Sadiq Khan faces death threats from Islamist
extremists, source says
News comes days after London mayor, who has
round-the-clock police protection due to terrorist threats, is accused of being
under Islamist control
Vikram Dodd
Police and crime correspondent
Tue 27 Feb
2024 20.10 GMT
The mayor
of London has faced death threats from Islamist extremists, the Guardian has
learned in the same week he was accused by a former senior Tory MP of being
under their control.
Sadiq Khan
has been receiving police protection, usually reserved for a handful of senior
cabinet ministers or royals, since 2017.
A source
with knowledge of the security arrangements said that as well as currently
facing threats of violence from the extreme far right, Khan also faces threats
from Islamist extremists.
London’s
mayor was vocal in denouncing Islamist terrorism when the city was subject to
two Jihadist attacks in 2017, after the subsequent attack on Manchester, and
when a far-right extremist targeted worshippers leaving a London mosque.
Khan, the
first Muslim mayor of the capital, has a team of about 15 police protection
officers protecting him around the clock.
Some
Islamist extremists see Muslims in public office in western democracies as
potential targets. As an MP, Khan voted for same-sex marriage and has
championed gay rights as mayor.
It also
emerged on Tuesday that a man had pleaded guilty to making threats against Khan
after Lee Anderson’s comments.
Christopher
Massey, 52, from Ipswich, twice called the control room of Suffolk
constabulary.
The Crown
Prosecution Service confirmed he had pleaded guilty on Monday to two counts of
sending communication threatening death or serious harm.
The threat
was made on Saturday. The charge against Massey said that in the phone call to
police he had “conveyed a threat of death or serious harm to another, intending
or being reckless as to whether an individual encountering the message would
fear that the threat would be carried out”.
Massey is
scheduled to be sentenced on 21 March at Ipswich magistrates court for the
offences under the 2023 Online Safety Act.
A source
close to the mayor of London said: “Sadiq faces threats from a wide range of
sources. His main concern has always been the safety of his family, and also
that young people from his background will be put off entering
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