Ghayasuddin Siddiqui

Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui is leader of the Muslim Parliament and of the Muslim Institute and has been active in the Stop the War Coalition and the Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC). More recently, he has become an advisor to the Quilliam Foundation.

He was one of the first prominent Muslims to give his support to the Stop the War Coalition . He is also one of the signatories to the founding declaration setting out CAMPACC's aims and objectives .

He contributed to the CAMPACC report "Terrorising Minority Communities" submitted to the Privy Council Review of the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001 in August 2003.

In a speech at the 'Together Against Terror' conference held by the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) on 12 December 2005 in response to the 7/7 London bombings he was highly critical of policing strateqy, commenting:

"the police failed again to receive any cooperation from the Muslim community in Leeds, where the terrorists came from. It became apparent that the police had no contacts, good-will or trust that might have enabled them to penetrate a terrorist network."

He added

"The politicisation of police forces is characteristic of dictatorship."

Speaking at a conference held by Muslim Educational Centre of Oxford shortly before the first anniversary of the 7/7 bombings , he said of the British Muslim community:

"By insisting on living a 7th century life-style in a 21st century society they cannot expect a welcoming response. Their use of oriental dress, the way they want to run their educational institutions, their traditions of marrying their children abroad and, above all, their belief that their main reason for coming to Europe was to convert the heathen to their faith, require a major re-thinking."

In the same speech, Dr Siddiqui welcomed the recent setting up of a forum called Muslims for Secular Democracy.

Dr Siddiqui is currently listed as an advisor to the Quilliam Foundation, publicly launched on 22 April 2007

External links

• "Quilliam Foundation", Accessed May 2008.
• "The Muslim Parliament", Accessed May 2008.
• "The Muslim Institute", Accessed May 2008.
• "The Muslim Parliament of Great Britain 1992-1998", Accessed May 2008.
• "British Muslims for Secular Democracy", Accessed May 2008.
• "Andrew Murray and Lindsey German, Stop the War, The Story of Britain's biggest mass movement, Bookmarks 2005, ISBN1 905192 00 2, page 61"
• "CAMPACC, A Permanent State of Terror?, CAMPACC in association with Index on Censorship, October 2003, ISBN 0-904286-98-3, page 168"