Nazir Ahmed, Baron Ahmed
Encyclopedia
Nazir Ahmed, Baron Ahmed (born 1958) is a member of the House of Lords
, having become the United Kingdom
's first Muslim
life peer
in 1998. Many of his political activities relate to the Islamic community both in the UK and abroad, and he has often attracted controversy. He is a member of the Labour
Party.
, Pakistan
) and is a nephew of late Kalyal Mohammand Yousaf who was also a member of Mahraja Hari singhs's perjah Sabah in 1944, but soon after his birth, at the age of 7, his family migrated to the UK, where he was brought up. He attended Spurley Hey Comprehensive school, then Thomas Rotherham Sixth Form College. He studied Public Administration at Sheffield Hallam University
and joined the Labour Party when he was 18 years old.
in a local market, he began his political career as a local councillor, with most of his activity centred around the North of England. He founded the British Muslim Councillors' Forum in 1992. Ahmed was also made a Justice of the Peace
in the same year and chaired the South Yorkshire Labour Party for some years.
In 1998 Ahmed was appointed to the House of Lords, becoming the first Muslim life peer as Baron Ahmed, of Rotherham
in the County of South Yorkshire
. Lord Ahmed took his oath on the Qur'an
. At the age of 40, he was also one of the youngest peers to achieve this position. As a Muslim peer, much of his activities relate to the Muslim community, both at home and internationally. Ahmed led one of the first delegations on behalf of the British Government on the Muslim pilgrimage of the Hajj
, to Saudi Arabia
and has advocated legislation against religious discrimination, international terrorism and forced marriages.
At home, Ahmed speaks on wider equality issues, and has spoken several times on issues of race, religion and gender. He is seen as one of the leaders of the Muslim community in Britain. He claims to have tried to calm tensions following the aftermath of the 11 September attacks in 2001. However, on 23 February 2005, he hosted a book launch in the House of Lords for the controversial Israel Shamir
, during which the latter claimed, among other things: “The Jews
like an Empire... This love of Empire explains the easiness Jews change their allegiance... Simple minds call it ‘treacherous behaviour’, but it is actually love of Empire per se.” Although this invitation raised some controversy, Ahmed firmly refused to discuss the matter.
In August 2006 he was a signatory to an open letter to Tony Blair
, the Prime Minister, criticising the UK's foreign policy. In 2007 he responded to the award of a knight
hood to Salman Rushdie by claiming he was appalled, stating that Rushdie had 'blood on his hands'.
In September 2007, Ahmed flew to Islamabad
with Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
, in a bid to end Sharif's exile from the country by military ruler Pervez Musharraf
, who had ousted him in a coup d'état
. Ahmed negotiated with police to allow Sharif to enter the airport terminal and pass through customs
, but Sharif was arrested later, and deported.
After the reform of the House of Lords, Ahmed took over from Lord Sudeley
to act as Host for the Forum for Stable Currencies
.
On 19 June 2007 Lord Ahmed criticised the honouring of Salman Rushdie with a knighthood because of what Lord Ahmed saw as Rushdie's offensiveness to Islam. He was reported to have said, "It's hypocrisy by Tony Blair who two weeks ago was talking about building bridges to mainstream Muslims, and then he's honouring a man who has insulted the British public and been divisive in community relations." "This man not only provoked violence around the world because of his writings, but there were many people who were killed around the world. Forgiving and forgetting is one thing, but honouring the man who has blood on his hands, sort of, because of what he did, I think is going a bit too far." He also said on BBC Radio 4
's PM
programme that he had been appalled by the award to a man he accused of having 'blood on his hands'.
In November 2007 Ahmed was involved in a diplomatic effort to secure the release of Gillian Gibbons from custody in Sudan
. The teacher, Gillian Gibbons, allowed her class to name a teddy bear Muhammad. Lord Ahmed, from Britain's ruling Labour Party, and Baroness Warsi, an opposition Conservative, visited Khartoum
and had a meeting with the President of Sudan. Following this the President pardoned Ms Gibbons and she was allowed to return to the UK.
In June 2008, political editor of Newsnight
, Michael Crick
, reported that Ahmed had been rumoured to be preparing to defect to the Conservative Party
, but that he had denied this.
who are now second or third generation British. He has expressed that he is anxious to see that these regions continue to live peacefully amidst the growing move towards the far right
across Europe, and strives to encourage positive integration into society so that people of all cultures can live together harmoniously.
Born in the region, Ahmed has a personal interest in seeing a peaceful resolve to the ongoing bloody dispute in Kashmir
and seeks international mediation to achieve this. As well as being an active figure in the Indian Subcontinent, he has worked on the plight of Muslims around the world ranging from the collapse of former Yugoslavia
, especially to the Bosniaks and Palestinians. He has been on many delegations to the Arab
world, the US, Eastern Europe, Africa, the former states of the USSR and the Far East, meeting with heads of state to discuss their respective problems and how he may be able to assist them.
Ahmed helps with various charitable causes and is on the board of several organisations from local groups such as his position as President of South Yorkshire Victim Support
, to international bodies such as his board membership on the SAARC Foundation.
, an organization set up to promote world peace in the aftermath of the 9/11 with an effort to build bridges of understanding between The Muslim World and the West by reviving a tradition of Dialogue between people, cultures and civilizations based on tolerance.
. He claimed he had a heated conversation with Foreign Office minister Denis MacShane
, during which Dr MacShane claimed to have transcripts of Lord Ahmed's private conversations. The government denied that Lord Ahmed was under surveillance, and Dr MacShane said that his remarks had been misinterpreted.
On 25 July 2005 Lord Ahmed, while interviewing with Robert Siegel
on National Public Radio, said that the suicide bombers of 7/7
had an "identity crisis" and that "unfortunately, our imams and mosques have not been able to communicate the true message of Islam in the language that these young people can understand." Christopher Orlet of The American Spectator did not agree with Lord Ahmed's "identity crisis." He said, "That's not an identity crisis, Lord Ahmed, that's religious psychopathy. That's a bloodthirstiness that makes Dracula look like a teetotaler." Lord Ahmed did acknowledge, "the community leaders and religious leaders, who have kept very close contacts with South Asia and the Middle East rather than keeping a good contact with the British society where we live."
On 30 November 2006, the New Statesman
'revealed' http://www.newstatesman.com/200611300000 that Lord Ahmed campaigned against his fellow Muslim and Labour parliamentarian Shahid Malik
during the Dewsbury
election in 2005. Ahmed instead backed Sayeeda Warsi
, vice-chair of the Conservative Party, a personal friend. According to the New Statesman's report, Warsi "welcomed Lord Ahmed's support". The New Statesman confirmed that Lord Ahmed denies supporting the Conservative Party in any way.
(columnist) claimed that Lord Ahmed had threatened to "bring a force of 10,000 Muslims to lay siege to the Lords if the campaigning anti-Islamist Dutch MP Geert Wilders
was allowed to speak" at a broadcast of the film Fitna
Mr Wilder's had been invited by Peers from the House of Lords
to debate issues of social inclusion. This claim was later denied by Lord Ahmed, but the House of Lords authorities had determined to provide adequate security, if necessary. In the event, the film Fitna was broadcast as planned, but Mr Wilders denied entry to the UK, this meanwhile led many commentators to deplore the action by the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith
as appeasement.
near Rotherham in which Martin Gombar, 28, was killed. Mr Gombar had been drinking alcohol before the crash and the vehicle had turned round and stopped, straddling the second and third (outer) lane, following a collision with the central reservation (median). Although initially leaving his vehicle, he returned to the car apparently to retrieve his mobile phone before being hit by Lord Ahmed, who was driving his Jaguar X-Type
. Lord Ahmed's wife and mother, who were passengers in his car, also received minor injuries.
On 1 December 2008, Lord Ahmed appeared at Sheffield Magistrates' Court
in connection with a charge of dangerous driving. Lord Ahmed admitted sending and receiving five text messages on his phone while driving two minutes before the crash, and pleaded guilty to the charge before him. He was banned from driving until his sentencing. On 22 December, Sheffield Magistrates' Court referred the case for sentencing at the Crown Court
on 19 January due to its "aggravating features". This was later put back until 25 February. Lord Ahmed was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison, which meant he would serve six actual weeks in jail and was disqualifed from driving for 12 months.
On 12 March 2009 Lord Ahmed was freed by the Court of Appeal.
Lady Justice Hallett said it was important to state that Ahmed's offence was one of dangerous driving, not of causing death by dangerous driving. Hallett said that there was "little or nothing" Ahmed could have done to avoid the collision and that after being knocked unconscious, he had come to and 'risked his life trying to flag down other vehicles to stop them colliding with the Audi or his car'. She said that while his prison sentence had been justified, the court had been persuaded it could now take an "exceptional" course and suspend the sentence for 12 months. Lord Ahmed was freed just 16 days into his sentence.
, London E12.
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
, having become the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
's first Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
life peer
Life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...
in 1998. Many of his political activities relate to the Islamic community both in the UK and abroad, and he has often attracted controversy. He is a member of the Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
Party.
Early life
Baron Nazir Ahmed was born in a Jat family of Mirpur (Azad KashmirAzad Kashmir
Azad Jammu and Kashmir or Azad Kashmir for short, is the southernmost political entity within the Pakistani-administered part of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
) and is a nephew of late Kalyal Mohammand Yousaf who was also a member of Mahraja Hari singhs's perjah Sabah in 1944, but soon after his birth, at the age of 7, his family migrated to the UK, where he was brought up. He attended Spurley Hey Comprehensive school, then Thomas Rotherham Sixth Form College. He studied Public Administration at Sheffield Hallam University
Sheffield Hallam University
Sheffield Hallam University is a higher education institution in South Yorkshire, England, based on two sites in Sheffield. City Campus is located in the city centre, close to Sheffield railway station, and Collegiate Crescent Campus is about two miles away, adjacent to Ecclesall Road in...
and joined the Labour Party when he was 18 years old.
Politics
While he worked during the week-day as a greengrocerGreengrocer
A greengrocer or fruiterer is a retail trader in fruit and vegetables; that is, in green groceries. Greengrocer is primarily a British and Australian term, and greengrocers' shops were once common in suburbs, towns and villages...
in a local market, he began his political career as a local councillor, with most of his activity centred around the North of England. He founded the British Muslim Councillors' Forum in 1992. Ahmed was also made a Justice of the Peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
in the same year and chaired the South Yorkshire Labour Party for some years.
In 1998 Ahmed was appointed to the House of Lords, becoming the first Muslim life peer as Baron Ahmed, of Rotherham
Rotherham
Rotherham is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Don, at its confluence with the River Rother, between Sheffield and Doncaster. Rotherham, at from Sheffield City Centre, is surrounded by several smaller settlements, which together form the wider Metropolitan Borough of...
in the County of South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...
. Lord Ahmed took his oath on the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
. At the age of 40, he was also one of the youngest peers to achieve this position. As a Muslim peer, much of his activities relate to the Muslim community, both at home and internationally. Ahmed led one of the first delegations on behalf of the British Government on the Muslim pilgrimage of the Hajj
Hajj
The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...
, to Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
and has advocated legislation against religious discrimination, international terrorism and forced marriages.
At home, Ahmed speaks on wider equality issues, and has spoken several times on issues of race, religion and gender. He is seen as one of the leaders of the Muslim community in Britain. He claims to have tried to calm tensions following the aftermath of the 11 September attacks in 2001. However, on 23 February 2005, he hosted a book launch in the House of Lords for the controversial Israel Shamir
Israel Shamir
Israel Shamir is a writer and journalist. He is a commentator on Arab - Israeli relations and Jewish culture. Originally from Novosibirsk, Siberia, Shamir says he moved to Israel in 1969, serving in the 1973 war, after which he took up journalism and writing...
, during which the latter claimed, among other things: “The Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
like an Empire... This love of Empire explains the easiness Jews change their allegiance... Simple minds call it ‘treacherous behaviour’, but it is actually love of Empire per se.” Although this invitation raised some controversy, Ahmed firmly refused to discuss the matter.
In August 2006 he was a signatory to an open letter to Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
, the Prime Minister, criticising the UK's foreign policy. In 2007 he responded to the award of a knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
hood to Salman Rushdie by claiming he was appalled, stating that Rushdie had 'blood on his hands'.
In September 2007, Ahmed flew to Islamabad
Islamabad
Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and the tenth largest city in the country. Located within the Islamabad Capital Territory , the population of the city has grown from 100,000 in 1951 to 1.7 million in 2011...
with Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
Nawaz Sharif
Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif is a Pakistani conservative politician and steel magnate who served as 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from November 1990 to July 1993, and from February 1997 to October 12, 1999...
, in a bid to end Sharif's exile from the country by military ruler Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf , is a retired four-star general who served as the 13th Chief of Army Staff and tenth President of Pakistan as well as tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Musharraf headed and led an administrative military government from October 1999 till August 2007. He ruled...
, who had ousted him in a coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
. Ahmed negotiated with police to allow Sharif to enter the airport terminal and pass through customs
Customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country...
, but Sharif was arrested later, and deported.
After the reform of the House of Lords, Ahmed took over from Lord Sudeley
Merlin Hanbury-Tracy, 7th Baron Sudeley
Merlin Charles Sainthill Hanbury-Tracy, 7th Baron Sudeley, FSA is a British peer, author and veteran right-wing activist. In 1941, at the age of three, he succeeded his first cousin once removed, the 6th Lord Sudeley, to the Barony of Sudeley and until the House of Lords Act 1999 sat in that body...
to act as Host for the Forum for Stable Currencies
Forum for Stable Currencies
Forum for Stable Currencies is a political advocacy group in the United Kingdom seeking economic democracy through freedom from national debt. Founded in 1998, the group is a non-governmental organization without governmental funding...
.
On 19 June 2007 Lord Ahmed criticised the honouring of Salman Rushdie with a knighthood because of what Lord Ahmed saw as Rushdie's offensiveness to Islam. He was reported to have said, "It's hypocrisy by Tony Blair who two weeks ago was talking about building bridges to mainstream Muslims, and then he's honouring a man who has insulted the British public and been divisive in community relations." "This man not only provoked violence around the world because of his writings, but there were many people who were killed around the world. Forgiving and forgetting is one thing, but honouring the man who has blood on his hands, sort of, because of what he did, I think is going a bit too far." He also said on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
's PM
PM (Radio 4)
PM, sometimes referred to as the PM programme to avoid ambiguity, is BBC Radio 4's long-running early evening news and current affairs programme.-Broadcast times:...
programme that he had been appalled by the award to a man he accused of having 'blood on his hands'.
In November 2007 Ahmed was involved in a diplomatic effort to secure the release of Gillian Gibbons from custody in Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
. The teacher, Gillian Gibbons, allowed her class to name a teddy bear Muhammad. Lord Ahmed, from Britain's ruling Labour Party, and Baroness Warsi, an opposition Conservative, visited Khartoum
Khartoum
Khartoum is the capital and largest city of Sudan and of Khartoum State. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile flowing north from Lake Victoria, and the Blue Nile flowing west from Ethiopia. The location where the two Niles meet is known as "al-Mogran"...
and had a meeting with the President of Sudan. Following this the President pardoned Ms Gibbons and she was allowed to return to the UK.
In June 2008, political editor of Newsnight
Newsnight
Newsnight is a BBC Television current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis and often robust cross-examination of senior politicians. Jeremy Paxman has been its main presenter for over two decades....
, Michael Crick
Michael Crick
Michael Crick is a British journalist, author and broadcaster. Crick was a founding member of the Channel 4 News Team in 1982. He worked on the BBC's Newsnight between 1992 and 2011, acting as the programme's political editor from 2007 to his departure...
, reported that Ahmed had been rumoured to be preparing to defect to the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
, but that he had denied this.
Activities
As a resident of Rotherham, Ahmed has spoken on behalf of the communities in that region, particularly the families of the former steelworkers of the 1960s, from the Indian subcontinentIndian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
who are now second or third generation British. He has expressed that he is anxious to see that these regions continue to live peacefully amidst the growing move towards the far right
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
across Europe, and strives to encourage positive integration into society so that people of all cultures can live together harmoniously.
Born in the region, Ahmed has a personal interest in seeing a peaceful resolve to the ongoing bloody dispute in Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
and seeks international mediation to achieve this. As well as being an active figure in the Indian Subcontinent, he has worked on the plight of Muslims around the world ranging from the collapse of former Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, especially to the Bosniaks and Palestinians. He has been on many delegations to the Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
world, the US, Eastern Europe, Africa, the former states of the USSR and the Far East, meeting with heads of state to discuss their respective problems and how he may be able to assist them.
Ahmed helps with various charitable causes and is on the board of several organisations from local groups such as his position as President of South Yorkshire Victim Support
Victim Support
Victim Support is a charity in England and Wales which aims to help victims and witnesses of crime by raising awareness of their needs and by delivering dedicated services to them. It was established in 1974. It is a national charity with branches in every community and each criminal court in...
, to international bodies such as his board membership on the SAARC Foundation.
The World Forum
Lord Ahmed was among the founders of The World ForumThe World Forum
The World Forum is a non governmental, independent, and voluntary organization set up in London and Dubai committed to world peace.The World Forum believes in reviving a tradition of dialogue between people, cultures and civilizations based on shared values like tolerance, mutual respect, humanity,...
, an organization set up to promote world peace in the aftermath of the 9/11 with an effort to build bridges of understanding between The Muslim World and the West by reviving a tradition of Dialogue between people, cultures and civilizations based on tolerance.
Controversies
In December 2001, Lord Ahmed claimed that his phone had been tapped by the government because of his opposition to its intervention in AfghanistanAfghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. He claimed he had a heated conversation with Foreign Office minister Denis MacShane
Denis MacShane
Denis MacShane is a British politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Rotherham since the 1994 by-election and served as the Minister for Europe from 2002 until 2005, as well as being a current Policy Council member for Labour Friends of Israel.On 14 October 2010, it was announced...
, during which Dr MacShane claimed to have transcripts of Lord Ahmed's private conversations. The government denied that Lord Ahmed was under surveillance, and Dr MacShane said that his remarks had been misinterpreted.
On 25 July 2005 Lord Ahmed, while interviewing with Robert Siegel
Robert Siegel
Robert Siegel is an American radio journalist best known as host of the National Public Radio evening news broadcast All Things Considered.-Career:...
on National Public Radio, said that the suicide bombers of 7/7
7 July 2005 London bombings
The 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of co-ordinated suicide attacks in the United Kingdom, targeting civilians using London's public transport system during the morning rush hour....
had an "identity crisis" and that "unfortunately, our imams and mosques have not been able to communicate the true message of Islam in the language that these young people can understand." Christopher Orlet of The American Spectator did not agree with Lord Ahmed's "identity crisis." He said, "That's not an identity crisis, Lord Ahmed, that's religious psychopathy. That's a bloodthirstiness that makes Dracula look like a teetotaler." Lord Ahmed did acknowledge, "the community leaders and religious leaders, who have kept very close contacts with South Asia and the Middle East rather than keeping a good contact with the British society where we live."
On 30 November 2006, the New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
'revealed' http://www.newstatesman.com/200611300000 that Lord Ahmed campaigned against his fellow Muslim and Labour parliamentarian Shahid Malik
Shahid Malik
Shahid Rafique Malik is a British Labour Party politician who became the Member of Parliament for Dewsbury in 2005 after defeating Conservative Sayeeda Warsi, now Conservative Chair Baroness Warsi and remained so till 2010 when Conservative candidate Simon Reevell won Dewsbury...
during the Dewsbury
Dewsbury
Dewsbury is a minster town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Huddersfield and south of Leeds...
election in 2005. Ahmed instead backed Sayeeda Warsi
Sayeeda Warsi
Sayeeda Hussain Warsi, Baroness Warsi is a British lawyer and politician. She is the co-Chairman of the Conservative Party ....
, vice-chair of the Conservative Party, a personal friend. According to the New Statesman's report, Warsi "welcomed Lord Ahmed's support". The New Statesman confirmed that Lord Ahmed denies supporting the Conservative Party in any way.
Geert Wilders threat
On 11 February Melanie PhillipsMelanie Phillips
Melanie Phillips is a British journalist and author. She began her career on the left of the political spectrum, writing for such publications as The Guardian and New Statesman. In the 1990s she moved to the right, and she now writes for the Daily Mail newspaper, covering political and social...
(columnist) claimed that Lord Ahmed had threatened to "bring a force of 10,000 Muslims to lay siege to the Lords if the campaigning anti-Islamist Dutch MP Geert Wilders
Geert Wilders
Geert Wilders is a Dutch right-wing politician and leader of the Party for Freedom , the third-largest political party in the Netherlands. He is the Parliamentary group leader of his party in the Dutch House of Representatives...
was allowed to speak" at a broadcast of the film Fitna
Fitna (film)
Fitna is a 2008 short political, propaganda film by Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders with his view on the religion of the Islam. Approximately 17 minutes in length, the movie shows selected excerpts from Suras of the Qur'an, interspersed with media clips and newspaper cuttings showing or...
Mr Wilder's had been invited by Peers from the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
to debate issues of social inclusion. This claim was later denied by Lord Ahmed, but the House of Lords authorities had determined to provide adequate security, if necessary. In the event, the film Fitna was broadcast as planned, but Mr Wilders denied entry to the UK, this meanwhile led many commentators to deplore the action by the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith
Jacqui Smith
Jacqueline Jill "Jacqui" Smith is a member of the British Labour Party. She served as the Member of Parliament for Redditch from 1997 until 2010 and was the first ever female Home Secretary, thus making her the third woman to hold one of the Great Offices of State — after Margaret Thatcher and...
as appeasement.
Fatal road crash and subsequent jail sentence
On 25 December 2007, Lord Ahmed was injured in a crash on the M1 motorwayM1 motorway
The M1 is a north–south motorway in England primarily connecting London to Leeds, where it joins the A1 near Aberford. While the M1 is considered to be the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the United Kingdom, the first road to be built to motorway standard in the country was the...
near Rotherham in which Martin Gombar, 28, was killed. Mr Gombar had been drinking alcohol before the crash and the vehicle had turned round and stopped, straddling the second and third (outer) lane, following a collision with the central reservation (median). Although initially leaving his vehicle, he returned to the car apparently to retrieve his mobile phone before being hit by Lord Ahmed, who was driving his Jaguar X-Type
Jaguar X-Type
The X-Type is a compact executive car manufactured and marketed for model years 2001-2009 by Jaguar Cars. The smallest of the Jaguar model range, the X-type was marketed in saloon and wagon variants and was the only estate ever manufactured in series production by the company...
. Lord Ahmed's wife and mother, who were passengers in his car, also received minor injuries.
On 1 December 2008, Lord Ahmed appeared at Sheffield Magistrates' Court
Magistrates' Court
A magistrates' court or court of petty sessions, formerly known as a police court, is the lowest level of court in England and Wales and many other common law jurisdictions...
in connection with a charge of dangerous driving. Lord Ahmed admitted sending and receiving five text messages on his phone while driving two minutes before the crash, and pleaded guilty to the charge before him. He was banned from driving until his sentencing. On 22 December, Sheffield Magistrates' Court referred the case for sentencing at the Crown Court
Crown Court
The Crown Court of England and Wales is, together with the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal, one of the constituent parts of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
on 19 January due to its "aggravating features". This was later put back until 25 February. Lord Ahmed was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison, which meant he would serve six actual weeks in jail and was disqualifed from driving for 12 months.
On 12 March 2009 Lord Ahmed was freed by the Court of Appeal.
Lady Justice Hallett said it was important to state that Ahmed's offence was one of dangerous driving, not of causing death by dangerous driving. Hallett said that there was "little or nothing" Ahmed could have done to avoid the collision and that after being knocked unconscious, he had come to and 'risked his life trying to flag down other vehicles to stop them colliding with the Audi or his car'. She said that while his prison sentence had been justified, the court had been persuaded it could now take an "exceptional" course and suspend the sentence for 12 months. Lord Ahmed was freed just 16 days into his sentence.
Family life
Ahmed married Sakina Bibi in 1974. They have three children and three grandchildren, and continue to live in Rotherham. He also lives in AldersbrookAldersbrook
Aldersbrook is the name given to an Edwardian housing estate in North-East London. It is named after the , a small tributary of the River Roding. It is bound by Aldersbrook Road to the south, Bush Wood to the west, Wanstead Park to the north, and the City of London Cemetery and Crematorium to the...
, London E12.