March 21, 2009 - By BNP News

The police in Britain welcome recruits with criminal convictions and Islamic extremists with links to international terrorism – but not British patriots.

“It is a deplorable situation when a British patriot can be barred from the police while that organisation has over 1000 serving officers who have criminal convictions, and advisors who are identified Islamic extremist terrorists with links to Al-Qaeda,” said Mr Simon Darby, BNP press officer.

Reacting to the news that Merseyside Police have sacked a policeman whose name was allegedly on the infamous (and tampered with) “leaked membership list,” Mr Darby said that whatever the facts surrounding the policeman’s membership or otherwise, the whole exercise was “utterly disgraceful.”

“Merseyside Police’s decision undermines the democratic process and the trust and integrity of the police,” Mr Darby, who is also deputy leader of the BNP, said.

“It would seem that one can be a communist, a criminal or an Islamic fundamentalist and be welcome in the police – but just don’t dare be a British patriot, because that is obviously far worse.

“This is part and parcel of the Labour government’s move to completely politicise the police because they no longer trust the electorate,” he said.

Mr Darby pointed out that one of the Metropolitan Police’s chief advisers on combating Islamic extremism, Mohamed Ali Harrath, has been the subject of an Interpol red notice (its highest state of alert) since 1992 because of terrorist activities in Tunisia, where he helped found the Tunisian Islamic Front (FIT).

Official police figures have also shown that there are at least 1063 police officers with criminal records, including assault, battery, fraud, perverting the course of justice, forgery and burglary.

“The situation is this: a hard working and loyal policeman, who has never shown any political bias in his work, is dismissed, while his colleagues include known Islamic terrorists and criminals, who are protected in their positions by the police. It is madness, nothing less,” Mr Darby said.

The police ban on BNP membership is completely undemocratic, and contrasts vividly with the British army, who have publicly announced that there is no problem with BNP membership and soldiers are welcome to join whichever party they choose.

“Merseyside Police should remember that it is highly likely that within the next twelve weeks, they will have a BNP Member of the European Parliament representing them. That MEP will certainly not stand by while they persecute people Gestapo-style and they will be called to account for this scandalous behaviour,” Mr Darby said.

* Mr Harrath has been convicted in absentia of a string of criminal and terrorism-related offences in Tunisia and has been sentenced to 56 years in jail. At a special immigration appeals commission, an MI5 witness stated that Mr Harrath’s FIT had carried out terrorist activities in France. The Tunisian government have also accused Mr Harrath of meeting Osama bin Laden in 1991 in an attempt to secure the financial backing of al Qaeda for his FIT party.

In July 2007 it was revealed that eight police officers were suspected of having links to extremist Islamic groups, including Al Qaeda. Some of these people were believed to have attended terrorist training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The names of these officers were featured on a list of alleged radicals said to be working inside the British police. The dossier, drawn up with the help of MI5, was instigated because of fears that Muslim extremists were taking advantage of the “positive discrimination” schemes adopted by the police to attract more ethnic staff.

One of the officers under investigation, who worked in the South East of England, was caught circulating Internet images of beheadings and roadside bombings in Iraq. When questioned on his somewhat bizarre choice of recreational activity, the officer came up with the novel excuse that he trying to “enhance” debate about the war in Iraq.

These officers were not sacked, because the police said that they lacked the “legal power” to dismiss them.