Friends of Al-Aqsa is alarmed to note Michael Gove, the UK Secretary of State for Levelling Up, to have used the privileges of Parliament to smear mainly Muslim groups as extremist.

“Gove, to advance his ideology, is employing political violence through the power of Parliament to undermine the scrutiny of elected members. He is constraining political space for alternative views within a democracy. It is Gove who is destroying the fundamental rights of others and undermining British values of freedom of speech,” said Ismail Patel, chair of Friends of Al-Aqsa.

Further, the Conservatives have failed to address Islamophobia within the party and since forming the government, Islamophobia in the country has risen exponentially.

Gove’s policies will further isolate Muslims and ferment cultural wars.

FOA is concerned at the draconian labelling of mainly Muslim groups as extremists and requests that civil society lobby political leaders for NGOs to have the right of freedom of expression.