Express and two, that the photograph was not his but of someone else!

To add further insult, the Express story contains a quote from me saying that: "We believe one legal code should apply for all citizens of the UK. There is no place for multiple legal systems for people of different religious or ethnic backgrounds."

Now I had certainly not given this quote to the Express reporter, Paul Jeeves, under whose byline, the story appears. I have never spoken with Paul Jeeves about Shariah courts. I can only imagine that he cut and pasted this quote of mine from over a year ago when I was discussing the question of a dual criminal code system operating in the UK - not voluntary Shariah courts dealing with civil matters.

At a joint TUC/MCB seminar organised earlier this month, we were informed by a journalist that Desmond often personally supervises the front-page headlines especially when the story is to do with immigrants or Muslims.

In short: an awful newspaper and a truly vile proprietor.

Source: Guardian.co.uk

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