Mohammed Sawalha: a maligned and vindicated British-Palestinian citizen

By Dr. Robert Lambert

In recent months landmark settlements in civil litigation in Britain’s High Court have vindicated Mohammed Sawalha, one of London’s most industrious and effective voluntary workers. Known to his friends and colleagues as an indefatigable campaigner for social justice and democratic politics he has, in sections of the media, been subjected simultaneously to a smear campaign intended to undermine his reputation. Having ignored this ill-conceived and seemingly co-ordinated denigration patiently for over a decade he finally resorted to libel action to clear his name.

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As one of numerous Londoners who have enjoyed working with Mohammed Sawalha for many years I am delighted to report that his litigation has been successful. Following hard on the heels of litigation successes against Jonathan Pollard and the Spectator and against Policy Exchange as a trustee, respectively, of Islam Expo and the North London Central Mosque, he has now secured vindication in his own right as an individual litigant against Melanie Phillips and the Spectator.¹  

On 2 July 2008, the Spectator published an article by Phillips headed “Just Look What Came Crawling Out”, in which she claimed that Mohammad Sawalha had referred to Jews in Britain as “evil/noxious”. Over two years later and after much prevarication the Spectator and its star columnist have agreed to apologise and to pay substantial damages and costs.²  Describing himself as Phillips’ friend, Independent columnist Stephen Glover failed to admonish her for denigrating Sawalha and instead simply urges her editor to pay necessary “legal attention” to this kind of liability in the future.³  “Small and relatively impecunious publications are,” he cautions, “especially vulnerable to all sorts of litigants.” He did not reflect on the specific issues in the case.⁴

Instead of Glover’s inadequate advice I would urge the current editor of the Spectator and his peers elsewhere to re-consider the authenticity of the malignant material that is recycled endlessly by neo-conservative think-tanks about Sawalha and other Palestinian exiles. Veracity, it seems, is based on the repetition of unsubstantiated allegations. At best, this is negligence of a kind known in counter-terrorism circles as “circular reporting”. At worst, it is the product of a systematic campaign that relies on the eagerness and gullibility of journalists to rely on “off the record” briefings by so-called security experts in the US, Britain and Israel.

It would take far more than this short article to put the record straight in respect of Mohammed Sawalha, but it is worth the effort, not least because a full and accurate picture of his real work – and the work of other British-Palestinian Londoners   has been obscured by a mountain of malicious journalism for over a decade.

Mohammed Sawalha is the director of the British Muslim Initiative, a trustee of both Islam Expo and the North London Central Mosque, and one of a number of prominent Palestinian Londoners who have made significant contributions to the safety, cohesion and well-being of our capital city over the past twenty years. Like a number of his Palestinian friends and colleagues he has been at the forefront of proactive local community engagement work that has helped police, local councils and volunteers tackle violent extremism, crime and anti-social behaviour. At a time when the coalition government is looking for positive role models in effective grass roots voluntary community work they would do well to promote Sawalha and his colleagues as exemplary and effective citizens in London.

Sawalha is perhaps most well known in Muslim and left-wing circles for his partnership role in organising and galvanising the anti-war movement in Britain. While his role as a protest leader is most famously evoked in London’s biggest-ever demonstration on the eve of the invasion of Iraq in February 2003, it has continued ever since, albeit less remarked; most recently this was in respect of a London demonstration on Saturday, 20 November   Time to Go: Troops Out of Afghanistan organised jointly with CND and the Stop the War coalition.⁵

The wider significance of Sawalha’s role as a protest organiser can be better understood by recalling violent extremist Abu Hamza al-Mazri’s angry response to Sawalha’s partnership work with local Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn in encouraging angry and alienated young Muslims to voice their objections to Britain’s foreign policy through the democratic process. For Abu Hamza this was “haram”⁶ and hugely detrimental to his own objective to foster and facilitate the same young Muslims’ participation in violent extremism, political violence and terrorism. So far as Abu Hamza and his ilk are concerned, Sawalha’s commitment to democratic politics and partnership with secular political organisations is anathema.

This extremist position was most graphically illustrated in 2004 when Abu Hamza’s supporters reacted violently to local MP Jeremy Corbyn’s presence inside the North London Central Mosque in Finsbury Park. Fortunately, Corbyn was rescued by young Muslims who regarded him as a champion of their cause because of his partnership with Mohammed Sawalha and colleagues in the anti-war movement. In this way, as partners, Sawalha and Corbyn have been successful in encouraging many hitherto alienated and angry young Muslims to embrace local and national democratic politics. That has been a notable achievement, not least because extremists like Abu Hamza have sought to persuade the same youth that Sawalha is a “sell out” and, for Muslims, UK politics is off-limits.

This in turn leads to an appreciation of Mohammed Sawalha’s role in successfully tackling violent extremism at that particular mosque around the corner from Finsbury Park rail and underground station. Earlier this year, he joined the then Labour Minister of Transport Sadiq Khan MP, Jeremy Corbyn, police officers, councillors, council officials and faith and community leaders to mark the fifth anniversary of the transformation of the North London Central Mosque from control by extremists to inclusive and responsible local management.⁷ It was a gathering of diverse partners who had invested trust in each other to achieve real and enduring benefits for their local community.  

Mohammed Sawalha played a pivotal role in this local partnership success, in particular by defeating and demoralising Abu Hamza and his violent henchmen. Recognised locally for his courage and patient negotiating skills, Sawalha’s national and international reputation has been hit by a systematic media campaign to portray him as anti-Semitic and as a terrorist.

In February 2005, on one of the proudest days in his illustrious career, police chief Barry Norman was confronted by a Sunday Times journalist who questioned his wisdom in working in partnership with Sawalha who, the journalist said, was a former commander of Hamas.⁸ Norman shrugged off the implied criticism. If he worried about everyone’s alleged antecedents, he replied, he would never leave his office at Islington police station and get on with the real work of keeping London safe.⁹

Chief Superintendent Norman’s pragmatism was especially crucial at the time of the interview because he and Sawalha had both seen the reopening of North London Central Mosque earlier in the day under new management. This move reduced the serious threat of al-Qaeda inspired terrorism and violent extremism posed by Abu Hamza al-Mazri and his hardcore supporters. After a disastrously long period under the de facto control of Abu Hamza the mosque was back in safe hands.

Five years later, at the anniversary event, the now retired Barry Norman commented on the dramatic change in the atmosphere on approaching the mosque. He recalled how after nightfall during Abu Hamza’s control, the mosque and surrounding streets were often dangerous places for individuals who were not part of Abu Hamza’s circle. Now, he noted, an atmosphere of calmness and order prevailed.

Change was even more evident inside the mosque. Sanitation, order, comfort and cleanliness had been restored. The discourtesy, intimidation and disorder that characterised Abu Hamza’s tenure had been replaced by a welcoming and orderly regime which restored the mosque to its original purpose and prestige. Most significantly, the first floor office in which Abu Hamza directed his criminal operations was now used by Mohammed Kosbar, the mosque secretary, to organise activities for local Muslim youth that helped them become active and responsible citizens instead of becoming terrorists, violent extremists and criminals. The office no longer housed the collected master tapes of Abu Hamza’s inflammatory talks for which he was convicted of incitement to murder; instead, it contained leaflets introducing young Muslims to their civic duties and responsibilities as Londoners.

On the main mosque notice board local Muslims who had problems to resolve were encouraged to attend a regular surgery held inside the mosque by their local MP, who is still Jeremy Corbyn. This was highly significant. As far as Abu Hamza had been concerned the greatest threat to his legitimacy and effectiveness came from the progressive alliance between his Muslim neighbours including Mohammed Sawalha at the nearby Muslim Welfare House and politicians including Jeremy Corbyn. Abu Hamza was right to be worried. He had identified correctly and anticipated the key players who would reclaim the mosque and replace his dangerous influence with one that was wholly benign and conducive to good British citizenship.

Like Barry Norman I am also now a retired police officer, and like him I was pleased to take part in the fifth anniversary celebration of a unique community–based partnership that finally restored the mosque to its rightful position in the local community. The experience, skill and vision of Sawalha and his fellow trustees and their new management team provided the sound foundation on which this unheralded five year success has been built. Most significantly, perhaps, the new trustees’ experience in the anti-war movement and in Palestinian solidarity campaigns ensured that the genuine political grievances Abu Hamza and his hardcore supporters exploited for the purpose of al-Qaida inspired violent extremism were now channelled into mainstream politics.

However, in newspapers and on websites more prominence was given to a contrary account, in which the five-year success story at Finsbury Park Mosque was described as appeasement in which power was transferred from one group of extremists to another, “effectively a Hamas takeover of a British Mosque”.¹⁰

Typically, Blairite MP Khalid Mahmood   only ever a token mosque trustee who obstructed efforts to remove Abu Hamza and his supporters prior to February 2005 – renewed his reputation for divisiveness in 2010 when he sided with the mosque’s powerful critics.¹¹ Given its role in publishing pejorative and negative accounts of events at the mosque it was fitting that the Times should claim erroneously that Mahmood had been brought in to “reclaim the mosque for moderate Muslims” in a “deal backed by David Blunkett, then Home Secretary, and Tony Blair”.¹² Even if the claim had been accurate, it would reflect badly on an MP who   unlike Sawalha and Mahmood’s fellow Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn   took no action to tackle the adverse influence of Abu Hamza.

Instead, the claim reflects a readiness on the part of the Times to diminish the outstanding work of the new mosque trustees and management. It was therefore consistent for the Times to present a pejorative view of the mosque trustees’ libel claim against the think-tank Policy Exchange whose research director Dean Godson had launched an attack against the mosque trustees and their partnership with police in the Times in 2006.¹³

In reality, not only does Mohammed Sawalha enjoy good working relations with Jewish Londoners he has also worked in partnership with Londoners from all faiths and no faith, and all communities. This is important to place on record because it is often asserted by his detractors that he represents a Muslim ideology that is as hate-filled as that of the British National Party. The allegation is so far from the truth as to prompt serious reflection on the motives of the campaign being waged against him.

Jonathan Githens-Mazer and I begin that reflection in our forthcoming report Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hate crime: a UK case study (published 27 November).¹⁴  Suffice to say that Sawalha is just one victim amongst many in what has become black propaganda undertaken by a neo-conservative elite convinced that it is fighting a necessary counter-subversion campaign against political Islam. In contrast, on the basis of our research, Mohammed Sawalha is one of several prominent Palestinian Londoners who have the credibility, skill and vision necessary to repeat their successful London partnership role by helping to resolve the bitter dispute between Israel and Palestine if ever the US, British and European governments summon the courage to embark on meaningful conflict resolution in the Middle East.

I should, however, conclude on a sombre and urgent note much closer to home. According to counter-terrorism experts in Britain, most recently West Midlands Counter-Terrorism Police, the risk of young alienated British Muslims being recruited or inspired into the service of al-Qaida terrorism remains serious and has the potential to increase as part of an adverse reaction to the activities of the English Defence League.¹⁵ This signals more opportunities for Mohammed Sawalha and his colleagues to counter the work of al-Qaeda propagandists who seek to exploit the anti-Muslim sentiment of the EDL and BNP and the violence that accompanies it. At the heart of their successful track record in doing so is their ability to encourage the same young Muslims to become active political citizens – locally and nationally   and not violent extremists.

Moreover, according to our research, the EDL and the British National Party merely recycle the conflation between politically active Muslims like Sawalha and fringe Muslim extremists that they read about in the media. Having examined the record of violent attacks against the North London Central Mosque and the hate mail it receives it strikes me that Sawalha and his colleagues are best located on that elusive middle ground facing threats of violence from two opposing extremes that each accuse him of being in league with the other. In respect of both such violent threats, Mohammed Sawalha has demonstrated that he has the skill, bravery and resilience required to tackle and defeat them.

Dr Robert Lambert is the Co-Director, European Muslim Research Centre, University of Exeter and Lecturer at the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, University of St Andrews. Prior to embarking on an academic career in 2007, the then Inspector Lambert was head of the Muslim Contact Unit in the Metropolitan Police Service.

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¹http://www.bminitiative.net/
²Spectator link
³http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/opinion/stephen-glover/stephen-glover-cameron-should-be-glad-the-sun-shone-on-him-2134152.html
⁴Ibid.
⁵http://www.bminitiative.net/ 
⁶Forbidden, in Arabic
⁷http://nlcentralmosque.com/images/press_release/Press_release150220.pdf
⁸http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article513868.ece 
⁹http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article513868.ece
¹⁰‘Lucy Lips’, 2010. Labour Minister celebrates with Daud Abdullah at Hamas Mosque. 15 March. Harry’s Place blog. http://hurryupharry.org/2010/03/15/labour-minister-celebrates-with-daud-abdullah-at-hamas-mosque/ accessed 20.4.10.
¹¹Leppard, David, 2010. MP quits radical mosque over forgery. Times online. 28 April. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7078865.ece accessed 12.5.10.
¹²Ibid.
¹³Godson, Dean, 2006a. Already Hooked on Poison. The Times. 8  February. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1072-2029734,00.html accessed 2.8.08.
¹⁴http://centres.exeter.ac.uk/emrc/
¹⁵http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11787839

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.