Former Green deputy leader backs EU resolution on Islamist political influence

Former Green Party deputy leader Dr Shahrar Ali has backed a European Parliament resolution addressing Islamist political influence and what it calls “entryism”, warning that some on the left underestimate the risks. He said the issue concerns both security and protecting shared democratic principles, while stressing the distinction between Islam as a religion and Islamism as a political ideology.

The resolution, proposed by the centre-right European People’s Party, passed by 381 votes to 167, with 15 abstentions. It calls for people and organisations linked to the Muslim Brotherhood to be considered for the EU terrorist list and for an EU-level list of hate preachers; it also warns of parallel communities and practices it says conflict with democratic values. Ali separately called for scrutiny of Britain’s Sharia councils, and the article notes his past legal disputes with the Green Party over his removal as a spokesman and later expulsion.