Muslim group raises security concerns over anti-Islam film
By Chalres MaggsFollow @charlesmaggs
The 'Innocence of Muslims' film which caused outrage among Muslims across the world should be banned in the UK, a leading Sunni Muslim group said today.
Jammat-e ahle Sunnat UK, which claims to represent the majority of Sunni Muslims in Britain, sent an open letter to police forces around the country requesting that the movie be removed from YouTube on the grounds that it incites racial hatred.
"We feel that this film has offended over 1.5 billion Muslims leading to demonstrations in over 75 countries including many demonstrations in Britain," the letter read.
However, the group did not request that the film be banned for being offensive, nor that it will incite hatred against Muslims but rather that it would encourage violence by Muslims to non-believers.
"Having analysed the contents of the film we register our formal concerns on the grounds that it is encouraging and promoting racial and religious hate crime, openly encouraging violence in the name of faith and encouraging individuals to follow a violent ideology," it added.
The letter indicates six 'trigger points' in the film which could lead radicalised Muslims to act violently towards non-believers.
However, this may not be accepted by police or prosecutors because the quality of the film is generally accepted to be so low as to not be taken seriously as an accurate historical interpretation of the Prophet.
The film even prompted some nations to push for a world-wide 'anti-blasphemy' law to be passed by the UN – a notion ruled out by the United States.
