Muslim Public Affairs Committee
The Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPACUK) claims to be "the UK's Leading Muslim civil liberties group, empowering Muslims to focus on non-violent Jihad and political activism." [1]
MPACUK states that it is a non-profit organisation but is not a registered charity. However, the organisation does not disclose where its financial support comes from. [2]
The organisation does not list its current office bearers on its website nor does it appears to have a fixed address. It is believed that the group, is run by four activists, Asghar Bukhari, his brother Zulfikar Bukhari, Tassadiq Rehman, and Madassar Ahmed, who operate from their homes. [3]
Asghar Bukhari was named in the British House of Commons in 2001 in connection with a campaign against Mike Gapes, a British Member of Parliament (MP) who was a member of the Labour Friends of Israel [4]
According to The Observer newspaper (November 19, 2006), Asghar Bukhari offered financial and moral support in 2000 to David Irving, the British historian, jailed in Austria for Holocaust denial. [5] Bukhari told The Observer: "I wrote letters to anyone who was tough against the Israelis — David Irving, Paul Findley, the PLO. I don't feel I have done anything wrong, to be honest. At the time I was of the belief he [Irving] was anti-Zionist, being smeared for nothing more than being anti-Zionist. The pro-Israeli lobby often accused people of anti-Semitism and smear tactics against groups and individuals is well known. I condemn anti-Semitism as strongly as I condemn Zionism (in my opinion they are both racist ideologies). I also believe that anyone who denies the Holocaust is wrong (I don't think they should be put behind bars for it though)." [6].
Irving had since the 1980s established a reputation dismissing any role the Nazi’s had with the holocaust.
In 2004, the National Union of Students (NUS) Executive and in particular 'Luciana Berger, the co-convenor of NUS’s Anti-Racism and Anti-Fascism campaign and a leading member of the Union of Jewish Students took 'steps to ban' three muslim organisations from campus in 2004, because of they were allegedly "anti-Semitic, and homophobic".[7] In December 2005 the organisation had a meeting cancelled by the University of Westminster on the grounds of contravention of its 'very firm policies on religious belief and tolerance'. [8]
- Ahmed Younis - National Director (Washington, US) (2004-07)
Contact Details
External links
- Mike Gapes, "Electoral Law". U.K. House of Commons Hansard, July 2, 2001.
- Jamie Doward , "Muslim leader sent funds to Irving: Islamic activist admits he donated cash to jailed historian who denied the Holocaust", The Observer, November 19, 2006.
- "NUS representative addresses government committee on campus incitement", NUS Online, December 13, 2004.
- University of Westminster, "Cancellation of MPACUK event", Media Release, December 7, 2005.
