Fears of ‘undue spiritual influence’ on voters as community leaders ‘highlight Islamic values’

Almost a decade ago, the mayor of Tower Hamlets was sensationally removed from office after an electoral court found him guilty of a string of “corrupt and illegal practices” including ballot rigging, bribery and buying votes.

But perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the judgement was that Lutfur Rahman was found to have exerted “undue spiritual influence” to win votes among the east London borough’s Muslim Bangladeshi community.

Put simply, this means using religion to pressure people into voting in a certain way. This was the first and only successful case of its kind since the 19th century.

Fast forward to this election, and there are once again fears of imams exerting “spiritual pressure” over Muslim voters – a type of election interference which is illegal under the Elections Act 2022.

The Sunday Telegraph has seen a dossier of messages which are being circulated among Leicester’s Muslim community, with religious leaders urging voters to get behind particular candidates.

Religious leaders backing Lib Dem

In one message, voters are told that the “ulama and the masaajid” of Leicester East, meaning religious leaders and mosques, are endorsing the Liberal Democrat candidate Zuffar ul Haq.

Members of the community are told that it would be “unwise” for Muslims “not to choose a person of faith who promises never to compromise on Islamic principles”. The message goes on to say that Mr Haq is “Muslim, God-fearing, understands Islamic values and will always stand up for Palestine”.

It notes that , Claudia Webbe, the constituency’s former MP, who is standing in this election as an independent, has also “spoken out for Palestine” but adds that “this is not a special favour”.

The message goes on: “Any decent human being should condemn genocide. As an MP expelled from Labour, it is politically advantageous for her to speak on the Palestinian issue.”

Ms Webbe was elected as a Labour MP in 2019 but has sat as an independent since 2020 when she was expelled from Labour following her criminal conviction for harassing a love rival.

Another message which is being sent around in Leicester East is titled: “Why we as the Muslim community should vote for Claudia Webbe.” It says that a vote for Labour or Conservatives is a “vote for genocide”.

There is no suggestion that Ms Webbe or Mr Haq are involved in circulating such messages.

The dossier has been passed to Leicestershire Police to investigate whether any laws have been broken, The Telegraph understands.

Issue ‘going on for decades’

Fiyaz Mughal, an interfaith campaigner who founded the charities Tell MAMA and Faith Matters, said the issue of religious leaders pressuring their communities to vote for certain candidates has been going on for “decades”.

But he went on to explain that it has become “much more widespread in this election”, adding that he has picked up on similar things happening in Luton, around Yorkshire and Lancashire, and in east London.

“For me it really truly crosses that line to undue spiritual influence as well as psychological and social influence,” Mr Mughal said.

“What we are also seeing is a hardening of this sense of Islamic identity. There is a lot more activity on WhatsApp and there is no way to monitor this stuff. Imagine there were messages sent around telling people to vote for a white candidate – there would be uproar.”

The laws on spiritual influence were originally designed as an attempt to counter the influence of the Roman Catholic clergy over elections, largely in the southern counties of Ireland.

Francis Hoare, a barrister from Field Court Chambers, who brought the case against Mr Rahman in 2015, said that since then the law has been updated to broaden the definition of “spiritual influence”.

“The earlier offence had been found to require threats, normally from a cleric, of adverse consequences in the afterlife were a voter to vote or not to vote for a particular candidate,” Mr Hoare explained.

“While ‘spiritual pressure’ suggests a lower standard might be applied, this has yet to be tested in the courts.”

He added that, although the definition is now further reaching, judges may be cautious in how they interpret this.

Meanwhile, in the neighbouring Leicestershire constituency of Harborough, Oadby & Wigston, tensions are also running high.

Hajira Piranie, the Labour candidates, says she has been targeted by a series of criminal acts designed to create an “atmosphere of fear”, leading one volunteer on her campaign to remark that “sectarian politics is growing in a major way”.

Tim Durham, Ms Piranie’s vice-chair of campaigns, said that in the last three weeks there had been a series of incidents that “seemed arbitrary” at first. It started with election signs disappearing overnight, but then quickly ramped up.

“Then someone broke into my garage and stole a driving pole and a sledge hammer –the two items you need to put poles into the ground,” he said.

More valuable items like bikes and power tools had been left, making Mr Durham suspicious that only items needed for erecting campaign posters on poles were taken.

The following weekend, Labour signs were defaced with spray-painted Stars of David and the word “genocide”. Then there was an arson attack on his home, while his three children were asleep inside.

“On Monday morning, I noticed someone had tried to set fire to the [Labour] banner on my house - luckily it wasn’t flammable or with this heat it would have taken down the whole house,” Mr Durham said.

Graffiti ‘down to misinformation about policies’

The father of three said that following the arson attack, his family have gone into “lockdown” mode.

“We are getting security cameras, we don’t want to leave the kids alone,” he said, “There are assumptions about being British and having British values that you assume everyone shares. But it seems some people do not share these values.”

Ms Piranie, 28, said the string of criminal acts has left her feeling “anxious”, adding that she believes the graffiti on her signs is down to the “misinformation on social media” about Labour’s policies in the Middle East.

A Leicestershire Police spokesman said they have received reports of theft and criminal damage to election signs, a banner being set alight, and theft from a garage, and that enquiries are ongoing into all of these incidents.

“We have been in contact with the election candidate and support and safety advice has been offered to the election candidate and their team by the force,” a spokesman for the force said.