Ken Livingstone has been attacked for producing a dossier defending a Muslim cleric who is reported to have suggested that Westerners killed by the tsunami deserved to die.
On Tuesday the mayor published an 80 page dossier defending himself against claims he should not have met Islamic scholar Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi last year.
In a piece of unfortunate timing for Livingstone, the Times published quotes from al-Qaradawi suggesting the recent disaster in Asia was a punishment for the behaviour of Western tourists.
The mayor invited the cleric to a number of events in
In response Livingstone had a report drawn up investigating the claims and says that almost all of the allegations against the cleric are false.
"I have a responsibility to support the rights of all of
"The dossier launched today demonstrates that Dr al-Qaradawi is, as the moderate main umbrella group of Muslim organisations, the Muslim Council of Britain, has argued, '[one of] the most authoritative Muslim scholars in the world today'."
Moderate
However reporter's at Livingstone's weekly press conference questioned his assertion that al-Qaradawi was a moderate in light of his latest comments.
He is quoted by the Times as saying: "People must ask themselves why this earthquake occurred in this area and not others... Whoever examines these areas discovers that they are tourism areas.
"Tourism areas are areas where the forbidden acts are widespread, as well as alcohol consumption, drug use and acts of abomination... Don’t they deserve punishment from Allah?"
Livingstone replied that although he did not agree with everything the cleric said, it was important to engage with the "liberal wing" of the Islamic world.
Commenting on Livingstone's support for al-Qaradawi – and his call for an apology from his critics - Conservative assembly leader Bob Neill said: "It is the mayor that should be apologising, not us. Dr al-Qaradawi should never have been given a platform at City Hall.
"Now the mayor is making things even worse by giving his backing to this man. His comments, reported in today’s Times, sum up the kind of person we are dealing with here.
"He is no moderate, as the mayor likes to claim. He is anti-gay, advocates wife beating and has a long history of inciting violence. He is the type of man Livingstone should, like us, be condemning not cosying up to. It's utterly unacceptable."
