A former counterterrorism sergeant has attacked the Metropolitan police for failing to tackle extremist views among some of its Muslim officers for fear of being labelled “Islamophobic”.
Javaria Saeed, a practising Muslim who worked in Scotland Yard’s counterterrorism division, complained to her bosses after she witnessed a fellow Muslim officer saying female genital mutilation (FGM) — illegal in the UK since 1985 — was a “clean and honourable practice ” and “shouldn’t be criminalised”.
The same officer, a Muslim constable in the SO15 counterterrorism unit, also said female Muslim victims of domestic violence should not appeal to the police for help, but resolve their cases in a sharia court, except in “serious violent cases”, according to Saeed. However, although she raised both comments with her managers, she said they failed to take action against the officer because they were afraid of being accused of racism. Whistleblower speaks out: Islamic extremism in the Met
Saeed’s attack on “political correctness” at Scotland Yard comes after West Midlands police sparked outrage when they said Muslim officers could be allowed to wear niqabs — full-face veils to reflect the “community we serve”.
Even the Muslim Council of Britain said women who wore veils would “probably not want to be in the police” because of their strict views.
Saeed, who speaks four languages, including Urdu and Punjabi, and worked in several departments, including prison intelligence, during her 10-year career, said she was demonised by some fellow Muslim officers, labelled a “bad Muslim” for not wearing a hijab (Islamic headdress) and told she was “better off at home looking after your husband”.
Saeed, 35, said she resigned in March after becoming disheartened by “political correctness”, which allowed an “us and them” culture to thrive among some Muslim officers who considered themselves beyond the law.
In her first interview since quitting, Saeed told The Sunday Times that the Met applied a different standard when looking into complaints against some Muslim officers from those it applied to non-Muslims. There are 600 Muslim officers in the Met.
“Racism in the Met is not from white officers in my case, but from Muslim officers who the service refused to properly investigate because they were afraid of being called Islamophobic and racist,” said Saeed.
She also worked in the Muslim Contact Unit (MCU) within SO15, which was set up to improve relations between police and the Islamic community.
“My experiences were that it was Muslim officers being racist towards my individual views; also in private, holding racist views against white officers, and sexist views against females,” she said.
“If such views were held and expressed by white officers, they would be fired.”
Saeed said she joined the police in the wake of the 2005 London bombings to help bridge the division between the Muslim community and the authorities. “I was warned by family and friends against joining because they thought I’d be racially discriminated against by white officers. But I resigned because of the sickening views and behaviour of some Muslim officers.”
Saeed said she was advised by her superiors not to make an official complaint against the Muslim constable for his comments about FGM and domestic violence with the professional standards unit because it would “hinder” her own “career progression and tarnish my reputation”.
She did, however, raise the comments with her line manager in August 2013. When no action was taken against the officer, Saeed approached Detective Superintendent Jonathan Wilson, who was responsible for the MCU. Saeed claimed Wilson told her he was aware of the constable’s views and felt they were not in line with those of the police.
In a separate meeting, Saeed raised comments made by another MCU member, also a Muslim constable, whom she accused of saying that Pakistan’s security problems would be resolved with a “strict religious solution . . . like the Taliban”.
She said Wilson assured her they would be investigated as part of a review into the MCU, which was carried out in December 2013. The Met said this weekend that the review produced a number of recommendations that were implemented but would not say what these were.
A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said the constable who made the comments regarding FGM was given “management action” — a procedure often given for minor offences and which could result in an officer doing something as trivial as a training course.
However, both he and the other officer in question remain in their jobs, despite the MCU being merged into the community engagement team this year.
“You give management action to minor offences, so it’s pretty outrageous that the Met did not take proper action against him,” Saeed said. “If he was a white officer, he would have been fired.”