A petition in support of a suspended teacher who showed students a caricature of the Prophet Mohammed has passed more than 50,000 signatures.

The Batley Grammar School teacher had apologised after showing the cartoon, widely reported as taken from the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, during a religious studies lesson earlier this week.

He was suspended on Thursday pending an investigation.

The school, in Batley, near Bradford, West Yorkshire, is facing calls to reinstate the teacher after a petition in support of him reached more than 50,000 signatures in two days, hitting the figure just after 2.00am on Sunday.

Protesters gathered outside the school gates on Thursday and Friday, claiming the school has not taken the issue seriously.

Speaking “on behalf of the Muslim community” on Friday, one protester said: “The teachers have breached the position of trust and failed their duty of safeguarding, and this issue must be addressed as a matter of urgency.”

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said suggestions that the teacher was in hiding were “very disturbing”, and branded the protests as “not right”.

“It must be right that a teacher can appropriately show images of the Prophet Mohammed,” he said.

However, Dr Alyaa Ebbiary, a researcher in Islamic studies at the SOAS University of London, disagreed with Mr Jenrick’s comments.

“From the majority Muslim community perspective it’s safe to say that showing images of the Prophet Muhammad would not be considered a ‘right’, but at best disrespectful, and at worst a provocation,” she told the PA news agency.

“For some pious Muslims, it’s so hurtful to the point of going beyond the realm of common decency – I know that’s hard for a Western liberal mindset to understand.

“The matter of depicting a Prophet in images is very problematic in the Islamic tradition, and so creating images, in and of itself, is considered disrespectful to someone held to be sacred.”

West Yorkshire Police said a number of complaints have been made in relation to the incident.

Officers attended both protests after dozens of people stood outside the school, partially blocking the road.

A police spokesperson said: “As might be expected given the high public profile of what has happened, there have been a number of complaints about various matters relating to this issue.

“These are being reviewed in more detail but this is an ongoing situation.”

Read more: Teacher suspended after students shown ‘offensive’ image of Prophet Muhammad

18/11/2015

Readers’ Editor,
Daily Mail,
Northcliffe House,
2 Derry Street,
London W8 5TT

Dear Sir,

RE: Editorial Cartoon in the Daily Mail on the 17th of November 2015

We wanted to get in touch with you regarding this cartoon which was published on the 17th of November. We would like to start off by saying that unlike some, we believe that the Daily Mail has published some excellent investigative pieces in the last 24 months and produces scoops at points that are unique and which have a public interest. We also have to acknowledge that there are fundamental differences around our views on refugees, minority communities and on human rights. On these, we will continue to differ since we believe in the right for people to seek sanctuary when they are persecuted and in the protection of communities who are threatened or abused just because of a part of their multiple identities. We also believe that human rights are fundamental to a healthy functioning democracy.

However, we would like to turn attention to the cartoon printed in the Daily Mail on the 17th of November 2015. The cartoon was a depressing attempt to couch stereotypes in the guise of artistic freedom for a national newspaper. The suggestion given was that Muslims are symbolic of men with beards and with their wives walking behind them and where refugees cannot be fully trusted since their migration is allowing in terrorists – note the man with the weapon.

Whilst the Paris murders do indicate that a handful of extremists may have slipped into Europe with refugees, we need to re-iterate that refugees should not be seen as part of the problem and their plight is real as they flee from the horrors of Assad and the so-called Islamic State. Yet, this cartoon is not meant to acknowledge such issues and plays to the most basal stereotypes about Muslims and raises question marks on fleeing families who have suffered years of war, persecution and killings.

Finally, we are very concerned that the cartoon places fleeing rats with the individuals in the cartoon. Is the Mail suggesting that the refugees or Muslims are rats? Why was other wildlife not used and why rats?

Such imagery should never be repeated again. In 2015, the production of such imagery is simply an insult to us all.

Yours sincerely,

Tell MAMA

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