Yep, the hijab does a wonderful job protecting women

"So certain moderate Muslims are now suggesting that devout women can take off their shrouds and walk free in God's sunshine. How very magnanimous of them. It turns out that rigging yourself up like a parrot's cage with the covering on is less to do with flaunting your devilish female charms and thus inflaming bestial male passion, as we were told, than allowing Muslim women to go 'unmolested'. So now, if wearing the hijab means women will be molested by us nasty infidels, they can go without."

Julie Burchill in the Times, 6 August 2005

Blair's crackdown wins backing of Jihad Watch

Blair's attack on civil liberties meets with the wholehearted approval of Robert Spencer.

Jihad Watch, 6 August 2005

Hizb ut-Tahrir slams Blair’s ban

Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain has slammed Prime Minister Tony Blair's pledge to ban the Islamic group in the country as a part of anti-terror measures that also drew immediate criticism from rights groups and individual lawyers.

Islam Online, 6 August 2005

FOSIS opposes Blair's crackdown

The Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS) is very concerned and casts doubt on the potential effectiveness of some of the measures announced by the Prime Minister today.

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Stop Political Terror denounces the banning of Hizb-ut-Tahrir

"Although there are many Islamic groups and organisations that may essentially disagree with the methodology of the Hizb-ut-Tahrir, Stop Political Terror clearly recognises that the group has a strong policy of non-violence. Proscribing the group in the way intended by Tony Blair will only deepen the sense of injustice that is already decaying this nation's principles of freedom."

Stop Political Terror press release, 5 August 2005

Freedom and civil liberties must not be forsaken – MAB

The Muslim Association of Britain expressed grave concern over the Prime Minister’s statements at the press conference earlier today, in which he outlined a number of radical measures and proposed extreme legislative changes.

MAB news release, 5 August 2005

And what 'civilisation' do Nazis represent?

"The clash of civilisations is brewing along fault lines from Pennine Lancashire and London through the major cities of western Europe to the southern borders of Russia with on one hand European scientific progress, innovation and its cultural basis in democracy, equality of the sexes and freedom of thought pitted against the Islamic culture of intellectual repression, concentrating power in the hands of a misogynistic theocracy."

BNP news article, 5 August 2005

Blair extremism measures: reaction

Politicians, police, campaigners and community leaders give their responses to Tony Blair's plans to deport foreign nationals who encourage terrorism and ban the Islamic organisations Hizb ut Tahrir and Al-Muhajiroun.

BBC News, 5 August 2005

At-a-glance: new terror plans

A useful summary of Blair's main proposals.

BBC News, 5 August 2005

Hizb ut-Tahrir should be marginalised but not banned

"This is so annoying – last week I was condeming Hizb ut-Tahrir, now I'm forced to defend them with the government ban. Today's announcement has exposed serious flaws in the way Labour deals with Muslim and non-Muslim groups. I am no fan of HT as it has always been clear on these pages, but there needs to be a sense of perspective and equal rights for everyone."

Sunny Hundal at Asians in Media, 5 August 2005