MET POLICE RESPONSE & MEND UPDATE ON ‘STOP AND SEARCH’ OF MUSLIM MALE OUTSIDE REGENT’S PARK MOSQUE

Background

On Friday 7 July 2017 just before Friday prayers at around 1:30pm, Mr. Muhammad Chamoune was stopped and searched by the police on Park Road, London, outside Abbey Lodge near Regent’s Park Mosque (the video footage can be seen here). For further background information please refer to the MEND statement issued on 9 July 2017.

Update

Since last week the Islamophobia Response Unit (IRU), run by MEND has been liaising with the Metropolitan Police to clarify what happened in this incident.

The police have indicated that they had ‘reasonable grounds for suspicion’ in this matter and explained that an off- duty police officer initially had concerns that Mr Chamoune was running towards the Mosque and carrying a ‘prohibited article’ and thus alerted colleagues to him, leading to the search. MEND understands that the lady in the video footage of the incident is the off-duty police officer. The Met has released the following statement;

A Met spokesperson said:

“At around 13:00hrs on Friday, 7 July, a man was stopped and searched by officers in Park Road, NW1. Officers responded quickly and appropriately to a man who was deemed to be acting suspiciously in the vicinity of a mosque.

“Officers are aware of the vulnerability of faith premises and acted accordingly. It is imperative that we act on information we receive positively and proactively to help safeguard communities.

“The man was searched, he was not arrested. Officers explained the reasons for the search and no complaint has been received at this stage.”

MEND’s IRU has been in touch with Mr Chamoune to seek his views on this. We will be seeking to host a meeting with him and the police, including the off-duty officer who initiated the stop and search. The Independent Newspaper has covered the coverage and MEND’s view on this here.

We will keep you updated as to the outcome of this meeting.

Notes for Editors:

• The Islamophobia Response Unit (IRU) is a project run by MEND (Muslim enagagement and development) – www.mend.org.uk.
• MEND is committed to empowering British Muslims in the fields of media and political engagement
• MEND’s work has been commended by The World Economic Forum, The Office for democratic Institutionsand Human Rights and EU Parliament Magazine.
• Queries and further information requests to be sent to [email protected]