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Sabrang Team
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16 January 2004
Press Release
British Muslims Extol BBC for Acting
Against Racism
The Muslim Council of Britain expressed its relief at the news today
that Robert Kilroy-Silk is to step down as the presenter of the
Kilroy programme.
“We hope today’s BBC decision will send out a clear signal that
anti-Arab racism is every bit as unacceptable, every bit as odious
as any other form of racism. Robert Kilroy-Silk’s disgraceful column
in the Sunday Express on January 4 was no slip of the pen,” said
Iqbal Sacranie, Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain.
Commenting on Kilroy-Silk’s attempt to portray his racist anti-Arab
views as an issue of freedom of speech, Mr Sacranie said:
“We, however, regret that Mr Kilroy-Silk continues to defend the
indefensible and has used every excuse to exculpate himself from
taking responsibility for the writing of his own breathtakingly
racist words. He blamed the Sunday Express, his secretary, the BBC,
the CRE and also the Muslim community itself. He also hid behind the
noble principle of freedom of speech. Yet no responsible government
allows unlimited freedom of speech, and especially not freedom to
incite hatred of an entire people. Events in Nazi Germany during the
second world war showed what can happen when we allow the
demonisation of whole groups of people.”
They also applauded the BBC for taking a clear stand to uphold its
internationally renowned values of impartiality and even-handedness.
[Ends]
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