Head of UK’s Islam Channel arrested in Johannesburg on terrorism charges

03 February 2010

Mohamed Ali Harrath, the head of ‘Islam Channel’, the most-viewed Muslim TV channel in the UK, was temporarily arrested in Johannesburg, South Africa on charges of terrorism. Harrath has been wanted by Interpol and could now face deportation to Tunisia. However, he was released from jail after two days because of doubts about the validity of the arrest warrant against him. Tunisia has reportedly given Interpol false information when it claimed that Harrath had been involved in terrorism, forgery and the handling of illegal weapons.

Well-known in Britain because of the Islam Channel, Harrath has reportedly advised police in the UK on Islamic extremism. After being released, he told the ‘South Africa Press Association’: “There’s just a feeling that injustice has been done. This was an issue from 20 years ago, a political matter that happened back in Tunisia. I was fighting for justice and I am proud of what I did.”

Harrath’s supporters attributed his arrest to a security clampdown in the run-up to the 2010 soccer World Cup in South Africa.

Harrath helped found the Tunisian Islamic Front (TIF), which opposed the existing government structures of the time. Tunisia however, claimed the TIF of seeking to establish a Muslim fundamentalist state by violent means. Harrath insists TIF was a non-violent party.

He later fled to Britain where he received refugee status despite the Interpol warrant, and set up the Islam Channel, which can be seen in 132 countries world-wide

In the past, Harrath made controversial statements about Jews. On the ‘Islam Online’ website, for example, he wrote: “I blame Zionists to be the enemies of Islam and Muslims because they always opt for supporting wars.”

 

 

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