MOSCOW (Sputnik), Anastasia Levchenko – The state has no right to carry out government-specified security checks of religious leaders, as it is up to faith institutions to undertake appropriate checks, Fiyaz Mughal said.
Last week, a draft of the UK’s new counter-extremism strategy appeared in the local media. According to the document, all imams, priests, rabbis and other faith figures in the country would have to enroll in a special register of religious leaders and undergo government-specified training and security checks.
"It is up to faith institutions to undertake appropriate checks and balances and the training of faith leaders so that they are able to work providing theological and pastoral support…This is Britain, not Egypt and the State has no right to intervene in aspects that faith communities should be carrying out," he said.
The strategy is due to be released this autumn. According to the document seen by The Telegraph newspaper, the government will "require all faiths to maintain a national register of faith leaders," and "the minimum level of training and checks" will be set up that the faith leaders would have to undergo to be put on the national register.
The strategy also envisions a framework for intervention should the local councils fail to tackle extremism.
