LONDON, 2 August 2004 — A cartoon used in a presentation by a British government official showing a group of men in stereotypical Arab dress in a “terrorist school” has raised the ire of Muslim leaders, the Independent on Sunday reported.
The cartoon depicts a bearded Arab in traditional headdress and with explosives wrapped around his waist preparing to detonate the device.
Standing next to sign saying “Human Bomb Class”, he tells similarly dressed colleagues: “Pay attention, because I’m only going to do this once, OK?”
The cartoon was part of a slide presentation given in November by a senior official in the Home Office’s terrorism and protection unit on the threat of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attacks, the paper said. The secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, Iqbal Sacranie, told the Independent on Sunday the cartoon was “deeply offensive and silly” and portrayed all people “wearing a beard and a cap as potential bomb-makers.”
He said it “plays into the hands of those people who have been saying that there is institutional Islamophobia present in some sections of government departments” and “works against the whole objective of the community cohesion that is at the heart of the government’s agenda.”
He called on the Home Office to withdraw “this silly material.” A spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain, Anas Altikriti, slammed the cartoon as “appalling, outrageous and untrue.”
No one at the Home Office was available for comment.
