AhlulBayt News Agency: A Muslim preacher is under investigation by the UK police for expressing his support for Palestinians and their right to resist the Israeli occupation.
According to media reports on Thursday, West Yorkshire police received a dossier containing remarks made by Sheikh Jaffer Ladak, the imam of the Baab-Ul-Ilm Center in Leeds, since the Israeli regime started its war on Gaza on October 7.
The regime began its war on Gaza after Hamas, the Palestinian resistance movement, launched a surprise operation against the occupying force in response to Israel's decades-long campaign of violence and destruction against Palestinians. The Israeli regime has killed more than 30,878 Palestinians and injured over 72,402 others since the beginning of the offensive.
In a video, Ladak criticized the Western media's biased coverage of the war and their question of whether Muslims should "condemn Hamas". He answered, "The answer is actually no, why should we condemn?"
In another clip, the cleric likened Hamas' operation to Jews escaping from concentration camps and attacking Nazis. He asked, "So why should you condemn when the people of Gaza break out of their concentration camp and attack the military bases around them?" Press TV reported on Friday.
Ladak also affirmed, in a sermon, that resistance is Palestinians' legitimate right under international law. He said, "Allah has given permission for people to fight back because they have been oppressed" and that "from the perspective of international law, it is the right of the Gazans to fight off their oppressors, at any moment that they see fit, and in any way they see fit". He delivered the sermon six days after the invasion of Gaza.
In the sermon, he also said, "We have seen the Muslim ummah come together, united in opposition to the atrocities carried out by the illegal and illegitimate Zionist state against our brothers and sisters, particularly in Gaza. Also in the West Bank and also in Lebanon and Syria."
The mosque has rejected the police complaint as "ignominious Islamophobia".
They said in a statement to The Times, "It is absurd and baseless even to suggest that we would commit hate crime against any faith, race, or group of people. The allegations against us fail to show any link to a banned organisation or any breach of English law. Such baseless accusations are disgraceful Islamophobia."
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According to media reports on Thursday, West Yorkshire police received a dossier containing remarks made by Sheikh Jaffer Ladak, the imam of the Baab-Ul-Ilm Center in Leeds, since the Israeli regime started its war on Gaza on October 7.
The regime began its war on Gaza after Hamas, the Palestinian resistance movement, launched a surprise operation against the occupying force in response to Israel's decades-long campaign of violence and destruction against Palestinians. The Israeli regime has killed more than 30,878 Palestinians and injured over 72,402 others since the beginning of the offensive.
In a video, Ladak criticized the Western media's biased coverage of the war and their question of whether Muslims should "condemn Hamas". He answered, "The answer is actually no, why should we condemn?"
In another clip, the cleric likened Hamas' operation to Jews escaping from concentration camps and attacking Nazis. He asked, "So why should you condemn when the people of Gaza break out of their concentration camp and attack the military bases around them?" Press TV reported on Friday.
Ladak also affirmed, in a sermon, that resistance is Palestinians' legitimate right under international law. He said, "Allah has given permission for people to fight back because they have been oppressed" and that "from the perspective of international law, it is the right of the Gazans to fight off their oppressors, at any moment that they see fit, and in any way they see fit". He delivered the sermon six days after the invasion of Gaza.
In the sermon, he also said, "We have seen the Muslim ummah come together, united in opposition to the atrocities carried out by the illegal and illegitimate Zionist state against our brothers and sisters, particularly in Gaza. Also in the West Bank and also in Lebanon and Syria."
The mosque has rejected the police complaint as "ignominious Islamophobia".
They said in a statement to The Times, "It is absurd and baseless even to suggest that we would commit hate crime against any faith, race, or group of people. The allegations against us fail to show any link to a banned organisation or any breach of English law. Such baseless accusations are disgraceful Islamophobia."
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