dding-left: 40px”>MPs and campaigners have warned that the incident is an example of the risk the government will create by introducing an official definition of Islamophobia, arguing that it will shut down the ability to punish Islamic-extremist rhetoric.
At 2pm on October 17, 2023 — ten days after Hamas killed about 1,200 people in Israel — the station broadcast a 38-minute speech by the radical imam Shujauddin Sheikh. He had delivered it to an audience outside the Karachi Press Club in Pakistan five days earlier.
Sheikh said of Jewish people: “Their history is from killing prophets to only protecting their own interests, to instigating war, to instigating war and then lending money with interest and strengthening their economy, to achieving a bigger purpose for themselves and a very big reason for that is for their vision of a ‘Greater Israel’.”
Ofcom fined the station £3,500, concluding: “This broadcast contained antisemitic hate speech and abusive and derogatory statements, which were potentially highly offensive and not justified by the context.”
In response, Markaz Al-Huda handed back the station’s Ofcom licence and accused the regulator of being a “puppet instrument heavily run and supportive of a Zionist agenda which makes [it] a discriminative and Islamophobic organisation”.
Markaz Al-Huda is now being reviewed by the Charity Commission over its remarks. It was reported to the charity watchdog by the National Secular Society.
Megan Manson, the society’s head of campaigns, said: “Ofcom was right to sanction this group. These comments, broadcast within days of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, were antisemitic in the extreme and could have contributed to the division and hate crime in the wake of that attack.
“We urge the Charity Commission to take an equally robust stance on this charity and ensure it cannot publish hateful or divisive sermons in the future — even if that means removing the charity from its register. Charities must never be permitted to be exploited by extremists.
“That this charity responded to Ofcom’s concerns by calling the regulator ‘Islamophobic’ also demonstrates the pitfalls of trying to create an official definition of ‘Islamophobia’. Regulators trying to protect the public must not be hindered by fears of such accusations.”
MPs and campaigners have warned that the extremist broadcast exposes the real-world risk of the government’s plans to introduce a new Islamophobia definition.
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