Amazon 'burns' book on Quran co-authored by Tommy Robinson

The Independent
Thu, 07 Mar 2019 16:44 UTC

© Gareth Fuller/Press Association

Tommy Robinson is a co-founder of the English Defence League (EDL)

Amazon has banned the selling of Tommy Robinson's book about the Quran on its website.

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is the co-founder of the English Defence League (EDL), and has also recently had his profiles removed from a number of social media websites.

His book, which he co-wrote with Peter McLoughlin, Mohammed's Koran: Why Muslims kill for Islam, has now been pulled from the online retailer after being classed as "inappropriate content."

Robinson has repeatedly accused media outlets and major companies of censorship and his co-author, Mr McLoughlin, compared Amazon's decision to those taken in Nazi Germany.

"This is the twenty-first century equivalent of the Nazis taking out the books from university libraries and burning them," he said, according to the Mail Online.

"Can you think of another scholarly book on Islam that has been banned by Amazon? Mein Kampf is for sale on Amazon. As are books like the terrorist manual called The Anarchist Cookbook."

An Amazon spokesperson said: "As a bookseller, we provide our customers with access to a variety of viewpoints, including books that some customers may find objectionable.

"That said, we reserve the right not to sell certain inappropriate content."

The latest move comes after Robinson was banned from social media sites Facebook and Instagram.

Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson has called for Youtube to also remove his account - which the company has so far refused to do.

Culture secretary Jeremy Wright has urged the video-sharing website to "reconsider their judgment" and said that although he believes in freedom of speech, there was a "limit".

He told the Commons that the right-wing activist had been "banging on the door of a journalist" late at night this week, and after being led away by police "returned at 4am and continued his intimidation".

"We believe that those who seek to intimidate others, those that seek to potentially break the law, because the description he's given the House this morning is potentially a description of criminal behaviour, that is unacceptable," Mr Wright added.

Comment: There seems to be a movement afoot to shut down discussion of Islam that mirrors the movement to shut down discussion of Zionism, all in the name of 'inclusivity'.

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From the Daily Mail:

According to Mr McLoughlin the £14 book was removed from the Amazon database, last month, meaning even second hand versions cannot be sold.

The book is marketed as an examination of the Koran and the motivations of extremism. However, critics called it 'infantile'.

Despite scathing reviews the author said it was 'the No.1 best-selling exegesis of the Koran'.

Mr McLoughlin added: 'I can't get my head round it. Every few weeks for the past 18 months they had emailed me asking to put it into special sales programmes, as it was selling so well.

'For 18 months they sought to profit even more from the sales. This is a book where verified Amazon customers left over 1000 five star reviews of the book over the last 18 months.'

Tommy Robinson has become so divisive a Kent councillor was suspended from the Conservative party this week, for re-tweeting a message about him which said he had been unfairly treated by social media companies.

Cllr Andrew Bowles, a Swale Borough Councillor for 16 years, shared the message which said Robinson was the victim of 'disgraceful injustice'.