Swedish ‘hate cleric’ withdrawn from Muslim youth conference

Controversial Swedish ‘hate cleric’, Abdullah Hakim Quick, did not speak at the Easter weekend conference of young Swedish Muslims after his invitation was withdrawn.

Organisers claimed that the US-born cleric, who advocates execution of homosexuals and has called Jews “filthy”, was exempted from the conference schedule due to a range of factors that were discussed with him directly.

“We have made what we believe to be the best decision – for us, for him and for society in general,” said chairman of the Swedish Young Muslim organisation, Mohammed Amin Kharraki, prior to the event.

Previously, the organisation defended invitating Hakim Quick to speak at the conference amid widespread public criticism. The group claimed that it was bearing the brunt of a smear campaign by Liberal Party member Philip Wendahl.

RFSL, the largest gay rights advocate group in Sweden, also spoke out against youth movement’s decision to provide a platform for the controversial cleric. Kharraki claimed that RFSL was hypocritical in its condemnation of Quick.

“I was previously under the impression that this organisation respected principles of equal rights for everybody but now it seems they couldn’t care less about the values they claim to stand for,” Kharraki told The Local, adding that he believes the media has been one-sided in its representation of the cleric. “The opinion is still the same that he is a certain way. And it upsets some people in this country who feel they have been violated.”