Sturgeon shared ‘peace’ platform with anti-gay Iranian preacher
NICOLA Sturgeon appeared at an event alongside an Iranian cleric who likened gay marriage to bestiality, it emerged yesterday.
The First Minister attended the annual Peace and Unity conference in Glasgow in 2017 and 2018, as did theologian Dr Mohammad Shomali.
Miss Sturgeon was pictured alongside Dr Shomali, who has served as an official representative of Ayatollah Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran. He has also been the head of the Islamic Centre of England, in London.
The Jewish Chronicle revealed the encounters between Miss Sturgeon and Dr Shomali despite the ‘abhorrent views’ he has expressed.
Dr Shomali is reported to have published essays based on lectures he gave in 2007 in which he shares his views on same-sex marriages. He said: ‘A hundred years ago it would have been unthinkable for gay marriage to be sanctioned.
Perhaps a day will come when some will desire marriage with animals.’
Miss Sturgeon pulled out of the multi-faith event in 2019. It is set up by the Ahl Al Bait Society Scotland, a Glasgow-based charity.
The society says the conference brings leaders together ‘to influence change [and] challenge atrocities happening around the world’.
Police Scotland Chief Constable Iain Livingstone also declined to take part in 2019.
It followed concerns about the presence of Dr Shomali.
However, another Scottish minister did attend and gave a speech.
The Government said Miss Sturgeon pulled out amid a ‘diary clash,’ while operational demands meant Mr Livingstone could not attend.
Former Tory MEP Struan Stevenson, co-ordinator of the Campaign for Iran Change, said at the time it would have been ‘entirely wrong’ for Miss Sturgeon to ‘be sharing a platform’ with Dr Shomali.
Last night, Scottish Tory MSP Jackson Carlaw said: ‘It is incumbent on the First Minister, the SNP and all Scottish politicians to be mindful of such malignant interventions from hostile foreign states.
‘It should go without saying that these abhorrent homophobic views together with anti-Semitism have absolutely no place in our country.’
Dr Shomali visited Holyrood in 2017 and led the time for reflection, which is held every Tuesday before chamber business begins. He spoke to MSPs of all parties.
A Scottish Labour spokesman said: ‘There is no room in Scotland for any kind of prejudice. Members of the Scottish Government and the parliament must uphold the highest standards of equality, fairness and accountability.’
Asked if Miss Sturgeon regretted sharing a platform with a man who compared gay marriage to bestiality, a spokesman for the First Minister said: ‘Anybody who has ever met the First Minister or listened to [her] say anything would know they are very far from her views.
‘Some of the reporting on this relies on assertion that because the First Minister attended something that somebody else attended... they once shared a platform. It’s a kind of join the dots exercise.’
It comes only weeks after Twitter banned accounts linked to the governments of Iran and Russia which were amplifying messages from critics of Miss Sturgeon and aiming to ‘manipulate the platform’.
Yesterday, a Scottish Government spokesman said ‘hate, prejudice or discrimination of any kind have no place in modern Scotland’.
He added: ‘Ministers are absolutely committed to a welcoming and inclusive country.’
Dr Shomali could not be reached for comment. The Ahl Al Bait Society was contacted for a response.
‘Abhorrent views’