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Christian minister who accused Corbyn of being 'terrorist sympathiser' linked to homophobic and Islamophobic tweets

Tories attack Labour leader for saying it would have been better for Isis leader to be brought to trial

Andrew Woodcock
Political Editor
Wednesday 13 November 2019 17:21 GMT
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Jeremy Corbyn labelled 'terrorist sympathiser' by heckler in Glasgow

A Christian minister who accused Jeremy Corbyn of being a terrorist sympathiser has been rebuked by his church.

And a Twitter feed linked to Church of Scotland minister Richard Cameron was found to contain a string of tweets attacking the Labour leader, as well as homophobic statements and criticisms of Islam.

One tweet said that "incest and homosexuality are both unnatural", while others described Islam as "a religion of violence" and branded the Muslim veil "unBritish".

The minister, from Scotstoun Parish Church, confronted Mr Corbyn as he arrived for a visit in Glasgow, yelling: “Do you think that the man who is going to be prime minister of this country should be a terrorist sympathiser, Mr Corbyn?

“Who’s going to be the first terrorist invited to the House of Commons when you’re prime minister?”

A spokesman for the Church later issued a statement insisting that engagement with politicians should be conducted in a “polite and measured” way.

“The Church of Scotland as an organisation has a long history of engaging with politicians through a number of different channels,” said a spokeswoman.

“Whilst we may occasionally robustly challenge policy issues with which we disagree, we always intend to do that in a way that is polite and measured and allows for reasoned debate.”

Mr Corbyn was swiftly ushered away from the scene by Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard.

He later came under fire from Tories for suggesting that it would have been better for Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Bahgdadi to be arrested and put on trial.

Questioned by LBC radio shortly after the heckling incident, Mr Corbyn said: “If we preach international law and international legal process through the International Court of Justice at The Hague, then we should carry it out.

“If it is possible to arrest somebody and put them on trial, that’s what should have been done.”

Asked if it was a good thing that Baghdadi died by detonating a suicide vest as US troops closed in on him last month, Mr Corbyn said: “Him being removed from the scene is a very good thing. If it would have been possible to arrest him… surely that would have been the right thing to do.”

Boris Johnson branded Mr Corbyn's approach "naive to the point of being dangerous".

And Conservative security minister Brandon Lewis said the Labour leader’s comments were “yet more proof of his flawed judgement and inability to stand up to people who reject our values”.

”Every time he is given the opportunity to take the side of this country’s enemies he does so,” said Mr Lewis.

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