'Guardian' trainee may sue over sacking

A trainee journalist at The Guardian newspaper is considering legal action after being sacked for refusing to give up membership of a radical Muslim organisation, first revealed in The Independent on Sunday.

Dilpazier Aslam, 27, was sacked on Friday after refusing to give up membership of Hizb ut-Tahrir. The organisation is banned in Germany and elsewhere. Although Hizb ut-Tahrir is non-violent and legal in this country, The Guardian said it considered the organisation to be anti-Semitic.

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"The Guardian considered ... that membership was not compatible with being a Guardian trainee," the newspaper said.

The row follows a comment article written by Mr Aslam after the 7 July bombings in which The Guardian did not make Mr Aslam's political affiliations clear. Within hours, the online community was attacking Mr Aslam for his membership. The Guardian says that its comment editor was unaware of his membership. However, colleagues say he made no secret of it in the newsroom.

"There was a failure of understanding about what this organisation was," a Guardian source said. "It just shows the media's lack of understanding of Muslim life. It was much more Guardian cock-up than conspiracy."