Police force accused of avoiding 'elephant in the room' of Islamist extremism presents awards to imams despite controversial posts

A police force accused of avoiding the "elephant in the room" of Islamist extremism has been found to have praised two imams despite criticism of their extremist behaviour.

West Yorkshire Police officers helped present certificates to two imams at a Bradford council-organised event in 2023, despite both religious leaders facing previous accusations of extremist conduct.

The revelation emerges after the same force dismissed the chairman of a policing scrutiny panel for raising concerns about Islamist extremism.

The woman who led the Bradford Hate Crime Scrutiny Panel was removed from her position after accusing West Yorkshire Police of attempting to appease Muslims rather than prioritising the Jewish community following October's synagogue attack in Manchester.

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Her comments during a meeting discussing the anti-Semitic terrorist incident were deemed "divisive and inflammatory" by the force, which acted after Muslim officers present lodged complaints.

Both imams who received awards are connected to Bradford's al-Hikam Institute.

Mohammed Adil Shahzad rose to national attention as a principal organiser behind the 2021 protests targeting a Batley grammar school teacher who had shown a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad in class.

That teacher continues to live in hiding after receiving death threats and being accused of blasphemy by Muslim campaigners.

The Commission for Countering Extremism, which provides advice to Government ministers, expressed "concern" in an independent report that Mr Shahzad had published the teacher's name on his Facebook page.

The Commission noted his association with TLP, a Pakistani Islamic extremist political party that has been banned and is notorious for violent demonstrations against any amendments to Pakistan's blasphemy legislation.

"Naming the teacher in this way in the context of blasphemy and how the TLP, which Shahzad has aligned himself with, react to such accusations, placed him in increased danger," the Commission's report stated.

At two TLP UK events in November 2022 commemorating the organisation's founder Khadim Rizvi, Mr Shahzad praised him as a "fearless knight" who "did not back away from any issue".

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The imam also delivered an anti-Semitic speech that prompted the Charity Commission to take regulatory action against Millat-e-Islamia, Islamic, Cultural & Education Association, where he served as an imam.

In a Facebook video, he warned his audience against using "Google, Facebook or Sheikh Twitter" because "nine out of ten websites are either run by Qadianis [a slur for Ahmadi Muslims], or they are run by the Jews."

The second imam, Muhammad Asim Hussain, encouraged followers at the Al-Hikam mosque to attend a 2015 event supporting Aafia Siddiqui, an Al-Qaeda terrorist currently serving 86 years in an American prison for attempting to kill soldiers with a machine gun.

In his online talks, Mr Hussain drew comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany, describing Gaza as "the largest concentration camp in the world" and asserting that the "true Orthodox Jewish man" did not support Zionism.

West Yorkshire Police responded to questions about the awards ceremony by stating that its "neighbourhood policing teams presented several certificates to a number of community groups at a council-led event over three years ago in the Bradford District to recognise work to reduce anti-social behaviour on Bonfire Night 2022".

The force added that "community groups sent their own delegated representatives" to collect the certificates, suggesting officers had no control over which individuals attended on behalf of the organisations being recognised.

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