A hate preacher who allegedly advocated beheading or burning to death gay people is giving a lecture series in London after being allowed to enter the UK.
The Home Office has been urged to revoke the visa of the US-born radical, Shaykh Hamza Sodagar.
He is giving the lectures at the Islamic Republic of Iran School in London. The lectures began on October 4 and will run until October 12.
In a video extract shared online from an address that he gave in 2010, Sodagar has listed five ways gay men could be killed.
He says: “If there’s homosexual men, the punishment is one of five things. One – the easiest one maybe – chop their head off, that’s the easiest. Second – burn them to death. Third – throw them off a cliff. Fourth – tear down a wall on them so they die under that. Fifth – a combination of the above.”
LGBT rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has called on Home Secretary Amber Rudd to revoke his visa.
He said: “In a free society, Hamza Sodagar has a right to believe that homosexuality is sinful but not to preach about ways to kill lesbians and gay men. Many people with far less extreme views, who have never advocated violence, have been banned from entering the UK. Calling for death to LGBT people crosses a red line. The Home Office was wrong to grant him a visa and should now revoke it. The cleric should be ordered out of the country.”
Sodagar has been invited by the Ahlulbayt Islamic Mission, a group which says that it campaigns “against extremism, sectarianism, intolerance and racism”. The group also hosted Sodagar in 2014.
