Scotland Against Criminalising Communities (SACC) has issued a statement condemning coverage by the Telegraph of an Islamophobia conference in Glasgow as “grossly misleading.”

SACC, Decolonial International Network and Islamic Human Rights Network co-organised the conference. It took place at the Ark in Glasgow’s Southside on Sunday 14 December.

Speakers included lawyer Aamer Anwar, MEND CEO Linsay Taylor, Director of Public Affairs at the Scottish Association of Mosques Omar Afzal, Professor Saeed Khan of Wayne State University in the US and Moazzam Begg, Senior Director at Cage International.

The Telegraph’s coverage of the conference focussed exclusively on remarks made by Begg.

SACC’s statement on the Telegraph article

SACC is appalled at the disgraceful article published in the Telegraph about the conference on Islamophobia that we held in Glasgow on Sunday 14 December. The article, dated 15 December, was written by the Telegraph’s Scottish Reporter, Jacob Freedland. It grossly misrepresents a speech made by Moazzam Begg, International Director of Cage International, at our conference.

The article claims that, in discussing the impact of TikTok posts in late 2023 that referenced Osama bin Laden’s “Letter to America” published in the Guardian in 2002, Moazzam Begg described Osama bin Laden as “that voice of freedom.” He did not. He described the Guardian as “that voice of freedom.” He said:

And, as if by magic, the Guardian removed – that voice of freedom and opinion removed – something that had been on their website for close to or over two decades. They don’t want anyone to think, to make those connections.

The Telegraph article was based on a recording they obtained and transcribed in a way that appears to be intended to mislead readers.

SACC spokesperson Richard Haley said:

I spoke on the same panel as Moazzam Begg at the conference. It was perfectly clear to me that he was referring to the Guardian when he spoke of ‘that voice of freedom and opinion’ and I think it would have been perfectly clear to everyone in the room.

I also think it should be clear to anyone who listens properly to the recording that the Telegraph relied on, and that it is even clearer if you listen to the whole of the speech, of which we have our own record.

The views of speakers at our conference were their own, or the views of organisations they represent, and are not necessarily endorsed by SACC. A number of speakers expressed views that do not precisely align with SACC’s position. But we will not stand by when one of our guests is misrepresented in the media.

It is unclear how the Telegraph obtained the recording. SACC did not ask people who attended the conference to refrain from recording, so we have no objection to the recording having been made unless it involved underhand tactics by a journalist. But we would not expect anyone with a genuine interest in attending the conference to share it with media without consulting us, and we would certainly not expect them to pass it to a media outlet like the Telegraph. If someone did so in the belief that the Telegraph is a respectable newspaper, we hope that they have learned their lesson.

The Telegraph quotes Glasgow Tory MSP Annie Wells as saying:

Serious questions must be asked as to why the organisers deemed it appropriate to give a platform to this individual.

She appears to have been misled by the Telegraph. We hope that she will be more careful in the future in how she responds to outlandish media claims.

The Telegraph article claims that SACC was approached for comment. We are not aware of any such approach.

The conference was co-organised by SACC, Decolonial International Network (DIN) and Islamic Human Rights Network (IHRC), in association with a conference similarly co-organised that was held in London a week earlier. As host of the Glasgow conference, responsibility for the arrangements fell primarily to us and we appear to be the main target of the Telegraph’s disgraceful article. We are therefore issuing this statement in addition to the joint statement by IHRC, DIN and SACC.

Featured image via the Canary

By The Canary

This post was originally published on Canary.