Home Office urged to deport 'hate preacher' from United Kingdom

The American-born preacher describes himself as a “role model for young Muslims all around the world"

The United Kingdom home secretary has been asked to deport a 'hate preacher' alleged to have earlier called for homosexuals to be beheaded or burned to death.



Shaykh Hamza Sodagar is in London this week to deliver a series of lectures at the Islamic Republic of Iran School, which is run by the Iranian government. The American-born preacher, who describes himself as a “role model for young Muslims all around the world,” has previously featured in a video listing five ways in which homosexuals should be killed.

He is heard saying in the footage, “If there’s homosexual men, the punishment is one of five things. One - the easiest one maybe - chop their head off, that’s the easiest. Second - burn them to death.” He continues, “Third - throw ‘em off a cliff. Fourth - tear down a wall on them so they die under that. Fifth - a combination of the above.”

Sheikh Hamza Sodagar was born in Kentucky, and was raised in Maryland until his family moved to Iran. He is a scholar who currently lives in Iran, where he has spent the past 16 years studying Islam. He has previously described Americans and Europeans as “kuffar”- and says they are puppets of Jewish lobby groups, describing Israel as a “cancerous tumour”.

Rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has called on the home secretary to revoke the preacher's visa.  “In a free society, Hamza Sodagar has a right to believe that homosexuality is sinful but not to preach about ways to kill lesbians and homosexual men,” Tatchell said. “Many people with far less extreme views, who have never advocated violence, have been banned from entering the UK,” he added. “Calling for death to LGBT people crosses a red line. The Home Office was wrong to grant him a visa and should now revoke it. The cleric should be ordered out of the country.”



The Home Office said it would not comment on individual cases, but a spokesperson told the Mail Online: “An individual can be excluded on the grounds that their presence is ‘not conducive to the public good’ if it is reasonable, consistent and proportionate based on the evidence available.”

The series of lectures is organised by the Ahlulbayt Islamic Mission - a nonprofit British group which says it was founded by a group of Muslim activists and thinkers.

The Ahlulbayt Islamic Mission has defended the cleric, describing claims he called for homosexuals to be killed as “laughable and absurd.” It said, “In remarks made in 2010, as part of a series of lectures delivered on mercy, love and hatred in Islam through a commentary of a supplication from the Islamic tradition, Shaykh Hamza explained the position of Islam on homosexuality, and that it is not compatible with Islam.” The statement added, “This is a clear and undeniable position that is upheld by Islam as found in Islamic scripture and tradition.”

“In this regard, it must be understood, as was mentioned in the very same lecture series, that Islamic penal code cannot be administered outside the framework of law-enforcement and legal process within a legitimate government," the statement further read.

“De-contextualised excerpts of this series, were used by right-wing media to suggest that Shaykh Hamza was calling for ‘the beheading and burning of homosexuals’. This is untrue and a mischievous and malicious accusation to make,” The Ahlulbayt Islamic Mission said.

This article originally appeared on Mail Online.