Islamic Human Rights Commission
Encyclopedia
The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) is a non-profit organization. Its stated mission is to, "... work with different organizations from Muslim and non-Muslim backgrounds, to campaign for justice for all peoples regardless of their racial, confessional or political background.". The group is based in London and was established in 1997. The organization, since 2007, has consultative status with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
.
According to Stuart Weir, "the staff and voluntary workers of the Islamic Human Rights Commission... put the lie to the common idea that Islam and human rights are irreconcilable."
However opinions are sharply divided over the Islamic Human Rights Commission's philosophy. Pro-Israel and right wing groups lead the criticism of the organisation, whereas others including left-wing and left leaning organisations, activists and thinkers offer positive views. There are notable exceptions to this in both camps.
According to Professor Jytte Klausen
, of Brandeis University, the IHRC forms part of the Muslim left in Europe. According to Klausen, the:
Member of the UK Houses of Parliament, Lord Victor Adebowale states about the organisation:
Jennifer Loewenstein
, a Jewish activist from the University of Wisconsin also supports the organisation:
According to the now defunct Awaaz, in a report entitled, ‘THE ISLAMIC RIGHT – key tendencies’ IHRC is part of a corpus of right-wing Islamist organisations. "Whilst the overwhelming critique of the report focuses on Wahabbiism (indeed the authors ironically claim to source some of their critique from Hamid Algar, who is in fact an advisor to IHRC), it claims that IHRC is neo-Khomeiniist, and believes in the ‘absolute rule of the clerics’." The organisation responded to deny this charge. Gita Sahgal was part of the Awaaz collective quotes the report in her critique of Muslim civil society in the UK post her departure from Amnesty International
after her criticisms of its work with Moazzam Begg
and the Muslim led human rights group Cageprisoners
led to her suspension and subsequent redundancy from AI.
Awaaz's claims are echoed by conservative journalist Melanie Phillips, described by the BBC as "one of the [U.K.] media's leading right-wing voices" and a "controversial" columnist. She stated in The Spectator
magazine that IHRC was, "the most conspicuous promoter of Khomeini jihadism in the UK, ... [and] is said to be close to Iran."
Harry's Place
is also deeply critical of IHRC, and cites IHRC's criticism of the British government as a sign of its demanding policy changes.
The IHRC opposes the banning of the Islamist Hizb-ut-Tahrir party and feels that the adoption of sharia law is a legitimate religious idea.
Anthony McRoy, in his book published by right leaning think tank Social Affairs Unit
‘From Rushdie to 7/7: The Radicalisation of Islam in Britain’ approves IHRC's philosophy. He cites IHRC's early warning work on Darfur
, as well as its criticisms of Iran:
Further:
The organisation itself claims its philosophy derives from:
Reference points for an 'IHRC philosophy' can be found in the works 'Whose rights are they anyway? - Reaching a critical understanding of human rights-speak in the 21st century', published by the British Council
, as well as 'To Liberate or Not to Liberate? Islam, Universalism & Human Rights' presented to the Goethe-Institut
in London. A further work, published by the Conflicts Forum by the same authors, sets out the organisation's stall for a shared lingua franca of human rights between the existing human rights community and marginalised and abused communities world-wide.
However Anthony McRoy claims that IHRC has little or no emphasis on ideological issues but is characterised by working on issues and with the grassroots.
released 1998, Gul Aslan released 1999, Nureddin Sirin, released 2004. The organisation also states the following have been released as a result of their campaigning: Mallam Turi, Zeenah Ibrahim from Nigeria; Sheikh Al-Jamri, Bahrain; Huda Kaya, Bekir Yildiz, Recep Tayyep Erdogan, Nurilhak Saatcioglu, Nurcihan Saatioglu,Turkey; Sheikh Ahmed Yassine, Abdul Aziz Rantissi, Rabbi Biton, Sheikh Abdulkareem Obeid, Mustafa Dirani from Israeli detention; Mohammed Mahdi Akef, Egypt; Dr. Muhammad Osman Elamin, Sudan; Cehl Meeah, Mauritius; Abbasi Madani and Ali Behadj, Algeria. Current campaigns for 'Prisoners of Faith' focus on USA detainees and include Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman, his attorney Lynne Stewart, Ghassen Elashi and former Black Panther Imam Jamil Al-Amin, as well as Egyptian detainees including Khairet El-Shater.
Other campaigns work include thematic and country based campaigns e.g. against anti-terror detentions in the UK, resettlement of various African refugees held in detention in Libya, release of detainees in Bahrain, racist policing e.g. brutalisation of immigrant women in France, nikab bans in France, Bosnia, Belgium and Spain, detention of opposition members in Sudan, prosecution of a convert in Sri Lanka for blasphemy.
In November 2007, the IHRC started a campaign for a Saudi Arabian woman who had been gang-raped but found herself convicted to 200 lashes. The campaign was reported world-wide. In December 2007, the rape victim was issued a pardon by the Saudi King.
IHRC has promoted various boycott, divestment and sanctions actions, including a boycott of Israeli dates in the UK. In May 2010, IHRC organised and led a delegation of European Muslim organisations to Turkey to lobby the Turkish government to veto Israel's accession to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Other notable campaigns saw the campaign to have Mat Sah Satray and other ISA
detainees in Malaysia released in 2009.
In 2006, IHRC began an emergency campaign against the imminent execution of British and Pakistani dual national Mirza Tahir Hussain. Other organisations, including Fair Trials Abroad and Amnesty International
, joined the campaign.
After a BBC
documentary
broadcast on July 15, 2004 exposed very strong anti-Islamic opinions within the far-right British National Party
, the IHRC has campaigned for the prohibition of that party.
On August 3, 2006, the IHRC asked for judicial review of its allegations that the British government assisted with military shipments to Israel, which was eventually denied.
In 2010, IHRC publicly advocated against the introduction of full body scanners at UK ports.
The advocacy section is also involved in trial monitoring, with observer trips to Turkey, Mauritius and Bahrain featuring in this field.
. The list of countries it has submitted reports on in the period 2007 - 2010 are: Iraq, China, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, France, Sri Lanka, The Philippines, Tunisia, Morocco, India, Bahrain, United Kingdom.
It also produces thematic reports e.g. on hijab
and freedom of religious expression, even submitting some of these to UN committees such as the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
It has also produced several critical works overviewing anti-terrorism laws, particularly in the UK. Its 2006 report 'Anti-terrorism: A Modern day Witch-hunt' by Fahad Ansari was praised by Tony Benn
and Bruce Kent
. According to Benn:
Kent stated it was a:
In 2004, IHRC launched the British Muslims' Expectations of the Government research project. It culminated in six reports on citizenship, discrimination, education, hijab, law and media and representation. The focus on theoretical aspects of citizenship in this project has become a key theme in IHRC research work. According to Professor D. Ray Heisey, the project:
Other theoretical work includes papers on human rights discourse, as well as Islam and human rights represented in reports, papers presented at seminars, participation in wider research projects e.g. Trust Building in Conflict Transformation with the Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Contemporary Political Violence.
, various other MPs including David Gottlieb
, Ann Cryer
, Clare Short
, Frank Dobson
, Ian Gibson
, John Austin
and Jeremy Corbyn
, as well as various Islamic, Christian and Jewish groups and individuals including Muslim Council of Britain
, Jews against Zionism, Rev Fr. Frank Gelli, Rev Steven Sizer, Roland Rance, and Lord Nazir Ahmed. This statement and IHRC's research work and participation in protest events during the war attracted controversy in the right-wing press (see Controversy and Criticism below).
The IHRC has on a number of occasions organised joint statements with various Islamic groups about British terror legislation, and has collaborated with prominent civil liberties lawyers Gareth Peirce
and Louise Christian
.
In 2006 the Islamophobe of the year award was given to Condoleezza Rice
.
The tongue in cheek event was reported on Channel 4 News at its inception.
, Rabbi Yisroel Weiss, Rabbi Ahron Cohen, Roland Rance, Les Levidow, Jeffrey Blankfort, Professor Yakov Rabkin, and John Rose
.
in the context of Palestine
. The papers were published as a book of the same name in 2009.
, Randeep Ramesh, Rabbi Beck, Rabbi Ahron Cohen, Sameh Habeeb. Messages were also sent from Ward Churchill
and Hasan Nuhanovic
.
, IHRC undertook various actions in opposition to the war and called on the British government to be evenhanded in its treatment of the parties. It issued a briefing entitled The Blame Game: International Law and the Current Crisis in the Middle East.
Melanie Phillips
wrote of the briefing in The Spectator
that IHRC Chair Massoud Shadjareh asked "his followers" and "British Muslims" to provide financial assistance to Hezbollah, and called for the occupation of Israel and "regime change" by Hezbollah on self-defence grounds. Dr. Ilan Pappe supported the IHRC and its briefing in a letter to The Editor of The Spectator:
The IHRC Chair was also reported in this and other right wing press reports, wrapped in a Hezbollah flag at a rally in Trafalgar Square
in 2005. In a press release issued in response, the IHRC denied having advocated terrorism. Shadjareh defended having worn the Hezbollah flag as "neither uncommon nor controversial among human rights activists," and the IHRC asserted that pictures of rabbis with the flag had not been met with a similar response.
Phillips also highlighted that banners were seen at demonstrations saying "We are all Hezbollah now".
In a 2008 essay, "Brixton, Berkley and Other Roads to Radicalisation", Shadjareh explains:
was announced as the "winner" of the "Most Islamophobic International Politician of the Year’", for an interview allegedly given in 1956. The interview's authenticity has never been verified and it is believed by many to be a hoax. The quotation was circulated in the Arabic media, and by several media outlets in the United States, including the Daily Illini
, a student newspaper at the University of Illinois. The student columnist subsequently apologized. In a June 9, 2004 interview on Australian Broadcasting Corporation
's The Religion Report, Stephen Crittenden
challenged Arzu Merali, organizer of the Islamophobia awards, on this issue, pointing out that the IHRC's own website stated that the alleged interview could not be corroborated. Merali replied "Well you know, I can take that further with the people who researched that, but pretty much everything that went out last year was well researched. If you want, I’ll go out and dig up the verification for you. I’m happy to do it." As of 2008 the IHRC website still contained the disclaimer that the alleged interview had not been confirmed.
:
According to investigative journalist Max Blumenthal
, the Stephen Roth Institute methodology for its annual reports is unsound, and hence the reports 'propagandistic'. In its criticisms of IHRC, the Stephen Roth Institute claims that one of its advisors Imam Muhammad al-Asi is an American convert, when in fact he is of Syrian and Lebanese descent.
In a 2008 article published in the Harvard Human Rights Journal, entitled "Even-handedness and the Politics of Human Rights’ (21:1 HHRJ, pp. 7 – 46), Eric Heinze challenges the IHRC's and the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organisations' Network's credibility. Heinze readily accepts that Muslims can legitimately be seen as distinct targets of human rights abuses, but rejects the IHRC's method of generally condemning only non-Muslim perpetrators of abuses against Muslims. States officially identifying as Muslim, such as Iran, Syria, Libya, or Saudi Arabia, receive very little criticism, even for abuses perpetrated against Muslims. Heinze accepts the IHRC's criticism of states, such as Turkey or France, that limit women's rights to wear headscarves, but criticises the IHRC's failure to condemn Muslim-identified states that enforce such dress, or that tolerate more serious abuses, such as female genital mutilation.
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs is part of the United Nations Secretariat and is responsible for the follow-up to the major United Nations Summits and Conferences, as well as services to the United Nations Economic and Social Council and the Second and Third Committees...
.
Funding and philosophy
It has been stated that:The IHRC marries the best of human rights discourse to some of the most liberating
interpretations of Islam to produce a powerful cultural and political challenge to an unjust
order.
According to Stuart Weir, "the staff and voluntary workers of the Islamic Human Rights Commission... put the lie to the common idea that Islam and human rights are irreconcilable."
However opinions are sharply divided over the Islamic Human Rights Commission's philosophy. Pro-Israel and right wing groups lead the criticism of the organisation, whereas others including left-wing and left leaning organisations, activists and thinkers offer positive views. There are notable exceptions to this in both camps.
According to Professor Jytte Klausen
Jytte Klausen
Jytte Klausen is a Danish-born scholar of politics who teaches at Brandeis University in Massachusetts.Klausen is a graduate of the University of Aarhus who earned her doctorate at the New School for Social Research in New York....
, of Brandeis University, the IHRC forms part of the Muslim left in Europe. According to Klausen, the:
...the Muslim left, [is] represented by An-Nisa, the Forum Against Islamophobia and RacismForum Against Islamophobia and RacismThe Forum Against Islamophobia and Racism is a London-based Muslim advocacy group which campaigns against discrimination in the form of Islamophobia or racism. It was established in 2001 as an independent charitable organization with the aim of monitoring media coverage of Islam and Muslims, and...
, and the Islamic Human Rights Commission (and the collective that issues the magazine Q NewsQ NewsQ News was a British Muslim magazine published by Q-News Media Limited. It described itself as "Britain's leading Muslim magazine, providing independent analysis, critique and review of politics, culture and ideas."...
...)
Member of the UK Houses of Parliament, Lord Victor Adebowale states about the organisation:
This multicultural UK needs organisations like the IHRC to defend rights and support the vulnerable. I... congratulate its leadership and supporters on their achievements to date."
Jennifer Loewenstein
Jennifer Loewenstein
Jennifer Loewenstein is the Associate Director of the Middle East Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is politically active in Madison, Wisconsin, and writes as a freelance journalist. Her work has been featured in scholarly publications such as The Journal of Palestine...
, a Jewish activist from the University of Wisconsin also supports the organisation:
Anyone familiar with the IHRC's website, events & activities will realize at once what valuable resources these are for our times. I only wish we could replicate such places across the
cities and towns of the United States and elsewhere outside the Islamic world where knowledge,
understanding and crosscultural communication are in such great need.
According to the now defunct Awaaz, in a report entitled, ‘THE ISLAMIC RIGHT – key tendencies’ IHRC is part of a corpus of right-wing Islamist organisations. "Whilst the overwhelming critique of the report focuses on Wahabbiism (indeed the authors ironically claim to source some of their critique from Hamid Algar, who is in fact an advisor to IHRC), it claims that IHRC is neo-Khomeiniist, and believes in the ‘absolute rule of the clerics’." The organisation responded to deny this charge. Gita Sahgal was part of the Awaaz collective quotes the report in her critique of Muslim civil society in the UK post her departure from Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
after her criticisms of its work with Moazzam Begg
Moazzam Begg
Moazzam Begg , is a British Pakistani Muslim who was held in extrajudicial detention in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility and the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, in Cuba, by the U.S...
and the Muslim led human rights group Cageprisoners
Cageprisoners
Cageprisoners Ltd is a London-based human rights organization with an Islamic focus, whose stated aim is "to raise awareness of the plight of the prisoners at Guantánamo Bay and other detainees held as part of the War on Terror." It campaigns on behalf of Muslim prisoners, including convicted...
led to her suspension and subsequent redundancy from AI.
Awaaz's claims are echoed by conservative journalist Melanie Phillips, described by the BBC as "one of the [U.K.] media's leading right-wing voices" and a "controversial" columnist. She stated in The Spectator
The Spectator
The Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
magazine that IHRC was, "the most conspicuous promoter of Khomeini jihadism in the UK, ... [and] is said to be close to Iran."
Harry's Place
Harry's Place
Harry's Place is a British political blog. It has been nominated for a number of awards, including a Guardian award for political blogs, the 2005 Weblog awards for UK blogs, as well as the UK section of the Islamic Human Rights Commission's 'Annual Islamophobia Awards' 2006; posts on the site have...
is also deeply critical of IHRC, and cites IHRC's criticism of the British government as a sign of its demanding policy changes.
The IHRC opposes the banning of the Islamist Hizb-ut-Tahrir party and feels that the adoption of sharia law is a legitimate religious idea.
Anthony McRoy, in his book published by right leaning think tank Social Affairs Unit
Social Affairs Unit
The Social Affairs Unit is a right-leaning think tank in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1980 as an offshoot of the Institute of Economic Affairs, it publishes books on a variety of social issues...
‘From Rushdie to 7/7: The Radicalisation of Islam in Britain’ approves IHRC's philosophy. He cites IHRC's early warning work on Darfur
, as well as its criticisms of Iran:
"an interesting aspect of IHRC radicalism is that [it] does not restrict criticism of human rights abuses to Western governments... it also condemns ‘militant’ Islamic regimes, such as Sudan for human rights abuses in Darfur... ‘
Further:
"The IHRC even supports calls for Iran to improve its treatment of religious minorities."
The organisation itself claims its philosophy derives from:
Qur'anic injunctions that command believers to rise up in defence of the oppressed.
"And what reason have you that you should not fight in the way of Allah and of the weak among the men and the women and the children, (of) those who say: Our Lord! cause us to go forth from this town, whose people are oppressors, and give us from Thee a guardian and give us from Thee a helper." Qur’an 4:75
Reference points for an 'IHRC philosophy' can be found in the works 'Whose rights are they anyway? - Reaching a critical understanding of human rights-speak in the 21st century', published by the British Council
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
, as well as 'To Liberate or Not to Liberate? Islam, Universalism & Human Rights' presented to the Goethe-Institut
Goethe-Institut
The Goethe-Institut is a non-profit German cultural institution operational worldwide, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and relations. The Goethe-Institut also fosters knowledge about Germany by providing information on German...
in London. A further work, published by the Conflicts Forum by the same authors, sets out the organisation's stall for a shared lingua franca of human rights between the existing human rights community and marginalised and abused communities world-wide.
However Anthony McRoy claims that IHRC has little or no emphasis on ideological issues but is characterised by working on issues and with the grassroots.
Activities
The organisation states it is a campaign, research and advocacy organisation. Its major activities fall within these brackets, with ad hoc and one off projects featuring in the organisation's log of activities.Campaigns
The campaigns section features heavily on the organisation's website. A key facets of the Campaigns work includes the Prisoners of Faith project, which has included campaigns to release various religious figures from imprisonment for their religious beliefs. Among these are Mu'allim Ibrahim ZakzakyIbrahim Zakzaky
Ibrahim Yaqoub El Zakzaky is a syncretic Shia Muslim cleric in Nigeria, and head of Nigeria's Islamic Movement....
released 1998, Gul Aslan released 1999, Nureddin Sirin, released 2004. The organisation also states the following have been released as a result of their campaigning: Mallam Turi, Zeenah Ibrahim from Nigeria; Sheikh Al-Jamri, Bahrain; Huda Kaya, Bekir Yildiz, Recep Tayyep Erdogan, Nurilhak Saatcioglu, Nurcihan Saatioglu,Turkey; Sheikh Ahmed Yassine, Abdul Aziz Rantissi, Rabbi Biton, Sheikh Abdulkareem Obeid, Mustafa Dirani from Israeli detention; Mohammed Mahdi Akef, Egypt; Dr. Muhammad Osman Elamin, Sudan; Cehl Meeah, Mauritius; Abbasi Madani and Ali Behadj, Algeria. Current campaigns for 'Prisoners of Faith' focus on USA detainees and include Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman, his attorney Lynne Stewart, Ghassen Elashi and former Black Panther Imam Jamil Al-Amin, as well as Egyptian detainees including Khairet El-Shater.
Other campaigns work include thematic and country based campaigns e.g. against anti-terror detentions in the UK, resettlement of various African refugees held in detention in Libya, release of detainees in Bahrain, racist policing e.g. brutalisation of immigrant women in France, nikab bans in France, Bosnia, Belgium and Spain, detention of opposition members in Sudan, prosecution of a convert in Sri Lanka for blasphemy.
In November 2007, the IHRC started a campaign for a Saudi Arabian woman who had been gang-raped but found herself convicted to 200 lashes. The campaign was reported world-wide. In December 2007, the rape victim was issued a pardon by the Saudi King.
IHRC has promoted various boycott, divestment and sanctions actions, including a boycott of Israeli dates in the UK. In May 2010, IHRC organised and led a delegation of European Muslim organisations to Turkey to lobby the Turkish government to veto Israel's accession to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Other notable campaigns saw the campaign to have Mat Sah Satray and other ISA
Internal Security Act (Malaysia)
The Internal Security Act 1960 is a preventive detention law in force in Malaysia. The legislation was enacted after Malaysia gained independence from Britain in 1957. The ISA allows for detention without trial or criminal charges under limited, legally defined circumstances...
detainees in Malaysia released in 2009.
In 2006, IHRC began an emergency campaign against the imminent execution of British and Pakistani dual national Mirza Tahir Hussain. Other organisations, including Fair Trials Abroad and Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
, joined the campaign.
After a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
broadcast on July 15, 2004 exposed very strong anti-Islamic opinions within the far-right British National Party
British National Party
The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
, the IHRC has campaigned for the prohibition of that party.
Advocacy
The bulk of IHRC's advocacy work, it claims, is undertaken away from the public glare and involves helping individuals with discrimination cases involving Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism. Some public testimonies and case reports exist highlighting this section of IHRCs work. In 2004 PhD student Yasir Abdelmouttalib was viciously assaulted in a race hate attack and left severely disabled. His mother states:‘Fortunately... I got support from... Islamic Human Rights
Commission (IHRC), the only community group in London with case workers to help Muslim victims of hate crimes like Yasir] and that helped us to pull through’.
On August 3, 2006, the IHRC asked for judicial review of its allegations that the British government assisted with military shipments to Israel, which was eventually denied.
In 2010, IHRC publicly advocated against the introduction of full body scanners at UK ports.
The advocacy section is also involved in trial monitoring, with observer trips to Turkey, Mauritius and Bahrain featuring in this field.
Research
IHRC produces country reports on human rights abuses e.g. Nigeria. It also submits reports to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism at the United NationsUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
. The list of countries it has submitted reports on in the period 2007 - 2010 are: Iraq, China, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, France, Sri Lanka, The Philippines, Tunisia, Morocco, India, Bahrain, United Kingdom.
It also produces thematic reports e.g. on hijab
Hijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
and freedom of religious expression, even submitting some of these to UN committees such as the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
It has also produced several critical works overviewing anti-terrorism laws, particularly in the UK. Its 2006 report 'Anti-terrorism: A Modern day Witch-hunt' by Fahad Ansari was praised by Tony Benn
Tony Benn
Anthony Neil Wedgwood "Tony" Benn, PC is a British Labour Party politician and a former MP and Cabinet Minister.His successful campaign to renounce his hereditary peerage was instrumental in the creation of the Peerage Act 1963...
and Bruce Kent
Bruce Kent
Bruce Kent is a British political activist and a former Roman Catholic priest. Active in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament , he was the organisation's general secretary from 1980 to 1985 and its chair from 1987 to 1990...
. According to Benn:
Scholarly work of this kind helps us by emphasising the importance of Civil Liberties to all communities.
Kent stated it was a:
... most interesting – and shocking – terrorism report... it will do much good.
In 2004, IHRC launched the British Muslims' Expectations of the Government research project. It culminated in six reports on citizenship, discrimination, education, hijab, law and media and representation. The focus on theoretical aspects of citizenship in this project has become a key theme in IHRC research work. According to Professor D. Ray Heisey, the project:
... examined 1125 responses to a questionnaire and the responses from 52 personal interviews of Muslims living in various cities within the UK. They included a range of respondents in age, education, gender, and economic class...
The strength of these studies is in the intercultural approach taken and the comprehensive nature of the investigation in looking at the topics as seen in the literature as well as the results of their extensive array of questions on numerous topics related to their perceptions of the consequences of living in a majority culture. Each volume ends with the views of leading citizens on the given topic and a list of recommendations for the British government to consider at the policy level as a result of the findings.
Other theoretical work includes papers on human rights discourse, as well as Islam and human rights represented in reports, papers presented at seminars, participation in wider research projects e.g. Trust Building in Conflict Transformation with the Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Contemporary Political Violence.
Collaborative work
In 2006, IHRC issued a joint statement signed by various public figures calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Lebanon war, and calling on the British government to be evenhanded. Signatories included Vanessa RedgraveVanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
, various other MPs including David Gottlieb
David Gottlieb
David Gottlieb , a professor of plant pathology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , was a pioneer in the field of fungi physiology and antibiotics for plants....
, Ann Cryer
Ann Cryer
Constance Ann Cryer JP is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Keighley from the 1997 general election up until she stood down at the 2010 general election...
, Clare Short
Clare Short
Clare Short is a British politician, and a member of the Labour Party. She was the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood from 1983 to 2010; for most of this period she was a Labour Party MP, but she resigned the party whip in 2006 and served the remainder of her term as an Independent. She...
, Frank Dobson
Frank Dobson
Frank Gordon Dobson, is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Holborn and St. Pancras since 1979...
, Ian Gibson
Ian Gibson
Ian Gibson may refer to:*Ian Gibson , British artist of comic books*Ian Gibson , historian and hispanist*Ian Gibson , former director of Northern Rock, chairman of Trinity Mirror...
, John Austin
John Austin (politician)
John Eric Austin, formerly known as John Austin-Walker, is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Woolwich from 1992 to 1997 and for Erith and Thamesmead from 1997 to 2010.-Early life:...
and Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Islington North since 1983.-Early and personal life:...
, as well as various Islamic, Christian and Jewish groups and individuals including Muslim Council of Britain
Muslim Council of Britain
The Muslim Council of Britain is a self-appointed umbrella body for national, regional, local and specialist organisations and institutions from different ethnic and sectarian backgrounds within British Islamic society. It was established in 1997 to help Muslims, to increase education about the...
, Jews against Zionism, Rev Fr. Frank Gelli, Rev Steven Sizer, Roland Rance, and Lord Nazir Ahmed. This statement and IHRC's research work and participation in protest events during the war attracted controversy in the right-wing press (see Controversy and Criticism below).
The IHRC has on a number of occasions organised joint statements with various Islamic groups about British terror legislation, and has collaborated with prominent civil liberties lawyers Gareth Peirce
Gareth Peirce
Gareth Peirce is an English solicitor, educated at the Cheltenham Ladies' College, the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics. She is known for her work in high profile cases representing people with Irish and Muslim backgrounds accused of terrorism.-Personal life:Born with the...
and Louise Christian
Louise Christian
Louise Christian is an award-winning British human rights lawyer.She is a frequent contributor to The Guardian.She is the author or co-author of several books.She is the daughter of Jack and Maureen Christian....
.
Annual Islamophobia Awards
The Annual Islamophobia Awards were awards given annually from 2003 to 2006 by the Islamic Human Rights Commission to politicians and journalists whom the Commission judged to have expressed the most Islamophobic opinions in the course of the past year. An overal award is given to the 'Islamophobe of the Year'In 2006 the Islamophobe of the year award was given to Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...
.
The tongue in cheek event was reported on Channel 4 News at its inception.
Al-Quds Day, UK
The commission organizes the annual Al-Quds Day demonstration in London, initiated by Ayatollah Khomeini.Against Zionism: Jewish Perpsectives
In 2006, the organisation brough to together leading Jewish activists in London, for an international conference. The papers from the conference were published in English and Turkish. Speakers at the conference included Michel Warschawski, Uri DavisUri Davis
Uriel "Uri" Davis is an academic and activist who works on civil rights in Israel, Palestinian National Authority and the Middle East. Davis has served as Vice-Chairman of the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights and as lecturer in Peace Studies at the University of Bradford...
, Rabbi Yisroel Weiss, Rabbi Ahron Cohen, Roland Rance, Les Levidow, Jeffrey Blankfort, Professor Yakov Rabkin, and John Rose
John Rose (UK politician)
John Rose is a British Trotskyist politician and a leading member of the Socialist Workers Party. He is of Jewish descent and best known as a speaker on Israel and Palestine and as a critic of Zionism...
.
Towards a New Liberation Theology: Reflections on Palestine
In 2005, the IHRC brought Christian, Muslim and Jewish scholars, clerics and activsts together for an international conference discussing Liberation TheologyLiberation theology
Liberation theology is a Christian movement in political theology which interprets the teachings of Jesus Christ in terms of a liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions...
in the context of Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
. The papers were published as a book of the same name in 2009.
Genocide Memorial Day
In 2010, IHRC inaugurated an annual event commemorating genocides from modern history. The event, held in London in January included a Holocaust survivor speaking about his experiences during the period and his support for the Palestinian struggle. Other genocides that were commeorated, included the little known massacre of 10 million Indians by the British in the decade after the Indian Mutiny in 19th Century; the transatlantic slave trade; Srebrenica and the genocide of Native Americans. Speakers at the event included Imam Achmad Cassiem, Lee JasperLee Jasper
Lee Jasper is a British Black activist and former Senior Policy Advisor on Equalities to the Mayor of London. He resigned on 4 March 2008 following publication by the Evening Standard of personal emails that were illegally acquired....
, Randeep Ramesh, Rabbi Beck, Rabbi Ahron Cohen, Sameh Habeeb. Messages were also sent from Ward Churchill
Ward Churchill
Ward LeRoy Churchill is an author and political activist. He was a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder from 1990 to 2007. The primary focus of his work is on the historical treatment of political dissenters and Native Americans by the United States government...
and Hasan Nuhanovic
Hasan Nuhanović
Hasan Nuhanović is a Bosniak survivor of the Srebrenica genocide who campaigns "For truth and justice" on behalf of other survivors and relatives of the victims. Hasan, the former U.N. interpreter for Dutch peacekeepers who were stationed in Srebrenica in 1995, at the end of the Bosnian war, has...
.
Human Rights and Israel at 60
In 2008, IHRC organised the international conference 'Human Rights and Israel at 60'. Speakers included: Michael Warschawski (Alternative Information Center); Yehudit Keshet (Checkpoint Watch); Daud Abdullah (Palestinian Return Centre); Jennifer Loewenstein (University of Wisconsin); Michael Bailey (Oxfam); Meir Margalit (Israeli committee against House Demolitions.Question of Justice
In 2007, the IHRC produced a television discussion show entitled Question of Justice. Some of the shows can be found on their website.33 Day War
During the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict
The 2006 Lebanon War, also called the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War and known in Lebanon as the July War #Other uses|Tammūz]]) and in Israel as the Second Lebanon War , was a 34-day military conflict in Lebanon, northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories. The principal parties were Hezbollah...
, IHRC undertook various actions in opposition to the war and called on the British government to be evenhanded in its treatment of the parties. It issued a briefing entitled The Blame Game: International Law and the Current Crisis in the Middle East.
Melanie Phillips
Melanie Phillips
Melanie Phillips is a British journalist and author. She began her career on the left of the political spectrum, writing for such publications as The Guardian and New Statesman. In the 1990s she moved to the right, and she now writes for the Daily Mail newspaper, covering political and social...
wrote of the briefing in The Spectator
The Spectator
The Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
that IHRC Chair Massoud Shadjareh asked "his followers" and "British Muslims" to provide financial assistance to Hezbollah, and called for the occupation of Israel and "regime change" by Hezbollah on self-defence grounds. Dr. Ilan Pappe supported the IHRC and its briefing in a letter to The Editor of The Spectator:
The same legacy and concern has led Jews like myself around the world to stand alongside Muslim victims wherever they were, even when the victimizers were Jews and Israelis. This is how I came to know the IHRC. I read the same documents Philips mentions before I decided to be part of the campaign in Britain for human rights for everyone regardless of their race, religion or nationality.
As this is a letter and not an article I do have the space to refute all the vicious and unfounded accusations made by Philips. Let me refer only to the direct reference in the article to the IHRC's legal briefing. This briefing is a succinct and accurate description of the war crimes Israel commits in the occupied territories. Similar descriptions and analysis one can find in the annual reports of Amnesty international and the Israeli human rights societies reports.
The IHRC Chair was also reported in this and other right wing press reports, wrapped in a Hezbollah flag at a rally in Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...
in 2005. In a press release issued in response, the IHRC denied having advocated terrorism. Shadjareh defended having worn the Hezbollah flag as "neither uncommon nor controversial among human rights activists," and the IHRC asserted that pictures of rabbis with the flag had not been met with a similar response.
Phillips also highlighted that banners were seen at demonstrations saying "We are all Hezbollah now".
In a 2008 essay, "Brixton, Berkley and Other Roads to Radicalisation", Shadjareh explains:
The primary slaughter was of a people of another nation, and for that reason, back in ’68, "We were all Ho Chi Minh", and for the same reason in 2006, aside from any other affiliations the authors may have, we authorised IHRC to add its name to the posters of dead and injured Lebanese children during the 33 day war, because then and now, "We are All Hizbullah." The Spectator and various parts of the right wing press declared that this was a sign that an Iranian backed spate of terror attacks on the UK were imminent, citing in particular the posters and IHRC. They failed to note that Hizbullah flags at said demonstrations were sported by many including orthodox Rabbis, and the now infamous banners held by amongst others middle class English women appalled at the slaughter.
Apology from The Sunday Times
On December 2, 2007, in the Sunday Times, Shiraz Maher wrote an article entitled, 'A failure to confront radical Islam'. The article claimed that IHRC Chair Massoud Shadjareh, whilst appearing on the Today programme, made moral equivalents between Muslims in Guantanamo Bay and the fate of Gillian Gibbons in Sudan. The Sunday Times subsequently issued a correction, which held that this and other suggestions that Shadjareh had condoned the Sudanese government's actions were "totally untrue", and that he had in fact "condemned outright" Mrs Gibbons' treatment by the Sudanese government. Shadjareh brought a libel complaint against The Sunday Times which he won. The newspaper published an apology and agreed to pay Shadjareh substantial damages.Award to Ariel Sharon for "interview"
During the 2003 Annual Islamophobia Awards, Ariel SharonAriel Sharon
Ariel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....
was announced as the "winner" of the "Most Islamophobic International Politician of the Year’", for an interview allegedly given in 1956. The interview's authenticity has never been verified and it is believed by many to be a hoax. The quotation was circulated in the Arabic media, and by several media outlets in the United States, including the Daily Illini
Daily Illini
The Daily Illini, commonly known as the DI, is an independent, student-run newspaper that has been published for the community of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign since 1871...
, a student newspaper at the University of Illinois. The student columnist subsequently apologized. In a June 9, 2004 interview on Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
's The Religion Report, Stephen Crittenden
Stephen Crittenden
Stephen Crittenden is one of Australia's leading religion journalists and a broadcaster for ABC Radio National.-Early career:Crittenden began his radio career as a schoolboy, broadcasting with Sydney's classical FM community radio station 2MBS-FM...
challenged Arzu Merali, organizer of the Islamophobia awards, on this issue, pointing out that the IHRC's own website stated that the alleged interview could not be corroborated. Merali replied "Well you know, I can take that further with the people who researched that, but pretty much everything that went out last year was well researched. If you want, I’ll go out and dig up the verification for you. I’m happy to do it." As of 2008 the IHRC website still contained the disclaimer that the alleged interview had not been confirmed.
Other criticism
According to the Stephen Roth InstituteStephen Roth Institute
The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism is a research institute at Tel Aviv University in Israel. It is a resource for information, provides a forum for academic discussion, and fosters research on issues concerning antisemitic and racist theories and...
:
The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) is a radical Islamist organization that uses the language and techniques of a human rights lobbying group to promote an extremist agenda. Formed in 1997 by its current chairman, Massoud Shadjareh, the IHRC supports jihad groups around the world, campaigns for the release of convicted terrorists and promotes the notion of a western conspiracy against Islam.
Shadjareh and the IHRC subscribe to the radical Islamist belief that Jewish conspiracies are afoot to undermine Muslims, and they liken Jews and Israelis to Nazis. Members of the IHRC's board of advisors have even called on Muslims to kill Jews. They include the Saudi Islamist Muhammad al-Mas‘ari and Muhammad al-‘Asi, an American convert to Islam who was banned from preaching at his mosque in Washington, D.C., and has been a frequent visitor to Britain.
According to investigative journalist Max Blumenthal
Max Blumenthal
Max Blumenthal is an American author, journalist, and blogger. A senior writer for The Daily Beast, he is the author of the New York Times bestselling book Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party....
, the Stephen Roth Institute methodology for its annual reports is unsound, and hence the reports 'propagandistic'. In its criticisms of IHRC, the Stephen Roth Institute claims that one of its advisors Imam Muhammad al-Asi is an American convert, when in fact he is of Syrian and Lebanese descent.
In a 2008 article published in the Harvard Human Rights Journal, entitled "Even-handedness and the Politics of Human Rights’ (21:1 HHRJ, pp. 7 – 46), Eric Heinze challenges the IHRC's and the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organisations' Network's credibility. Heinze readily accepts that Muslims can legitimately be seen as distinct targets of human rights abuses, but rejects the IHRC's method of generally condemning only non-Muslim perpetrators of abuses against Muslims. States officially identifying as Muslim, such as Iran, Syria, Libya, or Saudi Arabia, receive very little criticism, even for abuses perpetrated against Muslims. Heinze accepts the IHRC's criticism of states, such as Turkey or France, that limit women's rights to wear headscarves, but criticises the IHRC's failure to condemn Muslim-identified states that enforce such dress, or that tolerate more serious abuses, such as female genital mutilation.