Jihadi John-linked speaker dropped from Stand Up to Racism event with Diane Abbott
Diane Abbott (left) was set to speak at the conference with Moazzam Begg (right)
An anti-racism conference headlined by Diane Abbott has dropped a speaker with links to Islamic State terrorist ‘Jihadi John’, the Citizen can reveal.
Stand Up to Racism’s national conference at Friends Meeting House in Euston, London, this Saturday (21 October) advertised Diane Abbott, a Hackney MP and Shadow Home Secretary, as its star speaker.
Also advertised was Moazzam Begg, a former Guantanamo Bay inmate and director of the group CAGE, which has called Mohammed Emwazi – also known as Jihadi John – a “beautiful young man”, and been condemned by Amnesty International.
However, when the Citizen contacted the organisers and Diane Abbott, both said Begg would not be speaking, but gave no reason for his apparent invitation or removal.
Sabby Dhalu, Co-Convenor of Stand up to Racism, said: “Moazzem Begg is not speaking at the conference on 21 October.”
When asked why Begg was still advertised on Eventbrite and Facebook as of 6pm last night, Dhalu declined to comment.
She said: “Moazzem Begg is not speaking, we are updating publicity and we are not giving any further comment on this.”
Stand Up to Racism poster listed Moazzam Begg as speaker
A spokesperson for Diane Abbott, emailing last night, said: “I have just spoken to the organisers and it is my understanding that Moazzam Begg is not speaking at the conference.
“If you need any further information on who exactly is speaking I suggest you contact Stand Up to Racism directly.”
They added: “Although Diane is speaking we don’t have the final agenda so they will best placed to assist.”
Last month, SUTR’s Hackney branch dropped speaker Catherine Heseltine from a local event after the Citizen pointed out her group MPAC UK is no-platformed by the National Union of Students for its “racist views”.
But Hackney SUTR defended its invitation to Moazzam Begg and hosted him at the 20 September event. A spokesperson said: “There is no truth to the claim that CAGE advocates terrorism or that it has connections with racist, terrorist or fascist organisations.
“It has an honourable record of defending human rights and has been itself a victim of Islamophobic racism.”
Dhalu has declined to say if SUTR stands by this statement from its Hackney branch.
‘Beautiful’: ISIS terrorist Mohammed Emwazi, aka Jihadi John
Diane Abbott’s spokesperson declined to say whether the MP was concerned about attending an event that apparently invited Begg, and whose Hackney branch recently hosted Begg and defends CAGE.
Labour MPs Kate Osamor and Catherine West, also booked to speak at the conference, declined to comment at time of publication.
Funding for CAGE was suspended by the Joseph Rowntree Trust and the Roddick Foundation in March 2015 over CAGE’s links with Emwazi.
Amnesty International also cut ties with the group in 2015 after its research director Asim Qureshi refused to condemn FGM and death by stoning.
At the time, Amnesty International UK director Kate Allen said his remarks were “completely unacceptable, at odds with human rights principles and serve to undermine the work of NGOs, including Amnesty International”.
Last month counter-extremism expert Rashad Ali, of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, told the Citizen: “I think it is horrific the way people like Begg were treated in the war on terror, and how policies pursued for decades have done little to reduce institutional racism, as [Labour MP] David Lammy’s recent report shows.
“But groups like CAGE, which are apologists for Al-Qaeda affiliates and extremist clerics like Abu Qatada, provide fodder for far-right Islamophobes to demonise both Islam as a religion and also its adherents.”
MPAC UK was not no-platformed by the National Union of Students for its “racist views”.
MPAC UK was no-platformed by Zionist activists as part of a long-term, widespread information war seeking to influence British politics, confuse anti-ZIonism with anti-semitism and tar any sensible discussion of the lobby as “conspiracy theories” so as to discredit it.
The success of which depends on individuals not actually look into what really happened, and what it was really all about.
I dare say the above is just more of the same smeary behind the scenes action.
http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Palestine-Remembered/Story725.html
What’s the current kill rate of Children in Gaza ….. 16 to 1, isn’t it?
The same week TfL bans ads displaying Palestinian objections to Balfour declaration – and Netanyahu turns up for a free dinner with the Tory Right – using a “Clause 2.3(h)” in their guidelines that refers to “images or messages which relate to matters of public controversy or sensitivity”.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/oct/17/tfl-bans-ads-displaying-palestinian-objections-to-balfour-declaration
Is the group claiming to call itself “Stand Up to Racism”, taking a stand against Islamic extremism? I DON’T BEELIEVE IT!
It reads like another smear campaign. It starts with the remise of “links” but never goes on to define. The only source I can find is a Daily Mail on Sunday article which is full of undefine conditions; if, may etc. I mean, does Hackney really believe the Daily Mail in such matters?
It seems there is more to the truth and it is CAGE’s presentation of the facts of Emwazi’s relationship with British security services, and their involvement in the creation of IS etc, that is has upset people in power.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-idea-that-i-endorse-isis-is-unbelievably-ignorant-cage-fought-to-save-alan-henning-in-the-face-10089091.html
Begg argues that MI6 shares responsibility for the invasion of Iraq based on dodgy dossiers and tortured confessions. The presence of Al-Qaeda in Iraq and its incremental transformation into Isis was a direct result of Western action.
I can see why many would want to silence and discredit him.
Is the Citizen out of its depth on such issues, or peddling an agenda?
You can’t google, or more likely, you’re “peddling an agenda”.
Here’s the original poster:
https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/22195299_1111727452291698_157012974994989661_n.jpg?oh=4bb721f7ee6cd675d83ccdb41371f523&oe=5A77A274
Taken from the facebook page of Stand Up to Racism [Hull]
https://www.facebook.com/HullSUTR/photos/p.1111727452291698/1111727452291698/?type=3
Begg was an advertised speaker at numerous “Stand Up to Racism” events over the last few weeks: Rotherham 27 Sept; Newham 11 Oct; Bristol 17 Oct, and you can still catch him in Leicester on 8 Nov.
http://www.standuptoracism.org.uk/upcoming-stand-racism-meetings-area/
I don’t know and it doesn’t look as if you do either. If the Islamists stopped firing rockets into Israel then Gaza could function as a normal entity. St, you probably think the RAF were war criminals for dropping bombs on Germany from 1939 to 1945.
Mozzam Begg was working in Afghanistan when few could enter the country. He apparently had a reason to be there. One does not have to condone or in any way justify what happened to Mr Begg following his detention but questions put to him about his presence in that country and his support for the Taliban regime are relevant. Further, Cage has taken an openly and hostile stance towards security measures aimed to protect this country’s people and yet a benign or even warm relationship with elements hostile to the open and plural society. His presence at any event encouraging plurality and harmony among communities is peculiar and many would think, inappropriate if not counter productive.
Stand up to Abbott.
Cage UK are supporters of Haitham al Haddad, they have used him in their advertising. Begg supports the idea of an islamic supremacist caliphate run according to sharia law. Sharia law states, according to Haitham al Haddad, that ex muslims are to be executed.
This is an interesting discussion. https://leftfootforward.org/2014/10/the-left-should-be-honest-about-cage-and-moazzam-begg/
In respect of the two questions in the last sentence what is your opinion/ Do you have one?
It’s obviously a Jewish conspiracy. It’s all explained in The Protocols of The Elders of Zion!