Man who threatened to bomb and behead Muslims remanded into custody

Neil MacGregor, who threated to blow up Glasgow Central Mosque and behead a Muslim a week, this morning had his bail order revoked and was remanded into custody.

His actual sentencing was deferred for the fifth time after the necessary social enquiry report was not able to be updated. The social worker tried to contact MacGregor but his address was different to the one where letters were hand delivered. MacGregor also hadn’t contacted the social worker.

Sentencing will now take place on June 19th.

For background click here and here. UPDATE: Media coverage at Daily Record, Herald and Scotsman

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Interfaith work in the US

Every child in the US does 40hours community service before graduating high school! Why on Earth do they do that?

What did they do wrong?

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Islam and Culture

The Spittin’ Light, Healing the Hood gigs in Glasgow and Edinburgh over the weekend were simply superb. Everyone had their own favourite lines, moments and artists e.g.:

• Edinburgh… It’s special, it’s special, it’s special… SPECIAL! (Mecca 2 Medina)
• You’re beautiful, you’re a star! (Poetic Pilgrimage)
• Hallelujah, Alhamdulillah… Hallelujah (Amir Sulaiman)

Videos will be out soon. I’d like to give due props to our partners at Radical Middle Way, who we were very excited to be working with on this, and who we look forward to collaborating in future with too.

We had some murmurings of discontent before the events from some questioning the religious credentials of this event. Some even suggested that the realms of Islam and culture should be kept separate.

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MacGregor sentencing deferred again

The sentencing of Neil MacGregor has been deferred for the fourth time. The psychology report concluded he has a mental disorder and is suitable for probation with treatment, while the social enquiry report stated he wasn’t. The case has been sent back to the social enquiry report writer to reassess in the light of the psychology report.

He’ll be in court again on 29th May. It would be worth pointing out that when it comes to the comparison with al-Qaeda influenced terrorists, some of them have had clear mental disorders too, but they still received harsh sentences. We are seeking clarification from the relevant authorities on the apparent discrepancies.

BBC Online have covered this today. UPDATE: More in the Scotsman

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