(CNSNews.com ) - The leader of a far-right political party in Britain was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of incitement to racial hatred after he was secretly filmed calling Islam a "vicious, wicked" religion.

British National Party (BNP) leader Nick Griffin was questioned by police in the northern English city of Halifax before being released on bail and told to reappear at a police station next March.

Speaking to reporters after being released, he repeated his view that "there are aspects of that religion which are wicked," and he cited the treatment of women under Islam.

He attributed his arrest to attempts by Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor Party to win back lost Muslim support ahead of an election expected in the spring. Many Muslim Britons strongly opposed Britain's high-profile role in the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

A BBC television documentary on the BNP last July included footage of Griffin making the remarks at a meeting, which was filmed by an undercover journalist who had infiltrated the party.

"This wicked, vicious faith has expanded through a handful of cranky lunatics about 1,300 years ago until it is now sweeping country after country," Griffin said.

He told the meeting that in the Koran, "you will find verse after verse after verse which says that you can take any woman you want as long as they are not Muslim women."

The BNP has been trying to present a more acceptable face to British voters since Griffin was convicted in 1998 for publishing a magazine questioning the Holocaust.

He has accused Jews of controlling the media, and the party called for a complete separation of races in some tense racially-mixed areas.

It is not yet illegal in Britain to incite religious hatred, so Griffin instead will face charges instead of inciting racial hatred.

The British government recently introduced creating a new criminal offense of inciting "hatred against a group of persons defined by reference to religious belief or lack of religious belief."

Critics say the proposed legislation could be widely abused, preventing people from criticizing another religion or even trying to win converts.

Islamic groups have welcomed the measure.


See earlier story:
UK Religious Hate Law Will Harm Free Speech, Critics Say (Dec. 08, 2004)

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