Al-anwar Newspaper English news in Australia
REPORTED BY KALAHAN DENG
AN ISLAMIC campaigner faces a brutal battle with the Government in the High Court later today as he attempts to regain Muslims’ rights to freedom of speech.
Salman Butt, a Muslim issues campaigner from Slough, is seeking to have parts of the Home Office’s contentious Prevent strategy and the definition of extremism re-written because they “tarnish” the reputation of innocent individuals.
Described by the Government as a “non-violent extremist” who expresses views “contrary to British values”, the 31-year-old’s name appeared within a Downing Street press release, focused on tackling extremism in universities and colleges which linked radicalisation in education institutions to high-profile terror plots.
During an interview with an Islamist website, Mr Butt said: “Many people will be eager to see the hidden and murky processes by which individuals are tarnished with the label of ‘extremist’, so these issues are forced into the open and to the scrutiny of the courts.”
The Prevent strategy has been deemed by some analysts as “controversial” because it alienates innocent British Muslims who are roped into the Government’s fight against terrorism.
The Home Office denies such allegations and said the Prevent strategy plays a key role in the fight against terrorist networks such as Islamic State.
British universities and colleges have been legally obliged to engage with the Prevent strategy, since September 2015.
The policy states they have a “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”.
Siam Chahal QC, a human rights lawyer at Bindmans LLP, branded Mr Butt’s challenge a “test case” that could shake up policies “if successful”.
He said: “The challenge, if successful, could have major implications for the controversial policy as it applies to universities and higher education.”
Mr Butt’s lawyers have been granted permission to challenge the way the Government collected information on the campaigner.
They will argue the process lacks transparency and their procedure which is used to identify potential extremists is “flawed” and breaches the law.
A spokesman for the Home Office said they would not comment on ongoing legal proceedings.
