Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate Maajid Nawaz has called on UK Independence Party (Ukip) leader Nigel Farage to “condemn” one of his local election candidates who described Islam as “organised crime”.
Mr Nawaz, a former Islamic extremist who now runs counter-extremism think tank Quilliam and is bidding to replace Glenda Jackson as Hampstead and Kilburn MP next year, urged Mr Farage to speak out against the comments made by Magnus Nielsen, a Ukip candidate standing in West Hampstead at next month’s council election.
He said: “I read with some apprehension the comments reiterated by Camden’s UKIP chairman Magnus Neilsen singling out Islam the religion, and not Islamism the political ideology justifying itself from the religion.
“I call on Nigel Farage to condemn Mr Neilsen’s failure to distinguish between Islam and Islamism.
“I also call on all Muslims and Islamic organisations to join me in being equally robust about condemning Islamist extremists who also attack human rights, democratic culture and certain minorities in an equally wholesale manner when speaking in Islam’s name.”
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