Pot appointed to ferret out kettle

Muslim scholar, who's banned in the US and France for his views, is appointed to a UK government taskforce to root out ISlamic extremism.

Professor Tariq Ramadan has been banned from entering the United States and France because of his alleged views supporting violence, allegations he strongly denies.

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Prof Ramadan has said the French ban on him was successfully challenged in court and he now has an office there. He also says he has been invited to reapply for a US visa.

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A spokesman for the Board of Jewish Deputies said: "We have urged the government to exercise caution and responsibility in selecting participants for the taskforce which has a crucial role in tackling extremism."

Mike Whine, spokesman for the Jewish Community Security Trust which monitors alleged Muslim extremists, said: "It's a strange choice given his past statements which some have viewed as being anti-Jewish. Some of our community view him as extreme.

"He speaks with two voices, one for his European audience which appears moderate, and one for his Arab hinterland where he voices many of the demands of Islamists.

"He is at the soft end of the Islamist extreme spectrum."