Harry's Place continues its vicious witch-hunt against Mehdi Hasan - a senior editor at the New Statesman and a former commissioning editor at Channel 4 - in what appears to be a determined campaign to get him sacked. James Macintyre - a colleague of Mehdi's at the NS - has staunchly defended him in a comment he posted on the Harry's Place website which we reproduce in full below:

I have known Mehdi Hasan for seven years. In that time I have been honoured to know an actively moderate Muslim; easily the most moderate Muslim I have met and among the most religious people I know, and that catagory includes senior members of the Anglican communion to which I belong.

Mehdi Hasan does indeed have a double life: and it is the exact opposite to what your libelous bile presents. At the same time as being dismissed on neo-con sites like this as an “extremist” or fan of bin Laden, he in fact lectures his own community of London Shias of the need to integrate and be fully British. He does this on a weekly or monthly basis.

Only a few months ago Tony McNulty MP - not known for his pro-extremist stances - praised Mehdi Hasan at a public meeting in the House of Commons. He said he was previously unaware that this kind of speaking - in which Muslims were told by a Muslim to inegrate and be British - took place within the community.

This clip which you have seedily honed in on merely shows him sticking up for religion in the way that your heroes Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins denounce it and passionately defend atheism. As a Christian believer myself, I agree with Mehdi Hasan in his comments you seek to sensationalize - tell me then Harry’s Place, does that make me one of your targets, or are your dangerous smears purely based on race?

You have disgraced yourself, and it would be amusing were it not a calculated attempt to damage a man’s reputation. I have never known a more open-minded person who speaks publicly on religion. Many a time have I heard Mehdi Hasan angrily denounce anti-semitism, racism, prejudice of any kind.

If you seriously intend to run this series, by a doubtless fake “Channel 4 insider” - what have you got to hide, C4 Insider? Surely this is a great story if you are on safe ground? - then you had better be prepared for the consequences. Legalities aside, you threaten to shame your web site once and for all.

I feel like I am posting on the BNP site, and it is on that level that you will place yourselves with this pathetic smear, based purely on the fact that Mehdi got the better of your contributors last week. If you are going to go after him, go after me too - as I agree with almost everything he says about the world’s religions.

Mehdi Hasan is a friend, a colleague, and someone who deserves the utmost praise for his amazing role as an educator and moderator of those in his own faith.

It’s time for you to decide: are you going to be a serious blogsite, or are you going to place yourselves in the same catagory as bnp.org.uk?

Think about it.

ENGAGE has previously written in detail about the pro-Israeli website Harry's Place, the personalities behind it and the smear tactics they use to try and discredit those Muslims who are vocal and politically engaged. The only Muslims that it seems Harry's Place approves of are the stooge Uncle Tom types like Ed Husain and Shiraz Maher. You may recall that at the height of the savage Israeli bombing campaign against Gaza earlier this year which killed over 1400 Palestinians, Shiraz Maher wrote a comment piece for the Daily Telegraph entitled 'British Muslims should condemn Hamas, not Israel'.

You can understand why Shiraz Maher is so loved at Harry's Place.

We hope James Macintyre's response will also encourage others to speak out against the disgraceful and frankly McCarthyite tactics of the cowards behind Harry's Place.

Hat-tip: Islamophobia Watch

Comments

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Illuminati  - Harry's Place - bigots and Islamophobes   |2009-07-25 17:49:45 What a vile anti Muslim cesspit Harry's Place is. It seems to be wholly inhabited by zionists and racists. As you say though, it is good that Macintyre has spoken out against this. Hope others follow.

Arjum  - did he really say this?   |2009-07-26 05:48:21 The kaffar, the disbelievers, the atheists who remain deaf and stubborn to the teachings of Islam, the rational message of the Quran; they are described in the Quran as, quote, “a people of no intelligence”, Allah describes them as; not of no morality, not as people of no belief - people of “no intelligence” - because they’re incapable of the intellectual effort it requires to shake off those blind prejudices, to shake off those easy assumptions about this world, about the existence of God. In this respect, the Quran describes the atheists as “cattle”, as cattle of those who grow the crops and do not stop and wonder about this world.” Aren't you embarrassed to support this kind of talk?

Haqiqah  - Free speech!   |2009-07-26 09:28:58 Arjum - so what if mehdi did say that? Atheists like Richard Dawkins openly mock people who believe in God as having a deficient oxygen supply to the brain. The Quran does doecribe disbelievers as being like cattle. They eat, shit, eat and shit. They do not recognise the signs of God all around them. And what happened to free speech? Is it only for those who support Israel?

Tom Thumb  - Hold on - listen to the actual speech   |2009-07-26 11:00:34 Mehdi's speech is actually very good and is an appeal to muslims in the UK to integrate and excel in education and become Nobel prize winners ie a model and upright community. The Harry's Place people clearly have an agenda and that is to twist Mehdi's words to try and embarrass him and ruin his career.

Haroon  - Martin Bright unloads on Mehdi too   |2009-07-27 08:58:38 Martin Bright, the Islamophobe that Mehdi Hasan replaced at the New Statesman, has also joined the fray and has written this on his blog over at the Spectator. How it must hurt the bigoted Bright that he was replaced at the NS by a Muslim. http://www.spectator.co.uk/martinbright/5220486/what-am-i-supposed-to-say-about-this.thtml

Haroon  - Mehdi to respond to Harry's Place bigots   |2009-07-27 15:34:52 http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/dissident-voice/2009/07/mehdi-hasan-career-life-news

tobias  - Harry's Place = Bigotry Place   |2009-07-27 20:25:16 I hope Mehdi sues them. David Toube gets very touchy if you mention libel on the blog. Some people, including myself, are now finding that our posts are now "moderated". Two of my replies to "Brett" have been removed. HP aren't sticking to their mantra of: "Liberty, if it means anything, is the right to tell people what they don't want to hear". I guess it's one rule for those they agree with and another for the rest. I'm not really surprised. For me, they are nothing but neo-con, zionist bigots masquerading as champions of liberal democracy and freedom.

fred  - David Toube   |2009-08-02 00:55:29 Well there should be a campaign to have Toube kicked out of his job as a city lawyer, bringing disripute to the law firm. Anyone...

Charlotte   |2011-02-20 13:46:14 Haqiqah, I am an atheist, but NOT like Richard Dawkins. His sort of rhetoric is a bit mad and usually confined to fundamentalist Christians/Muslims. I don't think this is acceptable from atheists either. I find it offensive and I wish he wouldn't weaken his position like this, but I accept that religious people get worked up about this sometimes.

Mohammed   |2011-04-02 18:21:27 Perhaps I'm missing something but the YouTube clip I've just watched of Mr Hasan shows him equating non-Muslims with "animals" in a manner that is not only deeply offensive but reminiscent of Nazi polemic. I couldn't care how many other good things he has allegedly done, it's deeply offensive and I'm amazed that he is still being employed by the New Statesman. Were Mr Hasan a politician he undoubtedly would have been forced to resign

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