When he wasn’t busy suspending the whip from sex pest MPs, Jeremy Corbyn found time to attend a MEND event in Parliament last week. MEND brands itself as an ‘anti-Islamophobia think tank’, but has been described as a group of “Islamists posing as civil libertarians”. The evidence for this? The litany of hate spewed by senior MEND figures, who have praised Al-Qaeda, attended speeches by al-Qaeda hate preachers, and attempted to justify the murder of British troops. Despite this, and notwithstanding the fact that other MPs pulled out of the event, Corbyn turned up and gave the keynote speech. How deep are the connections between Corbyn and MEND?

Meet Azad Ali, formerly a director of MEND and now the group’s Head of Community Engagement. Ali denied the Westminster Bridge attack was an act of terror, calling it a “lone wolf” event. He has written of his “love” of Al-Qaeda operative Anwar Al-Awlaki (a terrorist connected to a string of plots and attacks including 9/11, the Fort Hood shooting, the underwear bomb plot). He was suspended from his civil service job at the Treasury after he attempted to justify the murder of British troops. He has also admitted attending speeches by Al-Qaeda hate preacher Abu Qatada (spiritual guide to 9/11 hijack leader Mohamed Atta). Quite a CV, and the sort of person you’d think a party leader would run a mile from…

But check out this speech Ali gave in praise of Jeremy Corbyn just this summer. Ali hints that Corbyn’s own views are more extreme than the Labour leader owns up to in public:

“I actually applaud Jeremy Corbyn for giving a break to the Muslim community, you know he took a lot of the blame and flack. You know when he got called a ‘terrorist sympathiser’ and all of this kind of stuff I was thinking, you know, I’ve known Jeremy from before he became leader and I was thinking you know what, wait until they find other things about him.

“And they tried to smear him day in, day out… but not only that, recently after Manchester, what did he say? ‘We need to talk about foreign policy’. So the opening is there for us.”

“Wait until they find other things about him”…

Another day, another group of wrong ‘uns with which Sadiq Khan has unfortunately chosen to associate himself. In 2008, while Khan was a government whip, he was a “distinguished guest” at a fundraiser for the pro-Palestine charity Interpal. Just five years earlier, the US government designated Interpal as “global terrorists” who “provide support to Hamas and form part of its funding network in Europe”. At the time Sadiq was helping them raise cash, Interpal was under investigation by the UK Charity Commission for its links with terrorism…

Even worse, the event was organised by the Civil Service Islamic Society, run by Azad Ali, familiar to Guido readers as the Islamic extremist who professed his “love” of Al-Qaeda terrorist Anwar Al-Awlaki and was suspended from his job at the Treasury after he attempted to justify the murder of British troops. He has also admitted attending speeches by Al-Qaeda hate preacher Abu Qatada. Babar Ahmad, that nasty 7/7 business, the extreme Twitter following, the gun-toting aide and now helping to raise funds for “global terrorists”… whatever’s next for Sadiq?

Sayeeda Warsi and a host of Labour MPs attended the unveiling of a ‘Muslim Manifesto’ yesterday at an event on the parliamentary estate. Did they know it was organised by an ‘Islamic extremist’ who has praised Al-Qaeda?

Launch of the #MuslimManifesto in Parliament @NorthWestFOP @islam21c @5Pillarsuk pic.twitter.com/228JQx5q75

— Azad Ali (@azadaliCCM) March 4, 2015

Azad Ali is the Head of Community Engagement at Mend, an ‘anti-Islamophobia think tank’ which met yesterday to demand a “review [of] all counter-terrorism legislation enacted since 2000”.

Ali has previously written of his “love” of Al-Qaeda terrorist Anwar Al-Awlaki and was suspended from his job at the Treasury after he attempted to justify the murder of British troops. He has also admitted attending speeches by Al-Qaeda hate preacher Abu Qatada. Ali has previously been described as an “Islamic extremist” by an eminent expert in the field. 

GreatTurnout 2 launch of the #MuslimManifesto in Parliament @NorthWestFOP @MiddleEastMnt @AbduraheemGreen #MendEvent pic.twitter.com/3BJN6P3RMI

— Azad Ali (@azadaliCCM) March 4, 2015

Earlier this week, Mend defended CAGE, the extremist group linked to Jihadi John, accusing the media of “an attempt to discredit” them. Their event in parliament, which Ali live-tweeted, was attended by left-wing Labour MPs Yasmin Qureshi, Gerald Kaufman, Kate Green and Andy Slaughter.

So was Baroness Warsi, who said their “Muslim Manifesto is something you can take to your election candidates”. 

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Jon Ashworth added: “I think this manifesto is really important and a great initiative. I will be studying it very carefully and I will be passing it on to our Shadow Cabinet”.

What was Azad Ali, a man who has professed his love for a senior Al-Qaeda leader, doing in the heart of parliament?