NSS raises concerns with BBC over interview with extremist imam

The NSS has raised concerns with the BBC after a presenter introduced an imam as "highly respected" without acknowledging his extremist views.

Haitham al-Haddad (pictured, second left, with Taliban Minister of Foreign Affairs) was interviewed by BBC Radio London's Asad Ahmad last month about far-right violence and extremism in the UK.

In 2018, Sara Khan, then Lead Commissioner for Countering Extremism said: "Haitham al-Haddad's views are misogynistic, racist and homophobic. They promote a supremacist 'us versus them' worldview that wrongly makes Muslims feel that they can't be fully British".

BBC editorial guidelines on impartiality state: "particular viewpoints [of contributors] should be made available to the audience, when relevant to the context."

Misogyny and homophobia

Al-Haddad says Islamically approved female circumcision "is better for the husband" and "a virtue or honour for women".

According to The Times he believes all "western women should submit to Allah and wear the niqab".

On domestic violence, al-Haddad says: "A man should not be questioned why he hit his wife, because this is something between them."

Al-Haddad said the "younger the better" when asked for advice on the best age for a teenage girl to marry.

He has described homosexuality as a "criminal act" and, according to the BBC, believes "god hates homosexuals".

Taliban apologism and Islamic supremacism

Al-Haddad was part of a delegation of British imams that met with Taliban officials in Afghanistan last year.

Speaking about the trip at Queen Mary University, al-Haddad said: "the level of professionalism of the leaders of the government was really amazing".

He suggested the "enemies of Islam" are using the issue of women's rights to "interfere" in Afghanistan. He said we are "maybe brainwashed by the Islamophobic media about this issue".

Women in Afghanistan are banned from speaking in public, accessing secondary education and entering parks. They must wear the burqa in public.

The UN's special representative for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, said of the ban on speaking in public: It extends the already intolerable restrictions on the rights of Afghan women and girls, with even the sound of a female voice outside the home apparently deemed a moral violation

In 2023, al-Haddad said of London: "if you go outside you think that you are in a second Afghanistan, but you are in Londonistan. So it is really amazing, overwhelming."

A charity he once served as a trustee at, Muslim Research and Development Foundation, has been described as wanting to "overthrow this country's secular democracy and install some form of Sharia dictatorship".

According to the BBC, he believes "leaving Islam is punishable by death in the right circumstances". When asked if people should be allowed to insult Islam, he replied: "no".

The title of a video on his YouTube channel describes Judaism and Christianity as "Distorted Religions that Insult Allah".

Khan review: concerns about engagement with 'community leaders'

Sara Khan was appointed as the Government's Independent Adviser for Social Cohesion and Resilience in 2021.

Her 2024 review "Threats to Social Cohesion And Democratic Resilience" describes engagement with "self-appointed and self-representative 'community leaders'" as "outdated".

One contributor to the report describes officials "inadvertently supporting extremist preachers in the misguided belief that they have a positive relationship with a minority community."

NSS: 'Impartiality demands fundamentalist views are properly acknowledged'

NSS human rights lead Alejandro Sanchez said: "It is for the BBC to decide whether to platform extremists like Haitham al-Haddad.

"But impartiality demands fundamentalist views are properly acknowledged. This did not happen in BBC Radio London's interview."

Update: The BBC have now responded to our concerns. They said: "We accept we should have been clearer about the views he has expressed in the past and challenged him on them more robustly.

"However, we are committed to hearing from a range of contributors and experts to offer a variety of views and perspectives on these complex issues."