The Telegraph
‘Extremist’ working as psychiatrist for NHS
By Patrick Sawer and Ben Lazarus
Apr 6, 2014

A British doctor responsible for the care of some of the country’s most vulnerable people can today be exposed as a senior leader of a radical Islamist party banned in several countries.

Dr Imran Waheed is a consultant psychiatrist at Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Trust, one of the largest of its kind in the country.

He specialises in the treatment of sexual dysfunction, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and obsessive compulsive disorders, and also provides advice to courts in criminal cases on potentially dangerous individuals.

But Dr Waheed is also the spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir, which campaigns for a caliphate ruled by Sharia.

Dr Waheed is the group’s chief media adviser and is listed by the organisation as one of its six leading members in Britain.

Under a caliphate, men and women would be segregated in public places and women and non-Muslims would be banned from holding positions of power. Alcohol would also be banned, along with same-sex relationships. Critics have said his professional role conflicts with his extreme views on women’s rights, alcohol, and same-sex relationships.

Dr Waheed has called on supporters of Hizb ut-Tahrir to undertake “jihad” against Israel and once said he would only condemn the 2005 London bombings if Western leaders criticised what they had done in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Khalid Mahmood, the Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, last night called on both the NHS and the General Medical Council to examine whether Dr Waheed’s role as a consultant psychiatrist is compatible with his political activities. They compared the situation to having a British National Party activist working in a multiracial area such as Birmingham.

He said: “If Dr Waheed is as fervent about his views as I suspect he is, I find it hard to believe he can keep them separate from his practice as a psychiatrist working with very vulnerable people.”

Ghaffar Hussain, from Quilliam, which campaigns against radicalisation, said: “Vulnerable people have a right to know if they are receiving counselling and care from an individual who is very senior in an extremist organisation such as HuT.”

Hizb ut-Tahrir is banned from Birmingham Central Mosque. Dr Mohammed Naseem, its chairman, said: “Their views are not compatible with Islam and the Muslim community in Britain rejected them a long time ago.”

Following the July 7 bombings, which killed 56 people, Tony Blair announced his intention to ban the group, but abandoned the plan after police and the security services advised that such a ban would drive it underground and make it harder to monitor its members’ activities.

However, the party is considered to be responsible for radicalising thousands of young British Muslims. Although it says it opposes acts of violence in the name of Islam, some security experts claim the organisation acts as a “gateway” for more extreme organisations.

Dr Waheed’s work leaves him responsible for the mental wellbeing of a huge number of people in the care of Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Trust, which covers 1.2 million people.

Last year he delivered a talk at the Arab Uprising conference in Manchester in which he urged the adoption of a caliphate form of government, claiming it offered “superior and sophisticated political, economic and social solutions” to contemporary problems.