'Bradford is very inbred': Muslim outrage as professor warns first-cousin marriages increase risk of birth defects

inbreeding among British Muslims is threatening the health of their children, a  leading geneticist warned yesterday.

Professor Steve Jones, from University College London, said the common practice in Islamic communities for cousins to marry each other increased the risk of birth defects.

‘There may be some evidence that cousins marrying one another can be harmful,’ he  told an audience at the Hay Festival.

‘We should be concerned about that as there can be a lot of hidden genetic damage. Children are much more likely to get two copies of a damaged gene.

‘Bradford is very inbred. There is a huge amount of cousins marrying each other there.’

Studies have shown that  55 per cent of British Pakistanis are married to first cousins – and in Bradford, this  rises to 75 per cent.

other research has found that children of first cousins are ten times more likely  to have recessive genetic  disorders and face deafness, blindness and infant mortality.

But Prof Jones’s comments provoked anger among some Muslim groups yesterday.

‘Obviously, we don’t want any children to be born disabled who don’t need to be born disabled, so I would advise genetic screening before first cousins marry.

Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, which promotes the image of Muslims in Britain, said: ‘I know many Muslims who have married their cousins and none of them have had a problem with their children.

'But I find Steve Jones’s comments unworthy of a professor. Using language like “inbreeding” to describe cousins marrying is completely inappropriate and further demonises Muslims.’

Concern about the risks to children from first-cousin marriage has been described as the last great taboo.

Former environment minister Phil Woolas was rebuked by Downing Street in 2008 for saying British Pakistanis are fuelling rates of birth defects by marrying their cousins, with the spokesman for then prime minister Gordon Brown saying the issue was not one for ministers to comment on.

Mohammed Saleem Khan, chief executive of the Bradford Council for Mosques, said: ‘It is important to discuss these issues, but I just do not know of any firm evidence backing up Professor Jones’s claims. I think we need more conclusive studies so we can know for certain if there is any genuine risk.

‘Marriages between cousins is certainly common within south Asia, but it is becoming less so in Britain and also in Bradford. Islam allows you to marry anyone you want, so in many ways Islam promotes diversity.’

In his talk, Prof Jones said inbreeding was not confined to Muslims, and historically had occurred in every part of society, including the royal family.

He said: ‘We are all more incestuous than we realise. In Northern Ireland lots of people share the same surname, which suggests a high level of inbreeding.

‘There’s a lot of surname diversity in London but if you look at the Outer Hebrides there are rather fewer surnames in relation to the number of people.’

hes not the first to speak out about this

It's time to confront this taboo: First cousin marriages in Muslim communities are putting hundreds of children at risk

'Terrorist We Cannot Deport' Faces New Charges...

Forgery equipment and "high quality" fake documents used in terrorism were discovered by police buried in the back garden of his Manchester home and the man - who cannot be named - is facing a retrial overseas on terror charges.

Italian security services bugged the Tunisian's conversations, found him to have "intricate knowledge of terrorism" and are likely to seek his extradition for a second time, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.

This newspaper reported exclusively last week how Home Secretary Theresa May's order to keep the man out of Britain because he was a threat to national security had been overturned by judges in the Court of Appeal.

He is accused of playing a key role in a Europe-wide terror cell which recruited Islamic extremists to fight jihad in Iraq and Afghanistan, possibly against British and American forces.

Judges also banned naming the Tunisian - identified in legal documents by the initials MK - who was first extradited from Britain to Italy in 2008 to face terror charges but was acquitted last year.

 senior officer with the Genoa carabinieri special operations unit, one of Italy's main counter-terrorism teams, said MK was the subject of a three year investigation which involved monitoring telephone calls made from Italy to him in England.

"When he was arrested in Manchester a significant amount of material used for forging documents was found in his house and buried in the garden - the forged documents were of a very high quality," said the marshall, who declined to be named.

"We remain convinced he was in touch with people who had contacts in Iraq and Afghanistan with terrorist cells.

"From my experience of him and the investigation he certainly had an intricate and particular knowledge of terrorism but as I say after four years it is difficult to say now if he was dangerous but at the time he was and so that is why we are appealing.''

And an Italian security source said: "During the investigation we bugged some private and public premises and we are now developing transcripts of those Arabic conversations that were bugged.

"Some of those conversations were bugged in the immigration detention facility during the case in court. The latest ones involve MK and we intend to use them as evidence in our appeal."

He said MK was believed to be a "key figure" in the terror organisation which was under investigation.

"MK was eventually convicted of being with false documentation and a number of rubber stamps, false paperwork and items to make forgeries were found in the garden of the house where he was arrested in England.

"We were disappointed that he was acquitted along with the others but we are in the process of appealing that sentence. I strongly believe that at that moment in time MK was a significant terrorist figure," he said.

Italian prosecutors will allege MK was involved in an extremist group inspired by a secret militant branch of the radical international Muslim group Hizb ut-Tahrir.

MK, who is in his 50s, was arrested in a dawn raid by Greater Manchester Police in November 2007, along with 17 other suspects in Italy and other European countries.

Poisons and ignition devices were seized at addresses in a number of northern Italian cities.

MK was acquitted of terrorist charges in a Milan court in July last year but convicted of falsely procuring a document. Because of time spent on remand he did not have to serve a further sentence and was arrested at London City Airport the following month.

Judges ruled he had a right to stay in Britain to appeal against the Home Secretary's decision.

A preliminary hearing in the Italian prosecutors' appeal was heard last week and a full hearing against MK is due to take place at the Corte d'Assise d'Appello in July.

The operation of the Italian legal system means the court can not only overturn MK's acquittal but also convict him of the charges.

Upon any conviction, Italian authorities will apply for a new warrant to extradite MK to Italy from Britain, where they believe he is currently located, although the Home Office refused to discuss his whereabouts.

The development raises significant questions about the British Court of Appeal's handling of MK's case, and whether the Home Office and British security services have liaised adequately with their Italian counterparts.

The appeal judges' ruling made no mention of a possible retrial in the Italian courts. And because it is not known whether MK is under surveillance by MI5 and Special Branch, it is difficult to predict how easily British authorities could trace him if Italy requests his extradition for a second time.

The first extradition of MK took 12 months to complete after his lawyers brought a lengthy appeal under human rights laws. They claimed his removal to Italy would place him in danger of further extradition to Tunisia where he would be at risk of torture and ill-treatment.

A second extradition request would be likely to see MK's lawyers repeating their arguments under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Last night a Tunisian human rights lawyer said the Jasmine Revolution in January, which led to the ousting of the country's long-time dictator President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, had cleared the way for MK and others to return to Tunisia.

Samir ben Amor, secretary of the Tunisian Association of Political Prisoners, said all political prisoners had been freed and their convictions set aside.

“This is a different country now. He can come back without any risk,” said Mr Ben Amor. “Hundreds of Tunisians in the same position have already come back from England and elsewhere.”

Mr Ben Amor’s statement significantly undermines MK’s claim to the British courts that he would face ill-treatment or persecution if deported from this country.

The Sunday Telegraph knows the identity of MK but has been prevented from disclosing it by the courts because he is an asylum seeker.

He came to Britain in 2001 and lived in Manchester with his wife and daughters. He had earlier been convicted in his absence of terrorist offences by a military court in Tunisia.

But his claim for asylum is likely to be based on being a member of an Islamist party in Tunisia which was banned before the regime was overthrown by this year's popular uprising - meaning it would have no grounds for success.

A Home Office spokesman said: "We do not comment on individual cases, but public protection is the first duty of government and there are strong measures in place to ensure national security."

'Schoolboy' exposed as a 19-year-old illegal immigrant after stabbing two teenagers with a broken bottle

A 19-year-old illegal immigrant who tricked a school into believing he was 15 was only exposed after he was arrested for stabbing two youngsters with a broken bottle.

Violent thug Niamat Miah even dated a 15-year-old girl while he attended South Dartmoor Community College in Ashburton, Devon, on false identity papers.

Youngster Chloe Wood, now 16, started dating Miah - who pupils and staff knew as Sabbir Ahmed - after he began at the school early last year.

His ruse was only exposed after an attack outside a nightclub in nearby Torquay, where he slashed two teenagers in the face and neck with a broken bottle.

During their investigations, detectives found out Miah was actually a foreign national living here illegally - and was four years older than claimed on his false Home Office papers.

Chloe told the News Of The World: 'It turns my stomach to think about it - he obviously wanted an education but I wonder if he also did it because he liked younger girls.

'I'm just glad we only kissed and cuddled.' She and Miah split after a month because he was too possessive, she said.

Miah was arrested after an argument turned violent outside the Take 2 bar in Torquay on June 10 last year.

The row turned violent and he lashed out with glass bottle, cutting Chris Prior's left eye and Lawrence Manders's throat, missing his jugular vein 'by inches'.

 

After his arrest, Miah told officers he was a 15-year-old schoolboy called Sabbir Ahmed when, in fact, he was an illegal immigrant who had been left in the UK by his parents in 2004. 

He used false Home Office papers to enroll at two schools over a period of two years.

He first attended Dawlish Community College in Devon posing as a 13-year-old when he was aged 17 and transferred to South Dartmoor Community College as a 15-year-old when he was 19, detectives discovered.

At Exeter Crown Court Miah was jailed for four years after admitting two counts of unlawful wounding.

Sentencing, Judge Philip Wassall said: 'You have told so many lies throughout the investigation.

'Not only have you lied to police in trying to wriggle out of being held responsible for what you did but also to the court.'

The judge said it was a 'dangerous and wilfully reckless' attack and the victims had been lucky to escape more serious injury.

Miah is expected to be deported back to Bangladesh after serving his sentence.

The bizarre Foreign Office video designed to stop young Muslims becoming extremists

the Foreign Office has been accused of wasting taxpayers’ money on an animated film designed to stop Muslim teenagers from becoming Islamic extremists.

Officials have spent about £33,000 on Wish You Waziristan, a cautionary tale of two young British Muslim brothers who decide to join a group of Islamic fighters on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

But critics, including members of the Muslim community, have questioned the wisdom of the film, which has been branded naive and simplistic.

The cartoon, which combines computer game-style graphics and teenage street slang, opens with a failed attempt by the brothers to launch a grenade from a mountain-top in the Waziristan region of Pakistan.

It then switches into flashback mode and viewers learn how the pair got to an extremists’ training camp from their home in Britain.

The story is told from the point of view of the unnamed younger brother, who has little time for the cause and has agreed to become involved only out of respect for his older brother Abu.

Abu’s journey on the road to extremism begins when he is just 11 years old and he and two white friends are targeted by racists while they are playing football on a beach.

The brothers are then shown watching a series of training videos featuring Osama Bin Laden before joining the fighters in Waziristan.

The younger brother says the videos are like the computer game Call Of Duty ‘but boring’.

Gun ordeal: The brothers are shocked by their reception in Wazirstan

Misguided: In the 'terror training' the young Muslims try boxing as they condition themselves to become Islamic fighters

He is also unimpressed by their new home in the Pakistan and the warmth of the welcome they receive.

He says: 'When we got there I was thinking, ‘‘Bro, are we in the right place?’’

'The first thing they did was lock us up and start interrogating us. They told me they were just precautions and not to take it personally.

'But to be honest, when a fat guy has got his hand up your ****, it’s pretty personal.'

Following the failure of the grenade-launching mission, the brothers return to the UK, only to be arrested. The film ends with Abu writing to his brother asking for forgiveness.

Misguided: Muslim leaders have branded the film 'naive and simplistic'

Leading members of the Muslim community welcomed the attempt to reach out to teenagers but questioned the wisdom of the film.

Dr Mohammad Shahid Raza, an imam at Leicester Central Mosque, said: ‘The film sounds naive and simplistic. The descriptions of the fighters the brothers encounter are particularly unrealistic.’

Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, the founder of the Muslim Institute think-tank believes the film would have been more effective if it had confined itself to the issue of the racism.

‘It should have asked its audience to concentrate on that rather than going off at a tangent,’ he added. ‘What follows is a waste of time.’

Last night, a Foreign Office spokeswoman said the film had been commissioned by the Labour Government in 2009. She said the total production budget was about £33,000.

The film has been produced by a company called Bold Creative, which specialises in educational films aimed at teenagers.

In the past it has made videos about hygiene and healthy eating. No one from the firm was available for comment last night.

The cartoon is being supported by a viral marketing campaign which is playing on YouTube.

Muslims slash teacher's face and fracture his skull: "He’s mocking Islam and he’s putting doubts in people’s minds"

Four Muslim men were jailed today after they carried out a brutal attack on an RE teacher because they did not approve of him teaching religious studies to Muslim girls.

Gary Smith, 38, received 'appalling injuries' after he was set upon by the gang as he walked to work at Central Foundation Girls' School in Bow, east London, on July 12 last year.

Armed with a metal rod and a brick, they punched, kicked and attacked Mr Smith, leaving him unconscious and covered in blood on the pavement in Burdett Road, Tower Hamlets.

Simon Alam, 19, of Whitechapel, Azad Hussain, 26, of Wapping, Sheikh Rashid, 27, of Shadwell, and Akmol Hussein, 26, of Bethnal Green, all in east London, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent earlier this year.

Sentencing them at east London's Snaresbrook Crown Court, Judge John Hand QC said he believed they all remained a danger to the public due to their extreme religious beliefs.

Addressing the defendants one by one, he said: 'Your belief is that you carried out a duty to your God and you did so with no mercy.'

'If you think that people around you in society present an insult or threat to God then you will not hesitate in attacking again in the way that you have acted.'

Vicious attack: Azad Hussain, 26, and 26-year-old Akmol Hussein  were deemed ringleaders of the attack on Gary Smith in Tower Hamlets, east London

Brutal: Sheikh Rashid was given four years in jail and Simon Alam to five 

After hearing how Mr Smith suffered multiple injuries, including lacerations and bruising all over his body, has a permanent 12cm long deep scar across his left cheek, and how the whole of the facial part of his skull was broken, he said: 'Literally, this man had his face smashed in.'

The court heard how the men were only caught out because Akmol Hussein's car was being bugged on an unrelated matter.

On the surveillance tape they were heard to plan the attack and it was also clear that they had lain in wait for Mr Smith as he walked to school on other mornings as they spoke of how they had been unsuccessful on other occasions.

Hussein, who had a niece at the school, was heard to say: 'He's mocking us and he's putting thoughts in people's minds.

'How can somebody take a job to teach Islam when he's not even a Muslim himself?'

He was also recorded as saying that he did not care if he had to go to prison over the attack as he was doing it for the sake of Allah.

Hindering the police: Badruzzah Uddin, 24, was jailed for two years after admitting to hiding the gang's bloodstained clothing

The court heard that the men had admitted their motivation behind the attack was their religious belief.

 None of them other than Hussein had a connection with the school, which teaches pupils of mainly Bangladeshi origin.

Prosecutor Sarah Whitehouse said of Mr Smith: 'He was targeted as the victim of this attack quite simply because of his position as head of religious studies at the school.

'The defendants held very strong religious beliefs and they chose him because they did not approve of his teaching.'

Mr Smith, who had been head of religious studies at the school for eight years, was 'by all accounts an able, enthusiastic and popular teacher'.

He followed the national curriculum by teaching his pupils all six of the main religions along with ethical issues such as abortion and euthanasia, the court heard.

Some of the defendants had also claimed the reason behind the attack was because of rumours that he had raped a girl at the school, but this was found to be 'utterly without foundation and a complete mistake' when it was investigated.

Judge Hand said that, if the defendants had a real issue with Mr Smith's lessons, they should have gone about dealing with it in other ways.

He said: 'If you do not approve of particular teaching then recourse can be had with the employer, with the local education authority, or the school governors, or to the headteacher.

'There are no doubt other avenues by which dissatisfaction with teaching can be addressed.'

Mr Smith was found lying on the pavement by two passers-by following the attack just after 8am, and was rushed to hospital, where he did not regain consciousness for two days.

His injuries have left him unable to be the active and healthy man he once was and he has had to give up his passion for martial arts.

The court heard that he cannot remember anything of the assault, and has problems with his memory now which affects his abilities as a teacher.

He suffers from depression and anxiety and 'is unable to enjoy life and lives in constant fear of being attacked again', the judge said.

He said he deemed Akmol Hussein, a social worker and self- employed builder, and Azad Hussain, a finance worker, to have played the greatest role in the planning and execution of the attack and sentenced them each to an indeterminate sentence with a minimum of five years.

Student Alam was told he must serve a minimum of five years in prison before being released on licence for a further five years, while bus driver Rashid was handed a four-year sentence with a further five years on licence.

A fifth defendant, Badruzzuha Uddin, 24, also of Shadwell, was also jailed for two years after previously admitting a charge of assisting an offender after he hid the men's bloodstained clothes.

For a far more extensive representation of muslim violence worldwide go to the Religion of Peace website

Model Youth Worker Jailed for Selling Heroin...

A FORMER youth worker has been locked up for selling heroin on the streets of Nottingham.

Shaad Ayub was arrested following a police operation – code-named Chitchat – to target dealing in and around Lenton, Radford, Stapleford and Beeston.

He previously worked for the Muslim Youth Organisation, in Sneinton, and had won one of the Nottingham Post's prestigious Reach Out Awards for his community work.

His fall from grace came last November when a cocaine habit left him in debt and he began dealing.

Then in January this year he threw wraps of crack cocaine and heroin on the ground when he saw police in Radford.

Officers arrested him and at court he pleaded guilty to supplying heroin and possession of heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply.

The 19-year-old, whose current address is Nottingham Prison, is understood not to have been working for the youth organisation when he was arrested.

Judge James Sampson, locking him up for two-and-a-half years, said: "You were clearly involved in peddling in misery on the streets of Nottingham."

Ayub collected his Reach Out Award last May with another apprentice youth worker.

Ayub and his colleague were nominated by Detective Inspector Louise Jordan.

She said after he was sentenced: "During Shaad Ayub's employment as a youth worker, he made a really valuable contribution in working with young people who might be vulnerable to extremism and in helping to calm community tensions around English Defence League protest marches in the city in December 2009.

"At this time, he was extremely well thought of among professionals working with our communities.

"It was for these reasons that he was nominated for a Reach Out Award, almost a year before Operation Chitchat began. Unfortunately, his life took a different turn after this time."

Richard Posner, mitigating at Nottingham Crown Court, said of his client's drug-dealing: "He wasn't making any significant money from it and was not living the lifestyle of a drug dealer."

Nobody from the Muslim Youth Organisation was available to comment.

Burqa Painted over Bikini as UK Firms Urged to be 'Sensitive'...

poster advertising a high street clothes store's bikini has had a burkha painted over the top of it.

The model acquired the full-length veil in a poster displayed on the side of a bus stop in Normanton, Derbyshire.

The advert, featuring a £3.99 bikini on sale at H&M, was vandalised with black graffiti, leaving only the eyes of the female model uncovered.

The burkini is back... This scantily-clad model was covered from head to toe by the hand of a graffiti artist

The poster has been causing controversy across the country, with black spray paint being daubed over the scantily-clad model in Muslim areas of Birmingham and London.

Similar adverts in Balsall Heath, Birmingham, and Tower Hamlets, London, have been blacked out - reportedly by outraged Muslims or feminists.

however, this is the first time a full length Burka has been carefully painted over the model.

This is not the first time H&M advertisements have been modified. 

The store's new campaign, starring the supermodel Giselle, has been digitally altered to cater for ads running in Dubai. Despite revealing only arms and a hint of cleavage, the images were all subjected to Photoshopping with a t-shirt or vest added under the clothes.

One enhanced shot shows a white vest under a jumpsuit, leaving the arms bare and another adds short sleeves to a hatlerneck top.

Offensive? Some people believe more thought should be given to the location of the advert

Gulfraz Nawaz, from the Jamia Mosque, close to the defaced advert in Derby, said: 'Some people of the Muslim community could find an advert like that offensive and react to it, which clearly someone has.

'Firms behind advertising campaigns like that should be a little more sensitive about the location of posters.'

Azher Rehan, 36, who works close to where the poster is displayed, said: 'I wouldn't have noticed it if it hadn't been pointed out. I think whoever did it has a good sense of humour.'

A spokeswoman for Derbyshire police said officers were aware of the incident of 'criminal damage'.

A spokeswoman for H&M said it was 'regrettable' that people had chosen to vandalise the bus shelter.

She said: 'This is not something that H&M commonly encounters. With our campaigns we want to surprise and inspire our customers, not upset them.'