A British university has elected a student with links to Muslim extremism as president of the student union, prompting fears that it has been infiltrated by Islamic radicals

Westminster University elected Tarik Mahri, 23, to the job of president of the union despite his links to the group Hizb ut-Tahrir which advocates the establishment of an Islamic state. His vice-president, Jamal Achchi, 26, also has links to the group, raising concerns that the university’s student union has been taken over by Islamic extremists. In the past members of the group have been accused of encouraging street violence against non-Muslims and of sexism and homophobia. The Prime Minister has said that the group should be banned as it seeks to poison young minds against Britain although the government has not yet taken action. It is, however, banned by the National Union of Students and by many student unions across the county. Universities across Britain have experienced problems with radical Muslim preachers and extremist members of Islamic Societies, but this is the first known case of individuals with extremist links being elected to senior positions in the student union. Mahri is a member of the "Global Ideas" society which was banned by the university in 2010 for inviting Jamal Harwood, a senior member of Hizb ut Tahrir, to address students. He has used the tag #bringbackkhilafah on the Twitter website and posted a rap song he wrote called "Khilafah's Coming Back" which refers to "the Kufr", a derogatory term for non-Muslims, on his Facebook page. The Khilfah refers to the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate run according to shariah law. The newly elected vice-president, Achchi, has circulated documents published by Hizb ut-Tahrir. Achchi used Scribd, a social networking site, to post Hizb ut-Tahrir memos calling on Muslims to overthrow democracy and establish the Khilafah. Shiraz Maher, a former member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, who is now a lecturer and journalist, said: "Hizb ut-Tahrir despises democracy and believes Shariah law must be imposed over the whole world, by force if necessary. I think unless we challenge this we are sleepwalking into a very dangerous future." A number of Islamic terrorists have studied at British universities including members of the fertilizer bomb and trans-Atlantic airlines gangs as well as Umar Farouq Abdulmutallab, the Detroit underpants bomber, and Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, the Stockholm suicide bomber.