27 November 2002

Mr R Alton
Editor
The Observer
119 Faringdon Road
London EC1R 3ER

Dear Mr Alton,

Re: "Osama Issues New Call To Arms" - 24th November 2002
This story by Jason Burke claimed that a new message from Usama Bin Ladin was circulating "among British Islamic extremists" via email.

We would like to know what The Observer means by the phrase "British Islamic extremists" and what would qualify - in your opinion - a British Muslim to be regarded as an "extremist".

As you can appreciate, the frequency with which the word "Islamic" has been coupled with either "extremist" or "terrorist" in the British media has caused a lot of concern among British Muslims about stereotyping, especially as they do not see comparable phrases being used so liberally about violent groups, say amongst the Israelis or in India.

Yours faithfully,

Mr Inayat Bunglawala
Secretary,
Media Committee,
The Muslim Council of Britain