Since its inception, the Prevent duty has been widely condemned by a wide range of civil liberties groups and UN human rights experts, for inflaming social tensions, targeting the Muslim community as a security risk, and failing to achieve the objectives for which it was launched over 25 years ago. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the Shawcross Independent Review was condemned and boycotted by hundreds of Muslim organisations across the country.
The evidence is clear; the policy seeks to undermine Muslim civil society space as well as undermine their rights and freedoms. The proposed recommendations, readily accepted by the Home Secretary, seek to strengthen the policy and expand its powers despite the price of which continues to be disproportionately paid by British Muslims.
It is therefore in this context, that no one is surprised that Shawcross chose to target Finsbury Park Mosque and its officials, particularly considering that during his tenure as head of the Charity Commission for England and Wales, Shawcross was accused of institutional bias against Muslims due to his overriding and unjustified assumption of extremism from the word go.
Finsbury Park Mosque has played a central role in establishing harmony, positive relationships, and prosperous networks throughout the local and wider communities. Under Blair’s government, the local community worked closely with the authorities who appointed the new trusteeship which then worked tirelessly to return the mosque from the poisonous clutches of an extremist few who had poisoned the entire area over many years. The new trustee team under the leadership of Mohammed Kozbar, played an instrumental role in the mosque’s revival, and becoming a beacon of communal relationships and an example to be proud of and emulated by all faith centres and places of worship.
This can be attested by the mosque’s countless awards pertaining to its community work, outreach, cohesion, diversity, and inclusion over the past 17 years.