Ministers are facing criticism after the removal of the only black and Muslim members of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission from their posts, heightening fears that the coalition will place less emphasis on fighting discrimination.

Leading commissioners Simon Woolley and Lady Meral Hussein-Ece have discovered that their contracts as commissioners will not be renewed when they expire in December. Though both were invited to reapply for further terms by Lynne Featherstone, the equalities minister, before the reshuffle, neither has been shortlisted or called for interview.

There has been no explanation, but both Woolley and Hussein-Ece have raised concerns within the commission and outside about the effect of swingeing budget cuts being imposed on the statutory body and the effect of downsizing on the minorities who work there. Woolley and Hussein-Ece, vice-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on race and community, were appointed commissioners three years ago on two-day-a-week contracts.

Woolley has championed issues such as police stop-and-search and disability. He is also director and one of the founders of the organisation Operation Black Vote.

Woolley would say only that he was disappointed, while Hussein-Ece declined to comment. But MPs joined critics in denouncing the treatment of the commissioners and calling for the decision to be reversed. "There is a credibility gap opening up between the commission and black and minority ethnic communities," said David Lammy, MP for Tottenham and chair of the parliamentary group on race and community. "Simon and Hussein-Ece represent senior mainstream campaigners who have had cross-party respect. It is unfathomable that they were not called for interview and confirms deep fears … that the commission is turning its back on race issues."

Diane Abbott, the shadow public health spokeswoman, said: "It's very worrying. Simon has a wonderful record working with all political parties and had a great reference. The fact that they wouldn't even interview him was a calculated insult. It seems to me that race is slipping off the agenda at the commission."

Lester Holloway, an executive member of the grouping Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats – once chaired by Hussein-Ece – said they would be pursuing the matter. "A commission without Meral and Simon is like a train without a track. Looks like another nail in the EHRC's coffin from the undertakers in the coalition."

The move is also being opposed by the unions. "It is interesting that Simon Woolley has opposed the frontloading of cuts that would see many disabled and minority staff losing their jobs," said Sue Bond, vice-chair of the Public and Commercial Services Union and trades union chair at the commission.

"We have no assurance that a new board will itself have the diversity it needs to champion equality. We urge the government to think again."

Guardian, 2 November 2012

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The Rutherford County Commission voted 15-6 Thursday night to appeal a court ruling that voided approval of a mosque. "I just can't imagine an appellate court would agree we should discriminate," Commissioner Trey Gooch said before the vote.

County Attorney Jim Cope estimates that the legal fee cost to appeal will be in the $15,000 to $25,000 range. While waiting for the appeal to work its way through the courts, Chancellor Robert Corlew's Wednesday ruling banning the county from issuing a certificate of occupancy to the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro will stand unless it's overturned or he dissolves it, Cope added.

Commissioners took action in response to the recent court order from Corlew that made approval of the mosque void because the county government failed to provide adequate public notice before approving the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro's construction plans to build a mosque on Veals Road off Bradyville Pike.

The county's Regional Planning Commission, which voted to accept the ICM's long-term site plans for a 52,960-square-foot center, also voted 6-1 Monday to appeal Corlew's ruling.

Daily News Journal, 15 June 2012

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An east London mosque is being investigated by the Charity Commission over potential links to terrorist and extremist groups.

In a letter seen by BBC London, the commission says it is beginning a statutory inquiry into the Masjid-al-Tawhid mosque in Leyton. It comes as liberal Imam Dr Usama Hasan resigned from the mosque following death threats for teaching about evolution and women's rights. 

In the letter, the Charity Commission states the investigation will look at whether the Masjid-al-Tawhid Trust "allowed individuals with potential links to terrorist organisations to use the charity to promote and/or express extremist views; and/or the trustees have taken appropriate steps to safeguard the reputation of the charity."

BBC London has previously reported on the abuse received by Dr Hasan, who served as an Imam there for more than 25 years. Some fundamental Muslims have been calling for his resignation for years because of his teachings about Islam being compatible with evolution and a woman's right not to wear a hijab.

Dr Hasan said after bringing in an arbiter to settle the dispute, he reached an agreement with the mosque that he would resign on the condition two other trustees also did. Part of the agreement means he cannot speak to the media in a negative context about the mosque.

"There is a danger of Muslim extremism in general, so yes there is a danger of it at the mosque," he said. "Unfortunately they are serious allegations because some individuals with extremist and terrorist views slipped into the mosque over the years and preached there."

He alleges that in 1998, supporters of radical cleric Abu Qatada organised for him to visit and hold a study session at the mosque. He also claims that in 2003 radical Islamist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, a key al-Qaeda leader who was killed in Yemen last year, spoke several times at Masjid-al-Tawhid.

BBC News, 7 June 2012

This report featured prominently on the BBC London News television programme this evening.

As you can see, the only allegations against Masjid-al-Tawhid on which the BBC bases their scaremongering headline about "terror links" is that an outside body organised a meeting with Abu Qatada back in 1998 and that Anwar al-Awlaki spoke at the mosque in 2003 – which was years before Awlaki became an al-Qaeda leader, as the BBC must know perfectly well. At that time, he was widely regarded as a leading opponent of al-Qaeda.

Now, who do you suppose might have fed this nonsense to the Charity Commission, before leaking the letter to the BBC and persuading them to feature this non-story under such a provocative and misleading headline? Is the name that perhaps comes to mind that of Quilliam?

No prizes for guessing who has seized on this irresponsible reporting in order to claim that their own view of mosques as organising centres for terrorism has been vindicated.

It is difficult to see the BBC's report as anything other than an open invitation to these violent bigots to target Masjid-al-Tawhid. In fact the EDL London Region has helpfully provided its supporters with directions to the mosque.

This is against the background of a planned EDL protest in Waltham Forest in August. While the local labour movement has been warning that the demonstration will inflame tensions in the borough, Quilliam and the BBC are evidently intent on providing assistance to the EDL in inflaming them.

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