Patrick Sookhdeo

Last updated

Patrick Sookhdeo
Born (1947-03-20) 20 March 1947 (age 77)
British Guiana
Education SOAS University of London
Organisation(s) Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity
Barnabas Fund

Patrick Sookhdeo (born 20 March 1947) is a British director of the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity and was for 22 years International Director of the Barnabas Fund. Sookhdeo is an outspoken spokesman for persecuted Christian minorities around the world. He has made many media appearances in Great Britain and is an advocate for human rights and freedom of religion.

Contents

Sookhdeo is a commentator on jihadist ideology, and has lectured British and NATO military officers on Islamic extremism. [1]

Life

Patrick Sookhdeo was born in 1947 in British Guiana (now Guyana), [1] to an originally Hindu father who had become a Muslim in order to marry Sookhdeo's Muslim mother. His family migrated to England in the late 1950s, and in 1965 the student Sookhdeo converted to Christianity. In 1967 he pursued studies at London Bible College (now the London School of Theology) [2] and went on to obtain a doctorate in 2000 from London University's School of Oriental and African Studies. [1] During that time Sookhdeo began exploring interfaith dialogue and became increasingly concerned by the brutality being leveled at Christian minorities in Islamic nations, and the Islamic death penalties for conversion from Islam. [1]

In 1975 with his wife Rosemary, Sookhdeo founded "In Contact Ministries", now called Servants Fellowship International, [3] promoting evangelism and compassionate ministries in multi-cultural urban contexts in the UK. [4] [5] During this period, Sookhdeo was also one of the organisers of the early Greenbelt Christian arts festivals. [5]

In 1989, Sookhdeo created the London-based Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity, and this saw the creation of a global database on extremist movements and ideologies whose followers were persecuting religious minorities across the Muslim world. [1] By 1991, Sookhdeo was predicting that an "Islamic storm" was on the horizon. [1] He was the International Director of the Barnabas Fund, a charity that supports persecuted Christian minorities around the world. [6]

He is the author of numerous papers and author/editor of several books, including Global Jihad: The Future in the Face of Militant Islam (reviews of which are accessible here [7] [8] [9] ) and Understanding Islamist Terrorism. Melanie Phillips reported in The Spectator that Sookhdeo received death threats following the publication of Global Jihad. [10] A number of his books have been translated into German, Romanian and Russian, and at least one book is translated into Norwegian (A Christian's Pocketguide to Islam/Den kristnes lommeguide til Islam). [11] In 2007 he participated in the international counter-jihad conference in Brussels. [12] [13]

Sookhdeo's wife, Rosemary, is the author of Secrets Behind The Burqa. [14]

Sexual assault conviction

On 10 March 2014, The Independent newspaper reported that Sookhdeo had been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault against a woman. He denied the charges. [15] On 18 May 2014, Sookhdeo was formally charged by British police with sexual assault on a woman. He was released on police bail to appear at the Swindon Magistrates' Court later in the month. [16] Following his arrest and indictment, Barnabas UK launched an internal investigation and temporarily suspended him from his duties. In June 2014, Sookhdeo was reinstated after the board decided that there was insufficient evidence of sexual assault. Later, it was alleged that Sookhdeo had used "intimidating and manipulative" language against two prosecution witnesses. [17]

On 23 February 2015, Sookhdeo was found guilty by a majority 10-2 verdict of the jury at Swindon Crown Court on the charge of sexual assault and unanimously on the two further charges of intimidating witnesses. He was ordered to serve a three-month community sentence, and ordered to pay £3500 prosecution costs and a £60 victim surcharge. [18] [19] [20] However, he was subsequently reinstated to his positions as a trustee of Barnabas Aid International and as the International Director and CEO of the Barnabas Fund. [21] Sookhdeo’s conviction drew mixed responses from within the British Christian community and media. By contrast, the Orthodox Anglican website Virtueonline's managing editor David Virtue criticized the legal process as a travesty, asserted Sookhdeo's innocence, and cited concerns about the complainant's behaviour and inconsistencies in her testimony. [22]

On 21 November 2015, Patrick Sookhdeo was arrested by the Metropolitan Police at Heathrow Airport on suspicion of indecent assault. [23] The following day, Sookhdeo resigned from all roles at Barnabas Aid International and Barnabas Fund due to the media publicity around his arrest. [24] In February 2016, the trustees of the Barnabas Fund defended Patrick Sookhdeo and announced his intention to appeal the conviction. [20] They reported that twelve senior Anglican figures had concluded after looking at the evidence that "there had been a concerted move to take Patrick Sookhdeo down and destroy the Barnabas Fund." [20] It also described Sookhdeo's arrest by armed officers from the Metropolitan Police at Heathrow after an 'all ports' alert had been issued for him, even though for a month prior, he had been living in his own home 100 metres from the police station which prompted the arrest. [20]

In early March 2016, it was reported that Patrick Sookhdeo was facing historical sexual assault charges against a woman dating back to 1977. [25] On 4 April 2016, Sookhdeo appeared in the Thames District Court where he was arraigned on one count of indecent assault on a woman aged 16 or over in Plaistow, East London, in 1977. At Snaresbrook Crown Court the jury unanimously found him not guilty on 2 August 2018. [26] [27]

Criticism and praise

Hamza A. Bajwa, News Editor of The Muslim Weekly , has criticised Sookhdeo, claiming that he presents a distorted image of Islam and Muslims, [28] [29] [30] and Mehdi Hasan in The Guardian accused him of being a "crude, anti-Islam propagandist". [31] Against this, Sheikh Dr Muhammed Al-Husseini, a Muslim scholar from the interfaith organisation Scriptural Reasoning, has said of Sookhdeo: "It is an absolute pleasure to be with somebody who is a very highly valued colleague, a deeply trusted colleague and for whose work I have the highest regard." [30] [32] A joint statement in support of Sookhdeo was also published by Muhammed Al-Husseini and Islamic thinker and reformer Tawfik Hamid as a response to the Guardian article. [33]

Works

Books and booklets

Co-authored or contributed

Edited

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Parkinson, Tony (15 October 2004). "Islam, the West, and the need for honesty". The Age.
  2. ↑ "Sookhdeo leaflet" (PDF). Diocese of Exeter.[ permanent dead link ]
  3. ↑ "Servants Fellowship International, Charity Number 280859". Archived from the original on 18 February 2009. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
  4. ↑ "Persecuted Church" (PDF). Grosvenor Church Headquarters Quarterly. October–November 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 February 2021.
  5. 1 2 "Thirty" (PDF). Greenbelt Festivals. 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 December 2010.
  6. ↑ Petre, Jonathan (18 December 2004). "Charles fights death penalty for converts". Daily Telegraph.
  7. ↑ "A review of Global Jihad. By Patrick Sookhdeo". CultureWatch. 12 November 2008. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  8. ↑ "History News Network". hnn.us. Archived from the original on 9 July 2013. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  9. ↑ "The Future In The Face Of Militant Islam". www.newenglishreview.org. Retrieved 7 November 2020.[ permanent dead link ]
  10. ↑ "Beware the New Axis of Evangelicals and Islamists". The Spectator. 4 March 2009. Archived from the original on 16 April 2009.
  11. ↑ "Den kristnes lommeguide til islam". Luther Forlag. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011.
  12. ↑ Othen, Christopher (2018). Soldiers of a Different God: How the Counter-Jihad Movement Created Mayhem, Murder and the Trump Presidency. Amberley. p. 103. ISBN   9781445678009.
  13. ↑ "Counter Jihad Brussels: 18-19 October 2007". International Civil Liberties Alliance. 20 October 2007.
  14. ↑ Rosemary, Sookhdeo (2008). Secrets Behind the Burqa. Isaac. ISBN   978-0978714147.
  15. ↑ Owen, Joseph; Milmo, Cahal (21 March 2014). "Exclusive: Controversial pastor arrested on suspicion of sexual assault" . The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  16. ↑ Owen, Jonathan (18 May 2014). "Head of Christian charity Patrick Sookhdeo faces sex assault charge" . The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  17. ↑ "Christian charity boss Patrick Sookhdeo denies groping women". Western Daily Press. 17 February 2015. Archived from the original on 23 February 2015.
  18. ↑ "Barnabas founder Patrick Sookdheo guilty of sexual assault". BBC News. 23 February 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  19. ↑ James, Sam Burne. "Patrick Sookhdeo of Barnabas Aid International found guilty of sexual assault". Third Sector. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  20. 1 2 3 4 "Hard Pressed on Every Side: Challenges Faced by Barnabas Fund and Patrick Sookhdeo" (PDF). Barnabas Fund. 15 January 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 February 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
  21. ↑ Woods, Mark (11 August 2015). "Patrick Sookhdeo: Why the Barnabas Fund's founder should keep silence". Christian Today . Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  22. ↑ Virtue, David (8 December 2015). "Dr Patrick Sookhdeo: The Story behind the Story, the Trial, Guilty Verdict, and Public Vilification". Virtueonline. Archived from the original on 16 May 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  23. ↑ Woods, Mark (24 November 2015). "Barnabas Fund's Patrick Sookhdeo arrested on suspicion of indecent assault". Christian Today. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  24. ↑ Jones, Marcus (23 November 2015). "Patrick Sookhdeo steps down from Barnabas Fund". Premier. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  25. ↑ "Patrick Sookhdeo: Man, 68, charged with sexual assault on woman almost 40 years ago". Daily Express . 4 March 2016.
  26. ↑ Premier (3 August 2018). "Founder of Christian charity cleared of assault charges - Premier". Premier. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
  27. ↑ "Barnabas Fund founder Dr Patrick Sookhdeo in unanimous "not guilty" verdict: we reveal the facts". Anglican Mainstream. 8 August 2018. Archived from the original on 14 October 2018.
  28. ↑ "Sookhdeo's Paranoia of 'Global Jihad'". Archived from the original on 7 December 2010. Retrieved 20 February 2009.
  29. ↑ Jihad & Terrorism - Does Islam Need to be Reformed? (15 Dec 2007)
  30. 1 2 "Unbelievable? 3 Sep 2011". Premier Christian Radio. 3 September 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  31. ↑ Hassan, Mehdi (8 September 2011). "How the fear of being criminalised has forced Muslims into silence". The Guardian.
  32. ↑ "Scriptural Reasoning website". Scriptural Reasoning. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  33. ↑ Al-Hussaini, Muhammad; Hamid, Tawfil. "Statement in Support of Dr Patrick Sookhdeo" (PDF). Tawfik Hamid. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
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