Imam dismissed as No 10’s islamophobia adviser after backing calls to cancel ‘blasphemous’ film

Jun 12, 2022 by Jill

by Edward Malnick, Telegraph:

Government says it had ‘no option but to withdraw’ Qari Asim’s appointment after he backed the protest against The Lady of Heaven film.

An imam who endorsed a campaign for cinemas to cancel a “blasphemous” film about the Prophet Mohammed’s daughter has been dismissed as the Government’s anti-Islamophobia adviser.

In January, Mr Asim, who was appointed as Islamophobia adviser a day before Boris Johnson entered Downing Street in 2019, said that he had been ignored by No 10 and Michael Gove, the Levelling Up Secretary, since taking up the role.

The film’s release on June 3 sparked days of demonstrations at cinemas in Bradford, Bolton, Birmingham, Sheffield, London and Leeds, as protestors branded the film “offensive” and sectarian in its depiction of Islam’s history and early leaders.

Malik Shlibak, executive producer of The Lady of Heaven, blamed a radical group “trying to cause sectarian division” for the protests and cinemas were “crumbling to the pressure”.

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