Uni Lecturer in Woolwich Controversy

Giving his reaction to the horrific attacks in Woolwich on Wednesday, Dr Moosavi, a Sociology lecturer, blamed U.K foreign policy and mental health issues as well as ‘a literalist and extreme interpretation of Islam’.

The article on the University website

Dr Moosavi claims that it is time to ‘re-evaluate’ and ‘ask more pertinent questions about what our foreign policy looks like, and why some Muslims are finding the literalist and violence fringe interpretation of Islam attractive’.

The article was published just the day after the attack, with the university promoting the piece through their facebook page.

Dr Moosavi making a media appearance

Dr Moosavi, an expert in Islamophobia and Muslims in Britain, used his article to argue that ‘it is entirely legitimate to dissent against our foreign policy or military activity’. In comments to The Tab, he clarified that only peaceful dissent is legitimate.

Dr Moosavi was criticised in the comments of his article for ‘jumping on’ the Woolwich attacks and using them as an ‘opportunity to peddle your own political interpretation and ‘scholarly’ agenda – one that has clear sympathies with the murderers’ rhetoric’.

Dr Moosavi has in the past appeared in the national media and can be seen in this video for Channel 4 challenging the notion that soldiers should treated as heroes.

In an email explanation, Dr. Moosavi told The Tab: “In order to prevent terrorism in the future we must seek to understand what causes it.

“Trying to understand the motivations behind Muslim extremism or Far Right extremism is not the same as attempting to justify their behaviour.

“It is a fairly mundane point to suggest that there is a relationship between foreign policy and terrorism.

“Even David Anderson, the UK’s independent reviewer of terrorism laws has recently stated that ‘It’s just not feasible to pretend that foreign policy has nothing to do with terrorism.'”

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