UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian
Vikram Dodd
The Guardian, Thursday 27 June 2013
Imams in 500 mosques across Britain will on Friday give the same sermon denouncing the grooming and sexual abuse of children.
The co-ordinated effort follows the convictions of Muslim men in British courts for a series of horrific cases. Organisers say it is the first time that so many imams will deliver the same sermon before hundreds of congregations.
The sermons will urge people to report those suspected of involvement in sexual abuse offences, and opens with a quotation from the Qur’an which forbids Muslims from “sexual indecency, wickedness and oppression of others”.
The courts have dealt with a cluster of horrific cases including those in Rochdale, Derby and Oxford, where on Thursday five men were sentenced to life imprisonment and two others to long sentences for the abuse of girls.
It is organised by a group called Together Against Grooming, and backed by bodies including the Muslim Council of Britain, the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board, and the Islamic Society of Britain.
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