'Row over £215k 'terror-link' festival'

The Sunday Times and Scotland and Sunday run a story on the meeting recently held by members of the Scottish Government with IslamExpo organisers Mohammed Sawalha, president of the British Muslim Initiative and Anas Altikriti, of the Muslim Association of Britain.

The meeting was organised by the Scottish Islamic Foundation which has been given a grant by the Scottish Government to host a festival similar to IslamExpo in Scotland.

Both papers mention allegations against the BMI president and the withdrawal of UK government figures from the IslamExpo exhibition in London this summer. IslamExpo was similarly tarnished prior to the event’s launch in an article in the Evening Standard by Ed Husain entitled ‘Stop Pandering to the Islamist Extremists’

‘There are many representative and moderate voices within Scotland’s diverse Muslim communities, promoting integration and harmony, and condemning terrorism in every context. It is these brave voices that need reinforcing from government, not those of former Hamas activists and international Islamist networks’, the Sunday Times quotes a Community Security Trust spokesperson as saying.

So the simple message here for those that don’t know who to court: Former Hamas activists – no. Former Hizb ut Tahrir activists – yes.