Dilpazier Aslam

Dilpazier Aslam

Dilpazie/r Aslam (born 1978) is a former trainee journalist with The Guardian. He came to public attention in July 2005 when he lost his position with the newspaper after being named as a member of the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir. The Guardian was alerted to Aslam's membership in the group by bloggers who read Aslam's 'Comment' op-ed article on the July 7 London bombings. Entitled "We Rock the Boat," the July 13 article discussed the attitudes of young British Muslims and how their increasing anger over perceived injustices contrasted with their elders' silence.

Before joining The Guardian, Aslam had written three articles for Khilafah.com, a website closely associated with Hizb ut-Tahrir, and was once called its Middle Eastern correspondent. The newspaper stated that after publication of "We Rock the Boat," it found an article on Khalifah.com, that appeared to be an "incitement of violence against Jews." Aslam told Alan Rusbridger, The Guardian's editor, that he personally rejected anti-Semitism, would not leave Hizb ut-Tahrir, and did not consider Khilafah.com anti-Semitic. Rusbridger and other executives decided that membership in Hizb ut-Tahrir was not compatible with membership in the trainee scheme.