On January 12th, Maajid Nawaz, Liberal Democrat PPC for Hampstead and Killburn, posted an innocuous 'Jesus and Mo' cartoon on his Twitter timeline and stated that he, as a Muslim, was not offended by the content. This followed a BBC Big Questions programme in which the cartoons were discussed and Maajid Nawaz was included as a studio guest. The cartoon depicts Jesus and Mo saying 'Hey' and 'How ya doin'" to each other.

Islamists and political opponents have now mounted a campaign against Maajid Nawaz, resulting in numerous threats to his life. We note that this, rather than being based on legitimate concerns of Muslims, is a political campaign spear-headed by a group of Islamist reactionaries with a track record of promoting extremism. They are seeeking to use Muslim communities in order to whip up hatred against a liberal and secular Muslim. We are concerned that this campaign will also be used by anti-Muslim extremists as evidence of Muslim intolerance and incompatibility with liberal values which could, in turn, fuel anti-Muslim bigotry.

We note with concern that this attempt to silence Maajid Nawaz is fuelled by Liberal Democrats party member Mohammed Shafiq. Freedom of expression is essential to the functioning of a liberal democracy, and a core value of the Liberal Democratic party. The agitation of a party member against a designated Prospective Parliamentary Candidate is antithetical to these core values.

We, the undersigned, extend our full support to Maajid Nawaz, and condemn the campaign against him. We call on Liberal Democratic party leader, Nick Clegg, to take a stand for Maajid Nawaz and commence disciplinary proceedings against party member Mohammed Shafiq for acting against the core values of the Liberal Democrats.