Rashad Ali
Rashad Ali is a counter-extremism consultant and former senior member of Hizb ut-Tahrir.[1]
Ali joined Hizb ut-Tahrir at 15.[2]
He studied at Markfield Institute and al-Azhar University, Cairo.[3]
Contents
Counter-radicalisation work
Ali was an early staff member at the Quilliam Foundation, serving as its curriculum manager in 2008.[4]
Since January 2009, he has worked at the counter-terrorist consultancy CENTRI.[3] The Institute for Strategic Dialogue also states on its website that he is their 'Resident Senior Fellow' [5] His own LinkedIn profile states he is a 'Fellow' at the Institute. [3]
In May 2015, the Telegraph's Andrew Gilligan described Ali as 'a leading figure in the Home Office’s Channel deradicalisation programme'. This description came in the context of criticism of Theresa May's Extremism Bill, of which Ali commented; '“The Government is obsessed with legislation but this is not something you can defeat by legislation. It is a battle of ideas and we have to defeat these ideas by argument, not by banning even having the debate.”[6]
Heckling Jeremy Corbyn at Stop the War conference 2016
On October 8 2016, a group of protestors including Ali yelled at Jeremy Corbyn as he arrived at Stop the War coalition's conference in London to give a speech. They claimed they were angry at Corbyn's failure to call for regime change in Syria. Two women at the back initially started, saying: 'Jeremy Corbyn, where were you?' and 'Your silence is complicit'. They voices were drowned in chants supporting 'No more war', but the heckling resumed shortly afterwards when the Labour leader eventually started his speech. [7]
Although Ali's name was not cited in the articles reporting on the event, he appears in one of the photographs which seems to depict one of the hecklers. The Daily Mail, described the protestors as 'peace activists', an odd term to use for Ali who is a supporter of, indeed active participant in, UK government counter-terror programmes.
Oz Katerji, one of the other protestors, said he had acted because Corbyn had 'deliberately marginalised Syrian voices'. He added: 'Jeremy Corbyn himself will never say the words "Assad must go". [...] He will never say there needs to be a transition in Syria out of the Syrian government's power [...] That is why we're protesting.' [8]
Publications
- 'Islam, Shariah and the Far Right' published by Democratiya journal and Dissent.
- Rashad Ali and Hannah Stuart 'A Guide to Refuting Jihadism' published by Henry Jackson Society and European Foundation for Democracy.
- 'Blasphemy and Free Speech - Hebdo and reactions to the incidents in Paris', for the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.
- 'Is Quietist Salafism the antidote to ISIS'? for the Brookings Institute.
- 'Political participation: Refuting the claims of extremist separatism' as part of the participatedontisolate.com campaign.[3]
- with Hannah Stuart, Refuting Jihadism: Can Jihad be reclaimed?, Hudson Institute, 1 August 2014.
Notes
- ↑ Michael Weiss, Persons of Interest: Britain Learns from Ex-Islamists, World Affairs, July/August 2011.
- ↑ Rashad Ali: “The ISIS narrative is not orthodox religion, it’s a modern heresy”, Euronews, 4 January 2016.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Rashad Ali, LinkedIn, accessed 9 May 2016.
- ↑ RASHAD ALI CONTRIBUTES TO BBC WORLD HAVE YOUR SAY DISCUSSION, Quilliam Foundation, 4 December 2008.
- ↑ About: Staff,Institute for Strategic Dialogue accessed 10 October 2016
- ↑ Andrew Gilligan, How banning radical Islamists will play right into their hands, Telegraph, 31 May 2015.
- ↑ Jessica Duncan, Now Jeremy Corbyn is even being heckled by PEACE activists who say he is on Assad's side in Syria, Daily Mail, 8th October 2016. Accessed 10th October 2016.
- ↑ Tom Michael, 'WHAT ABOUT ALEPPO?' Jeremy Corbyn heckled by protesters at Stop the War Coalition event, The Sun, 8th October 2016. Accessed 10th October 2016.
