It’s not just the Greens who attract people with shameful records of extremism. In the London borough of Haringey, Labour has appointed a former spokesman for the terrorist-sympathising group Cage as its new group leader.
Cllr Ibrahim Ali, also known as Ibrahim Mohamoud, was for at least two years communications officer at Cage. The organisation became notorious after its research director, Asim Qureshi, described Britain’s Islamic State executioner and former Cage client Mohammed Emwazi – otherwise known as ‘Jihadi John’ – as a ‘beautiful young man’. Qureshi said Emwazi’s transition to sadistic murderer was a search for ‘belonging’ triggered by Britain’s ‘alienating’ national security policy. As Qureshi put it:
When are we going to finally learn that when we treat people as if they’re outsiders, they will inevitably feel like outsiders and they will look for belonging elsewhere? Our entire national security strategy for the last 13 years has only increased alienation… And when somebody [i.e., the Islamic State] is giving them a message, come, we will give you a sense of belonging, then how can we argue against that?
As Cage spokesman, the future Cllr Ali defended these comments to a parliamentary committee. Asked what he thought of them, he replied:
