The event was organised by Amnesty International with seven parties attending in the Mosque of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Glasgow in the west end.
Source/Credit: The Daily Record
By Tristan Stewart-Robertson | April 16, 2015
CANDIDATES fighting for votes in the General Election have affirmed their commitment to human rights in a hustings.
In an event organised by Amnesty International, seven parties attended in the Mosque of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Glasgow in the west end.
Speakers included the Scottish Conservatives' Meghan Gallacher (candidate for Motherwell and Wishaw), LibDem Gary McLelland (Glasgow East), the Scottish Greens’ Cass MacGregor (Glasgow Central), the SNP’s Patrick Grady (Glasgow North), Scottish Labour’s Willie Bain (Glasgow North East), Scottish Socialist Party candidate Bill Bonnar (Glasgow South West) and Angela McCormick from the Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition.
Organisers noted: “Strangely a representative of UKIP was invited but they declined to attend.
“Ukip stated that they could not send a candidate because the event clashed with the leaders' debate on TV but some present at the event did suggest that UKIP would not like to go to a Mosque.
“During the meeting there was very little inter party argument; the candidates seldom gave the impression that they were just putting out their own party line or that they were criticising others for the sake of bashing the other parties. There seemed a widespread commitment to human rights.”
Siobhan Reardon, programme director at Amnesty International Scotland, said “Human rights are our rights, they are freedoms and liberties which enable us to lead our lives with dignity, respect and without prejudice.
“Rights are not given to us by governments, but they can certainly be violated by governments, curtailed by legislation, and access denied by those in power. Legislation such as the Human Rights Act plays a vital role in strengthening legal human rights protections; our ability to access our rights and makes those in power accountable if our rights are infringed or violated.”
Ahmed Owusu-Konadu, of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Glasgow, said Islam promotes human rights and the community was happy to open its doors to groups such as Amnesty International who does the “same job as thought in Islam".
He added: "However, it is very sad to notice that some so-called Muslim groups of today such as ISIS and even some Muslim states have deviated from this very fundamental beautiful teachings of Islam on human rights and hence bringing bad name to our dear and beautiful religion.”
Read original post here: Glasgow Muslim group and Amnesty International hold election hustings - Ukip declined to attend
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