Lutfur Rahman

Lutfur Rahman in 2018.
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Muhammad Lutfur Rahman (1965–) is the current mayor of Tower Hamlets in London; a former member of the Labour party, he is now a member of Aspire, a local political party he founded together with a number of Tower Hamlets councillors. He is controversial due to his reported links to Islamic extremist elements and issues related to election integrity.

A 2010 episode of Channel 4's Dispatches series focused on Rahman's ties to the extremist Islamic Forum Europe, which helped him come to power.[1] While council leader, Rahman hired Lutfur Ali as assistant chief executive; Ali went on to fund various IFE front groups with council grants before resigning, after it turned out that he had been working in another job on council time.[2] The following July it emerged that Rahman's solicitor, Makbool Javaid, was connected to al-Muhajiroun, a group which supports al-Qaeda. Javaid also signed a fatwa which demanded "full-scale war of jihad" against the US and UK.[3]

In September 2010, Rahman was suspended by the Labour party as its mayoral candidate for Tower Hamlets following concerns about his conduct.[4] He instead ran as an independent candidate, and succeeded in being elected mayor in October 2010[5], and was re-elected in 2014. In April 2015, Rahman was removed from office after a court found him guilty of "corrupt and illegal practices", and that he'd gained votes via religious intimidation.[6]

In May 2022, following the expiry of his public office ban, Rahman ran again for the mayoralty of Tower Hamlets. He was elected with 54% of the vote. His Aspire party faced criticism for fielding only candidates of Bangladeshi heritage during the election. Only three of their candidates were female.[7] Following the election, independent observers raised allegations over voter intimidation, family voting and impersonating voters.[8]

External links

References

  1. ↑ http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/andrewgilligan/100039244/islamists-are-crushed-in-tower-hamlets/
  2. ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9874695/The-state-versus-the-whistleblower.html
  3. ↑ http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/andrewgilligan/100047498/the-fundamentalist-linked-labour-politician-and-the-extremist-solicitor/
  4. ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/uk/davehillblog/2010/sep/21/lutfur-rahman-removed-as-labour-tower-hamlets-mayoral-candidate
  5. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11604108
  6. ↑ Tower Hamlets mayor guilty of corruption and election result is declared void The Standard, April 24, 2015
  7. ↑ Lutfur’s Aspire Party Rejects Diversity With 100% Bangladeshi Candidate List East End Enquirer, January 27, 2022
  8. ↑ New questions over voting and ‘intimidating’ crowds in Tower Hamlets election The Standard, May 20, 2022
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