(EDITORIAL) Now that the British Government have shown General de Gaulle his proper place in the Middle East, what is it that prevents them from telling him that not one hair of Saiyid Ameen al-Hussaini, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who the French hold captive, can be harmed? ... To the request of the British Government that the Grand Mufti should be handed over to them, the French Government have not only not yet acceded, but counter-claimed to try him “for treasonable activity against France” … What is the crime for which he is to be tried is not explained, but the Muslim world does not need to be told that it was for standing up for the Arabs in Palestine that he incurred the enmity of the British Government whose pro-Jewish slant has never been concealed. …

The British Government must realise that the blood of martyrs is not cheap and if they desire to prevent a holocaust for which the Middle East has been preparing, they must immediately secure the release of the Grand Mufti from French hands. But it would be fatal folly if after getting him into their own hands, the British Government were themselves to charge him with treason.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2020