Trojan Horse affair: Muslim Council of Britain calls for independent inquiry

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has called for an independent public inquiry into the 2014 Birmingham Trojan Horse affair, following fresh revelations about the case in a recent New York Times podcast.

The Trojan Horse scandal centred on an anonymous letter leaked to the media in 2014 that allegedly detailed a step-by-step "Muslim plot” to take over schools in the UK and impose an extreme version of Islam. British media was sent into a frenzy and perpetuated the idea that the letter was legitimate.

The podcast series, The Trojan Horse Affair, which was launched in February by Serial Productions and the New York Times, follows journalists Brian Reed and Hamza Syed as they set out to identify the author of the anonymous letter that shaped the government’s counter-extremism policy.

The MCB warned authorities at the time to not be “sidetracked by culture wars initiated by divisive commentators”. It rejected the findings of a government report on the issue.

“This podcast reveals the deep-rooted nature of institutional Islamophobia in the UK. Each episode is a damning indictment of how narratives and tropes were perpetuated to feed a story of moral panic, in which Muslims are centre stage,” Zara Mohammed, secretary general of the MCB, said on Thursday.

© MIddle East Eye 2022

Read more...