57,000 back teacher in Muslim school protest

A PETITION backing the teacher at the centre of the school blasphemy row has been signed by more than 57,000 people.

The teacher at Batley Grammar School in West Yorkshire was suspended and forced into hiding after becoming the target of Muslim protesters.

They were angry that Year 9 pupils had been shown an offensive cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad, previously circulated in the French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo.

The protests led to the school being closed for the Easter holidays a day early, but the protesters’ threats appear to have backfired, with politicians and members of the public expressing fury at the teacher’s treatment.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said suggestions the teacher was in hiding after receiving death threats

were ‘very disturbing’. The school is also facing pressure after a petition calling for the teacher to be reinstated passed the 55,000-signature mark.

The online petition was launched by a pupil at the historic school and declared the teacher ‘is not racist’ and ‘does not deserve such large repercussions’. It says the teacher, who the Daily Mail has chosen not to name, was ‘trying to educate students about racism and blasphemy’ and ‘did not support’ the cartoons that were shown in class.

It also urged people to think of those affected by the furore, including the suspended teacher’s family ‘since they will no longer be able to land a job due to the fact their reputation has been tarnished’.

Yesterday a Muslim neighbour of the teacher told the Mail on Sunday that they were ‘not Islamophobic at all’.

‘This has to be a misunderstanding,’ said married father-of-three Jamal AlTerk, 42. ‘They knock on our door and give us Eid cards when it’s Eid.’

He added: ‘They also gave us halal sweets for Eid, and we have exchanged food during Ramadan.’

Meanwhile, it emerged yesterday that one of the protesters at the school gates is a prominent Muslim preacher who has shared anti-vaccine propaganda and a vile smear against the UK’s Chief Rabbi.

Mohammed Amin Pandor, 62, has also opposed gay marriages and even condemned Strictly Come Dancing.

He belongs to the ultra-conservative Deobandi branch of Islam, and recently shared a fatwa, or ruling, on Facebook and Twitter stating that ‘the uncertainty about the ingredients’ in coronavirus vaccines meant they should not be promoted.

‘Threats very disturbing’