Four MPs have pulled out of a Commons event with a group accused of “dismissing terrorism” and promoting hostility towards Jews.
Muslim Engagement and Development (Mend) claims to help British Muslims engage in the democratic process but Anna Soubry, co-chairwoman of the all-party parliamentary group on British Muslims and one of the five MPs advertised as speaking, said she had pulled out because Mend “don’t have the best of reputations”.
A report to be published by the Henry Jackson Society think tank says Mend are “Islamists masquerading as civil libertarians” with “highly concerning views on terrorism” who promote “conspiratorial narratives” with “anti-semitic components”.
The chairwoman of Mend’s Manchester working group, Siema Iqbal, said after the Paris attacks that it was “simplistic” to see Isis as “the enemy that must be defeated”. [Henry Jackson Society] Read more
