Of course it was. An update on this story. "Channel 4 TV complaint 'politically motivated,'" from the Telegraph (thanks to D):
The police decision to complain to Ofcom about a controversial Channel 4 documentary raises "serious questions about media freedom", the Tories said yesterday.West Midlands Police claimed that the broadcaster spliced together extracts from speeches by Islamic preachers to distort their view for the documentary Undercover Mosque.
Paul Goodman, the shadow community cohesion minister, has written to Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, saying the decision caused "widespread concern" and warned that it could encourage extremists.
Mr Goodman wrote: "This decision raises serious questions about media freedom in Britain, and about whether public authorities tasked with upholding the rule of law are now, as a matter of policy, giving special assistance to those who seek to undermine the rule of law, and the pluralist, liberal, democratic culture which both underpins it and guarantees community cohesion.
"As you know, the decision has caused widespread concern.
"It's hard to avoid the conclusion that this is a politically motivated referral, driven by the mistaken belief that the best means of dealing with separatist extremists is to appease them.
"If so, this referral is likely to encourage extremists, discourage moderates, damage public confidence in the CPS and West Midlands Police, compromise media freedom and undermine the Government's stated community cohesion policy."
"West Midlands Police claimed that the broadcaster spliced together extracts from speeches by Islamic preachers to distort their view for the documentary Undercover Mosque".
So in other words, the preachers were saying things like Jews and Christians should not be killed because they should be free to practice their religions in peace, right?
"It's hard to avoid the conclusion that this is a politically motivated referral, driven by the mistaken belief that the best means of dealing with separatist extremists is to appease them."
BINGO!
I've never heard of Paul Goodman, but we could use a few more MPs with a bit of common sense. Michael Gove MP, author of Celsius 7/7, seems to have all but disappeared. A sad time indeed when police and Crown Prosecution Services adopt the role of TV critics.
Coming from a british Tory, this is rather strong wording, I'd say.
Coming from a british Tory, this is rather strong wording, I'd say.
Arent the Tories the conservative party of the UK?
More indoctrination of our youth
http://the-gathering-storm.blogspot.com/2007/08/storm-track-disinformation-liberty.html
So which is more offensive:
1) Preaching hatred against Jews, homosexuals and non-muslims.
2) Reporting that mosques preach hatred against Jews, homosexuals and non-muslims.
The police evidently think 2) is the bigger crime.
"damage public confidence in the CPS and West Midlands Police"
I'd say it's too late. The damage has been done. I'm of the opinion they are more concerned with the tender sensitivities of the Mohammedan, then with preventing the Jihadist from blown me up. PC idiots will be the death of civilization.
Elric66
Arent the Tories the conservative party of the UK?
Yes they are. They are the rough equivalent of the Republican party in USA.
UK Infidel Lover
I was curious because you said it was a strong statement for a tory so I took that as unusal.
They have a "shadow community cohesion minister"?
I have just seen a video of a British couple who were targeted with an 80 minute interrogation for saying that homosexuality was against their Christian beliefs by the Midlands police. The police were acting upon "Hate Legislation" effective in England. Wouldn't Hitler have been happy if he was alive today? He could have the Bristish police enforce the stifling of free speech or the truth about the doings of him and his Nazis under the protection of "hate speech."
Another point, missed by the Telegraph: the police complaint to Ofcom (the UK broadcasting watchdog) is inadmissable because Ofcom rules state that in "Fairness" cases only the person(s) affected, or those officially authorised on their behalf, can make the complaint.
The police did not read Ofcom's rules beforehand. However, they told Private Eye they had "liaised" with them. Ofcom deny this vehemently.
What a charade.
Couldn't they come up with a couple examples of the loving, harmonious, peaceful contexts from which the excerpts were supposedly distorted? Might be something like: "Do not be friends with Christians or Jews." Missing context: "But you can pretend to be friends if this advances Islam."
Do you think we could get the UN to declare that Islam is not a religion but a a bandit code, and call it a day? Oh wait, how many Muslim votes are in the UN...?
Elric66:
UK Infidel Lover:
I was curious because you said it was a strong statement for a tory so I took that as unusal.
I didnt make that comment and I dont entirely agree. The Tory party are in disarray partly because of being in opposition for so long and that has made them timid.
David Cameron was perfect being opposite Tony Blair. But now that Gordon Brown is Prime Minister who just oozes seriousness, Cameron just looks like froth. He looks like being all style, no substance. The Tory party need to rediscover their roots, put policies in front of the electorate that are attractive and sell them.
Labour have done some very stupid things in Government, even Brown and they are attackable. Brown sold 1/3 of Britains Gold reserves when Gold was at an all-time low (a completely boneheaded selling decision) and he accelerated the Pensions crisis by his raiding Pension dividends to the tune of 10 billion dollars back in 1997.
The anti-C4 actions of the West Midlands Police seem to me to set a new low for policing in Britain.
However, there may be a silver lining to this cloud in that the WMP's actions are increasing public awareness of the documentary "Undercover Mosque", which was initially overshadowed by the wretched Big Brother business. I hope that this will make the WMP look very silly, and annoy the utterly pro-Muslim Gordon Brown, who will perhaps punish WMP by not giving them so much of the tax-payer's money.
Its about par for the course here in the UK.
People are afraid to speak up , if you do, you very quickly get a visit from her majesty's constabulary
who silence you utilising the anti terrorism laws ,
anti racist laws or just about a hundred other laws
they have at their disposal !!.
They will not allow criticism of Islam and her boot boys period !!
Glasgow airport gets attacked and the first priority of our Govt and police force is to reassure the Muslims and to threaten the general population with the utmost force of the law should we object in any capacity.
The UK is stuffed .....and the masses are still asleep !!
Do you think the British guvmint is paid for by the SOWdis or are they really all this thickheaded?
There HAS GOT to be an explanation for this insistent drive to sell out their own NAtion and her People..
It sounds like Britain is a police state, if the police can decide that a TV program is offensive, especially if no-one else has complained.
It sounds like Britain is a police state, if the police can decide that a TV program is offensive, especially if no-one else has complained.
Britain does not have free speech per se--the government can, and does, muzzle media outlets.
How do you take transparent hate out of context?
Great.
Here
http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/017693.php#comments
I told you all that I was going to try to do something about this issue. I emailed just about everyone at Westminster that I could think of. Seems like I had some success in some quarters, doesn't it.
Oh, by the way, thanks to all you Brits who read here and like, really supported me. That great Edinburgh phrase 'all mouth and no trousers' springs to mind here!
Go on, keep mouthing off on this blog but do ... well, precisely, what? Not much, it seems to me.
Sorry if I seem bitter, but I'm the one who spent fourteen hours in police custody after trying to post a legitimate, in my opinion, complaint against the West Midlands Force. I'm the one who has had his computers seized. I'm the one who is now in the financial pooh up to my oxters.
Great, love the support you guys give me!
You don't deserve a free Britain. Don't know why I bothered!
And where, precisely, were you?
Oliver - tell us more about your story. Why/how were you in police custody for 14 hours? I wrote to the West Midlands Police about this and heard nothing back.
Oliver P. Camford complains that this blog consists of those who "keep mouthing off" and that it accomplishes nothing.
I disagree. I think it brings to many tens of thousands, and because so much of the material is picked up by other sites, even many hundreds of thousands of people, and I know that there are many in the American government, in positions that count, who come to this site, and many others who run their own websites related to the same matters who make it a point to check here. No effect? Mere mouthing off? A whole series of notions that should be obvious are offered, or have been set in motion, here. One is the idea that Muslims take seriously the texts and tenets of Islam. This should be obvious; apparently, it is not, for few political figures, and few of those who, on CNN or at The Times or The Guardian or Le Monde or elsewhere presume to report on the world, and to instruct their readers and listeners, have bothered to make the most cursory study of Islam. They can't keep this up in the same way, given the steady exposure, ridicule, and hammering they get, at this website and at other ones that rely upon it.
And many phrases have been introduced, and repeated and repeated, until they have begun to enter the linguistic bloodstream, and help the right side to capture the high ground in the critical war of words.
A few examples will do: the phrase "Taqiyya and Tu-Quoque" has begun to enter the language (google and discover for yourself). The phrasing about the "Slow Jihad and the Fast Jihad" against Israel. The "Muslim-for-identification-purposes-only" Muslim.
And then there is Iraq. Since the very beginning of 2004, alone among that handful of websites that correctly identified the menace of Jihad, its scope, its instruments, its origins in the texts -- not misstatements of those texts -- of Islam, Qur'an, Hadith, and Sira, this one has been opposed to the war in Iraq. Now that almost everyone sees the folly of it all, but does not quite know in what that folly consists, those who were never loyalists of the Administration, always doubtful about this "democracy project" (see Robert Spencer's piece on this before the invasion of Iraq), are the ones in the best position to promote a withdrawal from Iraq not in order to appease, but in order to better weaken the Camp of Islam. At a time when all kinds of paid or unpaid agents of the Saudis are wandering the corridors of power, deliberately trying to convince the government to avoid the word "Jihad" (a particular Saudi goal), on the grounds that if we avoid it, it simply won't be there, and Muslims will allow themselves to believe that the clear doctrines of Islam mean something other than what they have always, over 1350 years, been taken to mean -- but what is really going on is an attempt to fool the Infidels, beginning with those to be inveigled, or bribed, or hornswoggled at the top.
And there is much more here that is of value -- because at this point, education of the Infidel public, among an ever-growing audience of intelligent and determined auto-didacts, needs to take place. And these autodidacts need to be able to see through the obfuscations and apologetics of Western hirelings, especially of those academic "experts" or Mesanostrans (google "MESA Nostra"), many of them Muslims, others non-Muslims deeply entranced with what they see as the romance, or third-world victim status, of Islam and Muslims, or deeply interested in currying favor with, not offending in any way, their thin-skinned Muslim colleagues, so keenly alert to any hint of disapproval or criticism of the Total System of Islam.
This, and much more, can be found at this site,which is not merely a matter of "mouthings."
What you you apparently did, as anticipated in your earlier posting -- to which you give a link above -- does not contradict, but supplements, the work of this site, or looked at from your point of view, this site does not contradict, but supplements, what you did, all by yourself, asapparently no one else joined you.
Here is what the poster, Oliver Camford, put up here a week ago:
"I thought that all here might like to know that I have, today, emailed the West Midlands Police Force a formal complaint alledging that they have infringed my Human Rights to free speech and open debate by their actions and asking for an enquiry into the conduct of the investigation into this television programme. I have also indicated that I feel that they may have been guilty of racism against my community (Anglo-Saxon/Norman/Celtic/Christian) in Britain and asked that they investigate this also.
I have reserved my position about making a formal complaint against them via my own local Force until such time as I receive a reply from them. I have copied my complaint to my MP - much good though that will do, given my particular Liberal Democrat MP who, it seems to me, pays scant regard to the opinions or needs of his constituents.
There may be very few of you British readers here who will join me in formally complaining about a Police Force but I have ceased to care about that. For me, this ridiculous charge against a completely, in my opinion, blameless television programme is simply the last straw. I viewed the programme when it was broadcast. Really, believe me, there was nothing in it that a loyal British citizen could possibly have taken offence to, in my opinion.
If anyone wants to support me, in any way at all, please email me at
OliverPCamford@hotmail.co.uk
I will try to reply to all emails but there is only one of me. I'm going to make this an issue if I can and your support would be most welcome if you care to give it.
[Posted by: OliverPCamford at August 10, 2007 12:56 AM]
Perhaps there are those now in the U.K. who are able to show support now, when he is being persecuted/prosecuted by the "forces of order" in the West Midlands Police Department. Support of all kinds.
exfidel/
I did. Follow the link
http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/017693.php#comments
and scroll to the end.
Apparently, I am now classified as a Christian terrorist - sorry, that's an embittered exaggeration.
Basically, because I made a complaint under the various Race Relations provisions of various Acts of the UK Parliament against another Constabulary I was deemed to be a suspicious person and treated accordingly. I have had all my electronic equipment seized and I have been charged with Breach of the Peace - despite being a complainant at the public counter of my local Constabulary.
Because I would not accept a caution I was kept in confinment for just over fourteen hours and was finally released under my own cognizance (£12,000) and pointed to appear, when called, before a Sherriff Court or I would otherwise forfeit that sum on a daily ongoing basis. Further charges are apparently pending.
All this arose from the simple fact that I complained at the public desk and in person that I felt that my Human Rights, under the various Acts, had been infringed by the West Midlands Constabulary.
I expect to be charged under the various Race Relations Acts. Obviously, I do not expect that the Procurator Fiscal's Office ( for I am domiciled in Scotland) will take these charges into Court but that they can seriously incommode me in this way is symptomatic of the weakened state of the UK today when faced with the Islamic threat. If one does not support the Government's line on Islam then one will incur some enormous expenses when fighting one's corner.
Thank God that, in your case, the Police have not contacted you - yet!
Hugh/
"...this site does not contradict, but supplements, what you did..."
Yes, it does. I am deeply sorry for sounding off about the posters here and accusing them of being "all mouth and no trousers". I have, just half an hour ago, checked my Hotmail account and I have to say that the level of support that I have received so far is quite staggering. I'll get around to replying to all of you as soon as I can but in the meantime please don't be offended by my silence - it's very difficult to reply individually to several hundred of you - and I'm shocked that so many of you have written to me and offered not only your support in spirit but some very concrete support as well. Financialy, for the moment, I can manage: nonetheless, thank you all for your kind offers.
In the meantime please let me say that those of you, over half of you, who have emailed me using your real name and email address can rest assured that my server is secure and that I will never reveal your details.
Thank-you all for your support and let me thank JW/DW for allowing this post - and Hugh Fitzgerald for his usual incisive comments on the situation I now find myself in.
By the way, both SIOE, and 'traeh' at www.jihadawareness.blogspot.com , still need your support. Contact your Belgian Embassy and protest and contact 'traeh' and support him, please.
When are the British people going to wake up from their slumber? Do you want another repeat of WW2? Remember Chamberlain and his appeasement of the fascists?
What is up with the government's and liberals appeasement of Muslims? As a non-Muslim living in a Muslim ruled country, I can tell you that they will just trample on your freedoms and nothing can be mentioned of their religion less the full power and might of the state is used to crush you.
Oliver, Many of us have tried to contact you. We are getting no reply from you
Oliver Camford
I wrote to you a few days ago, but understand that you have had a lot of mail.
It would be useful to know which police force you have run up against.
I have some contacts in the British press and may be able to help bring this travesty of justice to MSM light.
If you feel unable to post on this site, then contact me at the following address.
paulweston59@btinternet.com
I hope Oliver P Camford can keep us updated about his fate.
And I hope all British readers of Jihadwatch write to their Member of Parliament about this.
Perhaps, rather than replying to all the emails in his inbox, Mr Camford should post a standard reply here?
Oliver,
I'm sorry to hear about your outrageous predicament and applaud your bravery at pursuing your action.
But what the hell is the POLICE force doing complaining about documentaries?????
Has its function changed so completely from "keeping the peace" and finding and prosecuting actual criminals?
Since when did they become media commentators??
Hugh, Robert - Oliver's fate really ought to have its own post/thread. This would be exclusive content and providing all comments are serious, informed and intelligently expressed, might weigh in Oliver's favour. Perhaps that is just wishful thinking?
Oliver,
A friend sent this to me recently about a retired couple who live in Fleetwood, Joe and Helen Roberts, who were threatened by the police because they asked to be allowed to pass out religious literature as a balance to homosexual literature that their local council had approved. They were treated abominably and decided to contact The Christian Institute whose lawyers represented them in a court case. They won, received an apology and a cash settlement, which they turned around and donated to charity. Here is the video.
http://www.afa.net/play/index.html
You might try contacting Simon Calvert, the deputy director, who helped the Roberts with their case.
The Christian Institute
Wilberforce House
4 Park Road
Gosforth Business Park
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE12 8DG
UNITED KINGDOM
Oliver, I'm proud of you for standing up. You are going on the top of my prayer list starting now. Hang in there; you were chosen for this fight and God will keep you safe.
The Robert's case cost the taxpayers 65,000 pounds. I wonder how much Oliver's case will cost?
Tel: +44 (0)191 281 5664
Fax: +44 (0)191 281 4272
Email: info@christian.org.uk
It is no coincidence that the officer in charge of the case, Anil Patani, assistant chief constable of the West Midlands force, is a race obsessive with a track record of hypersensitivity to minority groups’ demands.
ANIL PATANI, an Asian police officer in the Nottinghamshire force, was rejected for the post of superintendent after tests told his superiors he was not up to scratch. He complained, and the force, not wanting to be accused of "racism", upheld his complaint. He was put on the fast track for promotion, being promised "priority" treatment over other applicants. In due course he achieved his ambition and was made superintendent.
But now he is complaining again - and, believe it or not, the complaint is that he has been a victim of - "racism."
According to Supt Patani, his rapid rise has antagonised his fellow officers, who claimed it was his race that got him the promotion. This, he says, has lost him respect, and he is suing the force as a result!
In 1990, Patani when a sergeant, he sued for racial discrimination and collected £5,000.
Oliver P. Camford
Oh, by the way, thanks to all you Brits who read here and like, really supported me. That great Edinburgh phrase 'all mouth and no trousers' springs to mind here!
Oliver, why are you whingeing to us about this? If your story is true, then it is appalling, but it's no good moaning that it happened because people on here didn't support you.
I repeat, if your story is true, then the actions of the police need to be highlighted. You state that you run an advertising and promotions company, so I'd assume you are quite media savvy. Have you contacted the press or your local TV news? This is the sort of story that the Daily Mail would eat up, not to mention The Daily Record and The Scotsman.
From just a quick search, I found that The Daily Record carried the story of the West Midlands police complaint. They would kill for a follow-up about a local man facing charges for objecting to this complaint.
Have you contacted anyone in the media about your experience? Or your MP? Your councillor? A lawyer? If not, why not?
You state that you were charged with a breach of the peace. Was this for simply making the complaint, or for your actions at the police station? You state that further charges are apparently pending. Charges for what? Your story gets a bit confusing at this point - how can we support you if we don't have all the facts?
This is why you need to contact the media. If your story is as you say, then they will be interested, particularly coming so soon after the Glasgow airport attack.
The ball is in your court, Oliver. From your posts, it appears that you may have a sterling opportunity to highlight the growing threat of police suppression of political dissent in the UK. You must take it, for all our sakes.
Have had a chat with with a few police officers of a certain rank, none of whom seem to heard of Oliver P Camford.
As Britain has sunk to a depth today that can only be described as totalitarian, I have pulled out all the stops, and asked that this be examined at an altogether higher level.
MI5 has now been notified about this abhorrent behaviour, and will attempy to liaise with Mr Camford over the next 24 hours.
I understand that over the last 12 hours Mr Camford has been unavailable, which has set the alarm bells ringing.
If, somehow, you are able to read this Mr Camford, have no fear, we are tracking your last known movements, and are confident that we will find you very soon.
We have also been in contact with the CIA, in the event that you may be forced to leave the country, against your will.
Please, if you can read this, hold out against your aggressors, we are only a few hours behind; you will soon be uncovered.
So which is more offensive:
1) Preaching hatred against Jews, homosexuals and non-muslims.
2) Reporting that mosques preach hatred against Jews, homosexuals and non-muslims.
The police evidently think 2) is the bigger crime.
Posted by: Celsius
Let me modify Celsius' comment a bit:
Which is most offensive:
1) Preaching hatred against Jews, homosexuals, and non-muslims.
2) Reporting that mosques preach hatred against Jews, homosexuals, and non-muslims.
3) The police thinking that (2) is more offensive than (1).
Paul Weston:
If, somehow, you are able to read this Mr Camford, have no fear, we are tracking your last known movements... MI5 has now been notified... We have also been in contact with the CIA.
Okay, this is just getting silly now. A newish poster makes an unsubstantiated claim of being arrested for breach of the peace, and suddenly his story turns into a Jason Bourne style saga, with Mi5 and the CIA tracking his every move (and presumably the KGB and the Mossad following close behind).
Paul, either your post was sophisticated mockery of "Oliver P's" claim (which went completely over my head) or else an alarming glimpse into the workings of the conspiracy theorist mind.
Having read and enjoyed your essays on Gates of Vienna, I truly hope that it was the former.
Matamoros
I have appealed to Mr Camford to provide details of his run in with the British police.
I have been met with total silence.
The West Midlands police is notorious for it's peculiar attitude to indigenous Brits. Over the last couple of years I have chased them on a number of issues, all of which were eventually obtained under the Freedom of Information act.
I got to know a few officers as a result of this, NONE of whom has heard of Mr Camford.
That part of my post was factual, the rest was indeed mockery of Mr Camford.
His story could very well be true, given the current climate in Britain.
His refusal to verify it leads me to believe, that in this case, it is not.
I am not alone in offering help to Mr Camford, and as we all seem to have been taken for a ride am angry and disappointed.
Hence my mockery, an attempt to shame a man into coming clean, one way or another.
Well, Oliver did say he lives in Scotland and made the complaint in person at his local police station, so its possible that none of the West Midlands Police know about him. But it is intriguing. A few days silence might mean any number of things, like not having regular access to mail, like spending more time at the police station. Not wanting to call foul play too soon, though of course it wouldn't be a surprise if it was a 'joke' - however, not quite sure what the point of this sort of joke might be.