The Archbishop of Canterbury has withdrawn an grant fixed to a Muslim cleric who praised Osama Bin Laden.
Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi received the grant for reconciliation and interfaith practice from Dame Sarah Mullally past week, connected the 25th day of the 9/11 attacks.
Lambeth Palace faced a backlash aft it emerged Ashrafi praised Bin Laden - the designer of the 2001 attacks - arsenic idiosyncratic who had "been warring for Islam against the Russians, Americans and British", successful comments from 2007.
Ashrafi besides reportedly said helium would springiness Bin Laden the rubric Saifullah, which means "Sword of God". He told the BBC his remarks had been "totally taken retired of context"
In presenting the grant past week, the Archbishop's bureau said Ashrafi was being honoured for "his outstanding enactment arsenic an ambassador of interfaith harmony successful Pakistan, known for his committedness to promoting spiritual tolerance".
His grant was presented by Dame Sarah successful a ceremonial that coincided with the 25th day of the 9/11 attacks successful the US successful which astir 3,000 radical were killed.
Ashrafi told the BBC that his remarks had been "totally taken retired of context" and the backlash had been "an unfair campaign" against him.
He said that helium was lone speaking astir Bin Laden successful 2007 successful effect to "the wounded felt by galore Muslims" implicit a knighthood being awarded to the Satanic Verses writer Sir Salman Rushdie.
But helium defended the examination helium made betwixt an writer and a antheral who was down the deaths of thousands of people.
Criticism of Ashrafi has gone beyond his comments astir Bin Laden.
In giving him his grant for promoting interfaith harmony past week, Lambeth Palace had cited the information that Ashrafi had intervened successful the 2012 lawsuit of Rimsha Masih, a young Christian miss successful Pakistan falsely accused of blasphemy.
But Ashrafi has different been supportive of Pakistan's blasphemy laws that person led to an estimated 2000 radical being prosecuted since the precocious 1980s.
They see a disproportionately precocious fig of Pakistan's number Christians and Ahmadis successful particular, but galore bulk Sunni Muslims too.
Ashrafi claimed the blasphemy laws really "save lives", stopping radical taking matters into their ain hands.
But Human Rights Watch said past twelvemonth that "the laws perpetuate spiritual favoritism and are utilized to people the mediocre and minorities successful unlawful evictions and onshore grabs".
The organisation has called connected the Pakistani authorities to urgently betterment the laws to forestall them "being weaponised to [...] onslaught marginalised communities."
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