Westminster University students try to stop 'homophobic' cleric speaking

Students are mounting a last-minute campaign to prevent a preacher accused of having homophobic views from speaking at their university the day before it hosts a national gay pride event.

Haitham al-Haddad, who is alleged to have described homosexuality as “a scourge” and “a criminal act”, has been invited to talk to students at Westminster University on Thursday at an event entitled “Who is Muhammad?”

Members of the university’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) society have launched a petition, which has attracted nearly 2,500 signatures, in an attempt to block the visit and stop him from “preaching hate on our campus”.

Students are particularly concerned because on Friday, the university will host the 10th National Student Pride event, which will be attended by hundreds of students from up to 130 different universities. Speakers include Evan Davis of BBC’s Newsnight and Bethany Black, a transgender comedian and star of Channel 4’s Cucumber.

The petition, which also accuses the Saudi-born Haddad of making controversial comments about the “proper” way to perform female genital mutilation, says: “The event is taking place just one day before the University of Westminster welcomes National Student Pride for the second year. How is it possible to create a safe space for thousands of LGBT students if an anti-gay preacher is allowed on campus a day before?”

The University of Westminster students’ union (UWSU) said Haddad, who was invited by the Islamic Society, had undergone the external speaker-vetting process. A statement said: “UWSU wishes to reflect the diversity of our students and enable our student leaders to deliver events which are important to them.”

Haddad serves as a judge for the Islamic Sharia Council and is chairman of the Muslim Research and Development Foundation, which says it is “devoted to the articulation of classical Islamic principles in a manner that provides a platform for Islam to be the cure for all of humanities ills.”

He has spoken previously at a number of London universities, including Westminster and the School of Oriental and African Studies where he studied for his PhD.

However, in 2012 Amsterdam’s VU University cancelled a debate he was due to participate in and an invitation last year to speak at London Metropolitan University was cancelled.

A London Metropolitan spokesman said there had been concerns about the invitation to speak on campus. A statement at the time said: “Following a positive discussion with the talk’s organisers, the students themselves decided not to proceed with the event.”

Universities currently find themselves at the heart of the debate surrounding freedom of speech and the government’s crackdown on extremism, with attention focused on the threat posed by visiting speakers invited on to campuses.

At Westminster University, meetings are being held between representatives from the LGBTI society, the students’ union and the university to discuss concerns. A spokesperson for the LGBTI society said: “As students we should never be met with the possibility of facing hate in the hands of our own student union.

“Sheikh Haitham al-Haddad has previously referred to homosexuality as evil and also promoted the ‘proper’ way of performing female genital mutilation. University should be a safe space for all and it should not be given a platform for hate of any kind – all students should be provided with a safe learning environment.

“University is not the place to welcome controversial attacks on specific parts of our community and we will not stand for it. The SU have so far refused to listen to our petition. We will continue to fight this and welcome the huge amount of support we have already received.”

The university, in response, highlighted its commitment to freedom of speech and promised the event would be monitored carefully. A spokesman said: “The University of Westminster is committed to maintaining freedom of speech and a range of views as set out in the Education Act 1986.

“As a diverse community of local and international students of many faiths, respect and tolerance is our foremost concern and we will be monitoring the event carefully and any student concerns.

“The university has a strict speaker policy, which means that all speakers are required to give their agreement to abide by a code of practice. Speakers who do not comply with this policy while on campus will not be permitted to speak at the university in the future.”

A spokesperson for National Student Pride said: “Considering Westminster is a Stonewall diversity champion and is such an advocate of our event, it is disappointing that on the eve of our 10th anniversary such an anti-gay speaker has been allowed to speak on campus.

“Homosexuality is not a scourge, and Student Pride has been fighting views like this from its foundation It’s clear and unfortunate news that there is clearly much work to do.

“We are going ahead with the event at Westminster, because we need to highlight homophobia and transphobia on campus.”

Haddad, who last year took part in a video to appeal to Islamic State to spare the life of the British hostage Alan Henning, has vigorously defended himself against some of the allegations levelled against him, including that of antisemitism, but he remains a controversial figure. He could not be contacted for comment.

On the issue of homosexuality, in a post on the website Islam21C.com, Haddad denied being a hate preacher and claimed his views were “legitimately-held religious views” that were shared by millions of other people of all faiths in Britain.

“There are many who have objected in the recent past to the government’s rush to legislate on same-sex marriages, are all these ‘hate preachers’ too; the members of parliament, the Catholic church and the Tory party faithful? The claim is as specious as it is ridiculous,” the post read.