Labour’s Khan on extremists’ platform

LABOUR’S candidate for London mayor, Sadiq Khan, has come under fire for sharing a platform with a group backed by an extremist imam who was an al-Qaeda recruiter.

Nick Timothy, a former aide to Theresa May, the Home Secretary, has claimed Mr Khan made an error of judgment by going to four meetings organised by the Stop Political Terror, a group supported by the American imam killed in a US airstrike in Yemen, Anwar al-Awlaki. Awlaki was dubbed the ‘‘online bin Laden’’.

The Stop Political Terror later merged with Cage, the organisation that called “Jihadi John” a “beautiful young man”.

Mr Khan, MP for Tooting, hit back at the allegations, describing Cage as a “vile organisation” and saying he went to the events as part of the campaign to stop Babar Ahmad, a Tooting resident, being extradited to the US. Ahmad later pleaded guilty to “conspiracy and providing material to support terrorism”. The meetings occurred in the run-up to the 2005 general election.

Stop Police Terror, started in 2003, changed its name to Stop Political Terror in September 2004.

Mr Khan attended a conference alongside Adnan Siddiqui on August 8, 2004. Mr Siddiqui helped run the group and is a prominent member of Cage. In October Stop Political Terror claimed Awlaki as a “supporter”.

In November 2004, Mr Khan appeared at a Stop Political Terror demonstration outside Woodhill prison where Siddiqui was also present. There were further events in February and March 2005, the earlier of the two alongside Bilal Patel, a supporter of Abu Hamza.