On Sunday, hundreds of anti-Israel activists gathered in central London to take part in the annual Al-Quds Day march, following a tradition inspired by Ayatollah Khomeini.
The march was organised by the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), a group Student Rights has written on a number of times in the past.
This has included highlighting that the IHRC has campaigned for the release of Omar Abdel-Rahman, convicted of conspiracy to murder, and Dr Aafia Siddiqui, an Al-Qaeda associate convicted of attempted murder.
As recently as June last year, the IHRC published an action alert and message calling for support from Mufid Abdulqader, convicted of conspiracy to provide material support and goods to a terrorist organisation in the US in 2009.
Support for terrorists was also apparent at the march on Sunday, with protestors brandishing Hezbollah flags and holding placards stating “We are all Hezbollah” despite the group’s repeated involvement in terrorist attacks on civilians and maintenance of a military wing proscribed by the British government.
This is nothing new. The presence of Hezbollah banners at the annual Al-Quds Day demonstration has been commonplace and is something the IHRC appears unwilling to deter.
Here at Student Rights, we find it deeply worrying such an event was promoted to university student societies, with the march advertised to students at Brunel University, Imperial College, Middlesex University, University College London (UCL) and the University of Westminster.
However, more concerning is the presence of the newly elected National Union of Students (NUS) Black Students’ Officer, Aadam Muuse, as one of the event speakers.
Muuse appeared alongside speakers including the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign activist Mick Napier, who has previously said: “Hezbollah is officially a terrorist organisation on a British list – to hell with the list!”
Muuse has also been active in the ‘Students not Suspects’ campaign, and spoke at a conference held by the group in June, which also saw an IHRC speaker appear and the group promoted and praised.
At best, it is deeply irresponsible for anyone holding positions of responsibility within the student movement to attend events organised by groups with the IHRC’s history of defending convicted terrorists.
However, this is only most recent evidence of the relationship between the NUS and the IHRC, and demonstrates yet again that the NUS simply cannot be taken seriously on issues relating to extremism.