The Policy Exchange (PE), a think tank in the UK, is being sued by the North London Mosque for defamation because PE discovered and published that Islamist literature could be found at the mosque, as well as other Islamic institutions in the UK. The report is entitled, “The Hijacking of British Islam, How Extremist Literature Is Subverting British Islam.”
The North London Mosque has issued a writ against the think tank, in the High Court, saying the report’s conclusions are defamatory, unleashing “verbal and physical attacks” against itself and other identified mosques and Islamic centers in the report.
A defamation suit cannot stand considering the Policy Exchange’s clear message that the report merely identifies Islamic institutions where extremist literature was accessible, “both in terms of being openly available” and “under the table” (pg. 5 of the report). There was no inference that the mosque board itself wrote, published, or actively participated in the dissemination of the literature itself.
The North London Mosque should have been especially wary considering Richard Reid and Zacarias Moussaoui, now infamous al-Qaeda operatives, attended the mosque.
Was their indoctrination to Islamism due to the availability of extremist literature found at the mosque?
All Islamic institutions have an obligation to fight Islamism rather than look the other way when its congregants are being recruited right under their noses. Such inaction amounts to tacit consent of the Islamist message since accessibility of the Islamist propaganda in the West is the issue. It is the most important tactic in Islamism’s lawful jihad against non-Muslims and Muslims, whom they deem insufficiently orthodox.
The lawsuit against the Policy Exchange fits the pattern of lawfare that the Legal Project at Islamist Watch handles. It is predatory, with no chance of succeeding beyond distracting, dispiriting, bankrupting, and intimidating defendents.
