UKIP candidate calls for mosque licences

As we draw closer to the general election, it is likely, as with previous elections, that the statements of candidates from UKIP will attract press attention as the party seeks to persuade voters of its non-racist credentials.

The local London paper, the Ham & High, reports on the campaign issue of UKIP candidate for the Hampstead and Kilburn seat, Magnus Nielsen, to force mosques in the UK to apply for licenses to operate.

In an interview with the local paper, Nielsen said “My great aim is to licence the mosques and licence the clergy.”

“So that if the clergy are preaching doctrine that is in contravention of UK law and human rights then they lose their licences.

“If the mosque can’t find a licensed imam, they have to close down until they can.”

Asked if he would apply licenses to other faith groups in the UK, Nielsen said no explaining “I don’t think the other religions would present the same sort of problem.”

Nielsen’s stance on licensing mosques is not too dissimilar to the views expressed by fellow UKIP member and current MEP for London, Gerard Batten, who backed a proposal calling on Muslims to sign a Charter of Understanding. Last month, after the brutal murder of cartoonists at the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris, batten renewed his calls for Muslims to sign the Charter stating it would “protect citizens who want to live in “a civilised, liberal, democratic society”.

Nielsen’s comments on licenses for imams and mosques are perhaps to be expected from someone who gained notoriety last year for remarks made when standing for election to Camden council. Nielsen’s comments were published at the time other UKIP candidates were making news headlines for expressing anti-Muslim views. Nielsen said:

“Islam is created by a man called Muhammad who was a gang leader of criminals and he justified his behaviour by saying he was instructed by god to behave that way.

“He was able to inspire followers to commit criminal acts using the justification of religion.”

“It is a hot topic. We’ve just had Muslim infiltration in Birmingham schools, we have Muslim rape gangs in the north of the country and we have Muslim patrols in Tower Hamlets.”

Though Nielsen tells the Ham & High that his views are not UKIP policy it is difficult to see, if party leader Nigel Farage’s claims not to be a racist party hold true, how he could remain its endorsed candidate in the coming election.