10/11/2006

Daily Hate

Missed this, from yesterday's Daily Hate. 'Muslim PC banned from unit due to Al Qaeda mosque fears' - apparently it was headlined 'The Al Qaeda factor' in the print version.

I was too preoccupied with the veil stuff, and I haven't even started pulling together the anti-Polish racism I talked about the other day.

The Independent has this extract of a letter to the Chief Constable of Gloucester Police from Mr Farooq's lawyer in 'Sacked Muslim officer wants police protection':
"We are writing to thank you for the support you've shown to our client during the recent difficult period of press intrusion. The position of both parties is that we have refused to comment to the press about his case... We have tried to protect the identity of our client but were concerned to discover today he had been photographed and his picture appeared in the Daily Mail and Daily Express".

Mr Lawrence adds: "Although most of the press comments have been balanced, the article in today's Daily Mail was inflammatory and caused our client to feel harassed. The article, 'the Al-Qaeda factor' appears to link our client to that organisation rather than the former imam at his former mosque. We believe the article may lead to our client being targeted by far-right groups. We have raised a formal complaint to the Press Complaints Commission."
This is good. What's not so good is the fact that his picture is still up on their site. This is also not so good:
Yesterday, friends of Pc Farooq said a house where he had been staying had been visited by an unknown man who made unfounded accusations linking Pc Farooq's friends to al-Qa'ida.

Pc Farooq also feels harassed after an article was published yesterday that he believes links him to the international terrorist group.

Friends say that the officer, his wife and five children have been exposed to a possible backlash from far right groups after his legal action against the Met was made public on Tuesday. He denies any links or sympathies with any extremist group.

This is the consequence of tabloid bullying. The papers may argue it's not their fault. It is. The y exaggerated the extent of the alleged connections and published the bloody pictures in the first place.

I hope the PCC isn't in the newspapers' pockets to such an extent that they find a way out of this one.

No comments: