A Labour councillor elected less than three weeks ago has been suspended from the party pending an investigation. The Jewish Chronicle reports that Cllr Ibrahim Ali (pictured above, left) was a member of CAGE, an advocacy group for Islamists held in detention. The group has been labelled 'apologists for terror' and in 2015 a CAGE spokesman described Mohamed Emwazi as a 'beautiful young man' who had been radicalised by British intelligence services. Emwazi is better known by his nickname 'Jihadi John', the sadistic Daesh executioner who is thought to have personally beheaded several Western hostages as well as dozens of Syrian soldiers.
Later in 2015 Ali appeared before a House of Commons select committee and defended CAGE's description of Emwazi, pointing out that the comments were made in reference to the man with whom the spokesman had met with in 2012 - not the butcher he would later become. When Emwazi was killed in a drone strike in Syria, CAGE expressed dissatisfaction that he had not been brought to trial. CAGE is such a toxic organisation that Labour MP John Spellar urged those funding it to drop their support: "Those that have provided them with support must very seriously question not only their support for CAGE, but how they got to make such a decision to support an organization like this".
Cllr Ali was elected for the Bruce Castle ward in Haringey, north London, alongside the two other Labour candidates (both pictured above with Ali). He was a full-time communications officer with CAGE from 2015, although it is not clear when he ceased to be involved. In 2019 he was the election agent for none other than Dave Lammy and is also the secretary of Tottenham Constituency Labour Party. Neither Lammy or Ali responded to the Jewish Chronicle's request for comment. Ali has also locked down his Twitter account.
How come they are not vetted before being put forward for the position?
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