Police And CPS Apologise Over Mosque Show

West Midlands Police and the Crown Prosecution Service have apologised for accusing the makers of a Channel 4 documentary of distortion.

The apology and the promise of £100,000 were made at the High Court on Thursday.

It follows comments made about a Dispatches programme, Undercover Mosque, which tackled claims of Islamic extremism in the West Midlands.

The police statement said the force was wrong to make the allegations.

A press release issued by the police and the CPS in August 2007 claimed the Dispatches programme, broadcast in January of that year, misrepresented the views of Muslim preachers and clerics with misleading editing...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/7401704.stm


Among the comments made by imams during the film, Undercover Mosque, were: "Take that homosexual man and throw him off the mountain", and "We hate the kuffar" (a derogatory term for non-Muslims). West Midlands constabulary investigated but the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) concluded there was not enough evidence to bring criminal charges for a breach of public order.

Astonishingly, the police then asked the CPS to consider whether a prosecution could be brought against Channel 4 for broadcasting a programme including material likely to stir up racial hatred. When that was ruled out, the police and the CPS reported the programme makers to Ofcom, the TV regulator, alleging "complete distortion" in the way the programme had been edited.

Undercover Mosque became embroiled in the wider "fake TV" controversy before Ofcom concluded it was "a legitimate investigation, uncovering matters of important public interest".

Now, because they refused to withdraw their allegations, the police and the CPS - in other words, the taxpayer - have been required to pay a six-figure sum in libel damages to compensate Dispatches. It is a welcome vindication for Channel 4 at the conclusion of a very sorry episode.

The police maintained that the documentary "had an impact in the community and the cohesion within it". But the real damage is being caused by the separatist political ideology preached by extremists. It is not for the police to traduce those seeking to expose it on the spurious grounds of maintaining community harmony.

We trust there will be no further attempts to close down legitimate journalistic investigation in order to appease those who perpetuate division in our society.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/05/15/dl1502.xml


West Midlands Police Press Release:

CHANNEL 4 UNDERCOVER MOSQUE - AN APOLOGY

15 May 2008

On 8 August 2007 we published, jointly with the Crown Prosecution Service, a press release relating to the Channel Four Dispatches programme "Undercover Mosque". This press release alleged that footage of the speakers shown had been so "heavily edited" and taken out of context that it had "completely distorted" their meaning. Reference was made to the CPS having been asked to consider (although against advice) instituting proceedings against those involved in making the programme for inciting racial hatred.

Following an independent investigation by the broadcasting regulator Ofcom, we now accept that we were wrong to make these allegations. We now accept that there was no evidence that the broadcaster or programme makers had misled the audience or that the programme was likely to encourage or incite criminal activity. A review of the evidence (including untransmitted footage and scripts) by Ofcom demonstrated that the programme had accurately represented the material it had gathered and dealt with the subject matter responsibly and in context.

We accept, without reservation, the conclusions of Ofcom and apologise to the programme makers for the damage and distress caused by our original press release.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• undercover
• mosque
• hate
• clerics
• islam
• uk
• police
• cps
• liars

[ComradeAgopian]

Well done channel 4!

[dragon7009]

***** 5 stars!

islam is dangerous! Taqiyyah + Kitman + Q.3:28

It is an ideology akin to Nazism camouflaged as a religion.

[capturedpilot]

The UK police are Dhimmis, traitors to the UK. Actually, they are traitors to the human race.

[TheMrCJist]

The police are absolutely useless. They know that if they started arresting these guys for hate speech this would push the Muslim communities even further down the road of regarding the police as against them. Its much easier simply to punish people for gathering the evidence of these hate crimes (or not that easy considering they got sued for libel, at least the law isn't that biased in favour of extremists). Kudos to Ch4 for donating the proceeds to charity.

[grettoz]

we need to know what the extremists are doing & saying in theese mosques, our lives may depend on it??

[trackieben]

Don't the bizzies have better things to do than waste time and public money looking at a Channel 4 film?

[susanyana]

And so the police should have. They are a bloody disgrace!

[MCH1984]

BNP want a dictatorship; same as Islam4UK.

Don't trust either of them.

[cjellwood]

well thats not a suprise is it! The police and crown coming to the aid of the oppressor.

[catjesus]

OK, so we've established what we all knew to be the case. Dispatches acted correctly and properly throughout..

That leaves us then, with the subject of the program, the hate spewing imams, calling for jihad, amongst the interbred, frenzied, retards who go to their mosques every Friday.

What would the West Midlands Thought Police suggest we Brits do in order not to offend the 'religion of peace', walk into the sea until our hats float?

[utubesukmydick]

IslamaUK or BNP!! Brits black and white you have a choice so think hard!! BNP 2009!!

[utubesukmydick]

Put a stop to islamaUK before its too late,see what winston churchill thought about islam in his recorded speech from the 1940s!! BNP seems to be the only political party that can stop us turning into UKABAD!! Vote BNP and say no to islam here!!