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on foreign fighters and Ukraine. The Foreign Secretary has said she will support British citizens who go to Ukraine to fight Russian troops. This seems to fly in the face of established govt policy on British citizens engaging in conflicts abroad. https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1497874899007856640
Truss' sentiments seem to have chimed with many members of the British public who, judging by callers to radio talk shows, see this as a noble action. Some columnists are even circulating fundraising links to arm the Ukrainian resistance. https://twitter.com/IanDunt/status/1497547260011458563
Journalists on the ground have been glorifying Ukrainian civilians arming themselves to prepare to defend their land from the invading army. Sky News even broadcast a workshop in how to make Molotov cocktails https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1497663247557795844
A Ukrainan soldiers who engaged in a suicide bombing to protect his country and his people was lauded by the tabloid press as a hero https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/17771153/ukrainian-soldier-dies-blowing-up-bridge-russian-tanks/
British Muslims would be forgiven for feeling a sense of bewilderment at the societal & governmental shift in attitude towards militarily assisting an occupied people against a hostile military aggressor.
For over 20 years, British Muslims who have traveled to war zones to help occupied people fight invading forces or oppressive regimes have been targeted by the authorities. If not stripped of their citizenship while abroad, they have been prosecuted for terrorism on return.
Even travel to Syria for wholly humanitarian purposes has been viewed suspiciously leading to the gravest of sanctions as @toxaidworker found out. https://www.mylondon.news/news/being-cockney-lad-helped-tackle-23031142
In 2014, @Moazzam_Begg was detained in prison for 8 months awaiting trial for attending a training camp for Syrian nationals in 2012-2013, a time when the UK was training insurgents in Syria. A day before his trial, police declared him âan innocent manâ. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29442623
The problem goes beyond Syria. In R v F [2007], the Court of Appeal underlined the broad scope of the definition of terrorism by stating that it protected tyrants & dictators from insurrection. Trying to overthrow them was terrorism.
https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2007/243.html
https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2007/243.html
That case involved a Libyan refugee who was accused of planning the military overthrow of Gaddhafi at a time when the dictator was being courted by Tony Blair. Just 4 years later, the UK government would train and fund Libyan groups to oust Gaddhafi. https://crescent.icit-digital.org/articles/british-hypocrisy-over-libyan-refugees
In 2011, British law graduate Mohammed Gul, was sentenced to 5 years in prison for uploading videos online of insurgent attacks on military targets in Iraq, Afghanistan & Chechnya. Judge Paget found that there was no exemption for those engaged in an armed insurrection.
The Supreme Court upheld the decision finding the definition of 'terrorism' was deliberately drafted broadly by parliament to cover attacks on military targets by victims of oppression abroad. There was no just cause exception.
https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/docs/uksc-2012-0124-judgment.pdf
https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/docs/uksc-2012-0124-judgment.pdf
In 2015, Anis Sardar was sentenced to 38 years in prison for his role in making IEDs, one of which killed a US soldier in Iraq in 2007. Sardar was moved by the plight of Sunni Muslims being subjected to persecution at the hands of the US-installed regime. https://www.theguardian.com/law/2015/jul/11/uk-courts-anis-sardar-educated-islam-birmingham-six-gareth-peirce
In 2014, a British Muslim Abdul Waheed Majeed was condemned as a suicide terrorist for blowing himself up to liberate hundreds of prisoners from Assad's dungeons in Syria. As @AsimCP pointed out at the time, Majeed should have been praised for his courage. https://www.cage.ngo/on-cylons-samson-and-sacrifice
Why are Muslims like Begg, Gul, Sardar, Sharif, Majeed, F and countless other Muslims criminalised for rushing to aid the oppressed whereas British citizens are now being supported to do the same in Ukraine with a people who are being lionised for their resistance?
Would British Muslims who travel to Ukraine to fight Russian forces be treated as heroes or terrorists on return? What about those who go to aid fellow Muslims in Crimea? Why is there a difference?
And what explains the double standards when it comes to British people feeling the pain of the oppressed in Ukraine and British Muslims empathising with their oppressed co-religionists abroad? https://twitter.com/fahadansari/status/1497515186860797955
Is it because cultural racism and Islamophobia is so embedded within the Western psyche that institutional Islamophobia is so tolerated? https://twitter.com/Organised_Chao5/status/1497737060723179522
While British Muslims will no doubt be praying for Ukraine's victory against Russia and morally supporting the people who take up arms to defend themselves, few will be prepared to rely on Truss' support were they to travel to join them. Solidarity with Ukraine 
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My tweet about Muslims praying for Ukraineâs victory was on the basis of siding with the oppressed. Posts like this from the Ukrainian National Guard show how the situation is not so black and white. Prayers are for the oppressed, Allah knows who they are. H/T @arzumerali
