Areeb Ullah

New Muslim group ‘supported by Labour’ aims to challenge MCB’s leadership Former army imam among prominent figures involved in new network which seeks to engage with Keir Starmer's government and 'influence public policy'

July 12, 2024 Areeb Ullah and Simon Hooper

(Middle East Eye) The Labour Party is supporting the creation of a new Muslim leadership group intended to become the primary point of engagement between Keir Starmer’s government and Muslim communities in the UK, Middle East Eye can exclusively reveal. A draft […]

Cage director banned from entering Switzerland to address meeting at UN Muhammad Rabbani held overnight after being stopped at Geneva Airport in latest incident which he says is a consequence of France adding his name to a European no-entry database

December 13, 2023 Areeb Ullah

(Middle East Eye) Border authorities in Switzerland have stopped the director of a UK-based human rights group from entering the country to address a meeting at the United Nations office in Geneva “after a request from France.” Posting on social media on […]

Muslims ‘unjustly placed on blacklists’ across Europe, rights groups warn Muslim leaders urge European governments to take action against Islamophobia in Europe at security and human rights conference in Poland

October 6, 2023 Areeb Ullah

(Middle East Eye) Muslim civil society groups from Europe warned of the growing level of Islamophobia spreading across the continent at a major security and human rights conference in Poland. On Thursday, seven Muslim groups from Austria, France, Sweden, Spain, and the […]

Cage director accuses France after being refused entry to Poland Muhammad Rabbani, who has accused the French government of Islamophobia, says border officers at Warsaw airport told him France had placed him on an EU no-entry list

October 3, 2023 Areeb Ullah

(Middle East Eye) The director of the UK-based advocacy group Cage has accused the French government of placing him on a European no-entry list after he was refused entry to Poland to attend a high-profile security conference in Warsaw. Border officers at […]

Netherlands: Muslims file UN complaint against parliament, citing discrimination Dutch parliamentary committee on unwanted foreign influence is accused of waging a 'witch-hunt' against the country's Muslim community

April 25, 2023 Areeb Ullah

(Middle East Eye) A coalition of Muslim groups in the Netherlands has filed a complaint with the United Nations against a Dutch parliamentary committee tasked with investigating the influence of foreign funding on mosques and Islamic associations. The Ummah Project, a group […]

Prevent review: Shawcross reforms risk ‘slide into authoritarianism,’ critics warn Coalition of civil society organisations, community leaders and rights groups urge the British government to withdraw Shawcross report

March 21, 2023 Simon Hooper and Areeb Ullah

(Middle East Eye) The UK is facing a “slide into dangerous authoritarianism” if the government proceeds with the recommendations of a contentious review of Prevent, critics of the counter-terrorism strategy have warned. In a joint letter issued on Tuesday, a coalition of […]

High Court rules Ed Husain defamed MCB official Miqdaad Versi in tweet Versi will now seek further compensation of £25,000 and an injunction against Husain's defamatory tweets not to be republished

March 7, 2023 Areeb Ullah

(Middle East Eye) The High Court in London has ruled that a tweet sent by the author and commentator Ed Husain had defamed a senior leader of the Muslim Council of Britain. Husain, also known as Mohammed Mahbub Husain, founded the defunct […]

Shamima Begum: Labour’s Starmer says court was right to reject citizenship appeal Opposition leader says judgment was 'the right decision,' having previously described removal of Begum's citizenship in 2019 as 'the wrong decision'

February 23, 2023 Areeb Ullah

(Middle East Eye) Labour leader Keir Starmer on Thursday said he supported a court ruling dismissing an appeal by Shamima Begum challenging the UK government over the removal of her British citizenship. The Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) on Wednesday rejected Begum’s […]

Immigration court to rule on Shamima Begum British citizenship case Begum is seeking to reverse the 2019 decision to strip her of British citizenship

February 21, 2023 Areeb Ullah

(Middle East Eye) An immigration court in London will rule this week on whether Shamima Begum, who fled Britain to join the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria aged 15, has won her appeal against the UK government who revoked her British citizenship. […]

UK: Muslim students threaten to disaffiliate from NUS after Islamophobia claims The Federation of Student Islamic Societies said it would urge its members to disaffiliate after Shaima Dallali was reportedly suspended from the union

September 2, 2022 Areeb Ullah

(Middle East Eye) The Federation of Student Islamic Societies (Fosis), the national body for Muslim students in Britain, has threatened to launch a disaffiliation campaign against the National Union of Students (NUS) after the NUS suspended its president-elect, Shaima Dallali. Earlier this […]

France dissolves Muslim NGO BarakaCity The organisation has rejected accusations of inciting terrorism, says it will fight the decision 'until the very end'

October 28, 2020 Areeb Ullah and Chloé Benoist

(Middle East Eye) The French government dissolved on Wednesday French Muslim charity BarakaCity, government officials said, amid high tensions in the country following the murder of a teacher earlier this month. French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin confirmed on Twitter that the NGO was […]

UK: Prevent review ‘will go ahead’ following concerns by rights groups Conservative party pledges to review counter-terrorism strategy facing renewed criticism from Muslim community

January 22, 2020 Areeb Ullah

(Middle East Eye) The British government said it will continue its review of the controversial Prevent strategy amid concerns by rights groups that the Conservative Party was planning to scrap its report into the counter-terrorism scheme. Prevent is a strand of the […]