Guardian Unlimited: Met orders review after Muslim refuses to guard Israeli embassy

[Henk Vreekamp]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

vreekamp spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it.

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Note from vreekamp:

Idee voor multicults hier?
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To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk

Met orders review after Muslim refuses to guard Israeli embassy
Fred Attewill
Thursday October 05 2006
The Guardian


Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan police commissioner, last night ordered an urgent review of a policy that allows officers to refuse certain duties on moral grounds after a decision to excuse a Muslim policeman from guarding the Israeli embassy.

PC Alexander Omar Basha, who is attached to the force's Diplomatic Protection Group, objected to being posted to protect Israel's embassy in central London from possible terrorist attack because he disagreed with the country's bombing of Lebanon. The officer had reportedly attended a recent anti-war protest.

A spokesman for Scotland Yard said Sir Ian had ordered a rethink of the service's policy to consider special dispensations on moral grounds.

"Having learned of this issue I have asked for an urgent review of the situation and a full report into the circumstances," he said. A Met spokesman earlier said allowances were occasionally granted to officers who objected to duties on moral grounds.

"In terms of the general protocol for officers requesting to be moved for any reason we'd say that on occasions, for a variety of reasons, an officer may have to be moved within a specific command," the spokesman said. "Each case is considered separately, balancing the needs of the Metropolitan police service against those of the individual and the role which they will have to perform."

The case has provoked unease from those who worry that officers may be able to start picking and choosing their duties. John O'Connor, a former Flying Squad commander, told today's Sun: "This is the beginning of the end for British policing. If they can allow this, surely they'll have to accept a Jewish officer not wanting to work at an Islamic national embassy? Will Catholic cops be let off working at Protestant churches. Where will it end?"

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited

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