Police accuse Channel 4 of distorting film on radical Muslim preachers

Channel 4 has been reported to broadcasting watchdog Ofcom for "heavily editing" the words of Islamic imams to give them more sinister meaning in Dispatches: Undercover Mosque.

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The official complaint by police is all the more remarkable because officers were originally focusing on whether the sermons of three of the preachers shown merited prosecution for inciting terrorism or racial hatred.

West Midlands Police launched an eight-month inquiry after the programme's secret filming depicted radical preachers at British mosques calling for the West to be "taken over" by Muslims.

One was shown glorying in the Taliban's murder of British Muslim soldier Jabron Hashmi in Afghanistan, saying: "The hero of Islam is the one who separated his head from his shoulders."

But officers soon began to suggest that Channel 4 itself should be prosecuted for inciting racial hatred.

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The police and Crown Prosecution Service jointly announced there was no likelihood of successfully prosecuting either party.

The CPS's reviewing lawyer, Bethan David, said the imams' speeches had been "completely distorted".

Miss David said: "In this case we have been dealing with a heavily edited television programme, apparently taking out of context aspects of speeches which in their totality could never provide a realistic prospect of any convictions."

But Miss David advised police against invoking the Public Order Act 1986 against Channel 4, stating she found insufficient evidence racial hatred had been stirred by the programme, and no evidence that had been the broadcaster's intention.

However, West Midlands Police did report Channel 4 to Ofcom over the "distortion" claim.

Ofcom - which received 350 complaints about Undercover Mosque, which aired in January this year - could levy a fine of up to £ £250,000.

Last night, Channel 4, which claims the documentary revealed "chilling" messages of "hatred and segregation", insisted it was confident Ofcom would reject the 'extraordinary' complaint.

The commissioning editor for Dispatches, Kevin Sutcliffe, said: "West Midlands Police have produced no evidence to support their claims.

"The comments made in the film speak for themselves - several speakers were clearly shown making abhorrent and extreme comments.

"All the speakers were offered a right to reply and none denied making these comments."

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Conservative MP Adam Holloway, a member of the defence select committee and a former undercover documentary journalist himself, leapt to Channel 4's defence.

He said: "The whole point of undercover journalism is to get to the truth of a story of serious public interest.

"It sounds to me as if Channel 4 did a brilliant job - and instead of having a go at them, the police should probably be doing a few undercover investigations themselves."

But Abu Usama, a preacher featured in the programme, told Channel 4 News: "I feel that they should indict the people at Channel 4, the people who put forward this Dispatches programme.

"It has been established and proven that they are trying to undermine the cohesion of the community."

In the film, Mr Usama was shown saying Muslims could not co-exist with non-Muslims.

But he said: "That had nothing to do with inciting or encouraging people to go out and harm anyone; it had everything to do with Muslims holding on to their religion and being proud about their religion."

He said footage of him calling women "deficient" and homosexuals "dogs who should be murdered" were "misconstrued and taken out of context".

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The development comes amid a wave of claims of TV fakery - and was followed by the revelation that the Metropolitan Police are investigating another Dispatches documentary on radical Islam, broadcast on Monday.

Last night the Met announced that they were investigating the programme, entitled Britain Under Attack, which featured a masked man known as 'Abu Muhammed' who told British Muslims that the July 7 bombings were "justified".

Channel 4 said it would not hand police material from the latest documentary unless a court requested it.

On air, the words of hate

THEY claimed to be men of Allah --yet the preachers depicted in Dispatches: Undercover Mosque appeared to spout nothing but hate.

One, Dr Ijaz Mian, was shown saying at Derby's Ahl-e-Hadith mosque: "Being a Muslim, you have to fix a target.

"There will be no House of Commons. From that White House to this Black House, we know we have to dismantle it. Muslims must grow in strength. . . then take over."

He called for religious police to roam Britain's streets, saying: "If you don't come for prayer, we will arrest you. But if you still don't, then... you will be killed."

Another, Sheikh Feiz, was shown on a video sold in the Green Lane mosque car park in Birmingham saying: "We want to have children and offer them as soldiers defending Islam.

"Teach them this, that there is nothing more beloved to me than wanting to die as a mujahid. Put in their soft tender hearts the zeal of jihad and the love of martyrdom."

A third, Abu Usamah, filmed in Birmingham's Green Lane Mosque, was shown saying, "We hate the kuffaar [non-Muslim]", as well as saying Osama Bin Laden was "better than a million George Bushes, he's better than a thousand Tony Blairs".