Maajid Nawaz accuses caller of being in "denial" about Asian grooming gangs

18 January 2020, 15:07

Maajid Nawaz argued with a caller and insisted that it's important to recognise that grooming gangs are disproportionately Muslim.

Maajid spoke to a caller, Daniel, about the revelation that the Rotherham police chief ignored the sex abuse of children because of a fear of racism.

The caller thought Maajid Nawaz was comparing "apples and pears" when he "kept mentioning Muslims".

Maajid Nawaz provided statistics about grooming and sexual exploitation, citing Rochdale, Rotherham, Oxford, Bristol, Aylesbury, Newcastle and Peterborough as examples.

Maajid said: "The pattern in all of these, overwhelmingly, is South Asian Muslim men, primarily Pakistani, sometimes Somali Muslims, sometimes North African Muslims.

"It doesn't help us Daniel to pretend this wasn't a phenomenon that was replicated across the country."

Daniel didn't deny the facts but mentioned paedophilia in the Catholic Church.

Maajid Nawaz responded: " If the majority of country is white, then it's natural to see the majority of representation in any crime to be by white people because we're living in a majority white country.

"What is concerning is if pockets of our country, communities like ours, Daniel, yours and mine, are disproportionately involved in any one type of crime.

"That's disproportionate number raises questions about our attitudes, our meaning, British Pakistani men, our attitudes towards the rest of society and whether we have a Muslim supremacist attitude."

He continued: "One of the defendants in this case, I'm sorry, you're not gonna like hearing this stuff but the truth doesn't necessarily care about your feelings... one of the main defendants in trial argued that it's his religious right to have sex with underage girls and that was his defence."

The caller said he wasn't in denial.

Maajid said it sounded like he was.