British Cultural Official Tied to Slurs Against Muslims

By PATRICK E. TYLER
Published: August 7, 2004

Reproduced for Fair Use Only from:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/07/international/europe/07britain.html

LONDON, Aug. 6 - The British Council, which promotes culture and learning around the world, has suspended one of its senior press officers after it emerged that he is suspected of being the author of a series of newspaper commentaries attacking Muslims and denouncing "the black heart of Islam."

The council, whose official patron is Queen Elizabeth II, operates as the cultural arm of British diplomacy in 110 countries. A spokesman for the organization said Friday that the press officer, Harry Cummins, was suspended from his post on July 29 after the newspaper The Guardian identified him as the likely author.

"All of us who work for the British Council are appalled that our organization should in any way be associated with the deeply offensive content of these articles," the spokesman said.

In one article the author stated, "All Muslims, like all dogs, share certain characteristics." Another commentary asserted, "It is the black heart of Islam, not its black face, to which millions object."

David Green, the British Council's director general, has written to the Muslim Council of Britain saying, "There is no place in the British Council for people who utter such hateful utterances."

But Muslim leaders have pointed out that the commentaries come at a time when Britain's Muslims are again under intense pressure and suspicion, with hundreds of police and intelligence officers raiding Muslim homes this week to arrest 12 men suspected of planning terrorist acts. The British news media are running 24-hour bulletins about developments in the terrorist alert in the United States and its connection to terrorist cells in Britain and Pakistan.

"We are a community under siege," said Akbar Dad Khan, a leading figure among the 25,000 Muslims in Luton, a city north of London.

"The community is under a lot of stress, the people have become frightened, and no one is explaining anything to them from the authorities," Mr. Khan said, adding, "Some people have even stopped talking to their neighbors because they are afraid they might be connected to something."

Across Europe, many Muslims express the same sense of fear and frustration, much of it reflecting the conflict between the need for police secrecy in mounting counterterrorism operations and the political requirements to explain police actions to the affected communities and their neighbors.

In Strasbourg, France, on Friday, the police discovered that vandals had painted swastikas on 15 Muslim graves in a military cemetery. President Jacques Chirac interrupted his vacation to condemn the incident, but local Muslim leaders said the government was not doing enough to confront the religious polarization and hatred that has also led to attacks on Jewish and Christian properties in the region.

In the Czech Republic this week, investors pulled out of plans to build a mosque in Teplice, 50 miles northwest of Prague, after 5,000 residents signed a petition in protest, saying they feared it would attract terrorists, The Associated Press reported.

In Britain, the commentaries attacking Muslims appeared on the opinion pages of the conservative Sunday Telegraph under the byline of Will Cummins. Harry Cummins, the British Council press officer, could not be reached for comment. He has denied being the author of the articles. A journalist at The Telegraph said that Mr. Cummins had since "disappeared" and that some Telegraph journalists wanted him to take responsibility for writing the articles under a pseudonym.

In the meantime, The Telegraph refuses to comment on the matter or publicly identify the author. The newspaper has not dissociated itself from the commentaries, but has run strong opposing views from other columnists.

"He approached us and we gave him a pseudonym at his request, which is not at all uncommon," said one Telegraph editor. "You should see our mailbag. It's like we kicked over a hornet's nest."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/07/international/europe/07britain.html