Jemima receives threats in cyberspace

She receives death threats for supporting a foundation which seeks to promote the view that Islam does not support or condone terrorism. Vijay Dutt reports.

Jemima Khan, ex-wife of politician and former cricketer Imran Khan, has received death threats for supporting a foundation which seeks to promote the view that Islam does not support or condone terrorism.

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Jemima is a patron of the Quilliam Foundation, recently set up by two reformed members of the extremist Hizb ut Tahrir, which has mounted a campaign to show that the Islamic ideologues the extremists swear by, like the Egyptian thinker Sayyid Qutb, are not taken seriously by genuine scholars.

All those involved with the foundation have been getting death threats by telephone or email.

But special attention is being paid to Jemima in cyberspace in the blogs denouncing the foundation. One site calls Jemima a fujiar — one who publicly and brazenly commits sins. Another posted pictures of Jemima with former boyfriend Hugh Grant and kissing Kate Moss.

The blogger questioned her credentials as a Muslim — she had converted when she married Imran in 1995. “This is the same ‘socialite’ Jemima who is regularly pictured in chick-mags in miniskirts and low-cut dresses hopping in and out of nightclubs,” the blog says. “And she is going to lecture us on true Islam?”

The foundation is named after William Quilliam, a 19th century Liverpudlian who converted to Islam.