Galloway Unapologetic Over Rape Comments

George Galloway, has refused to apologise to his Bradford constituents for his comments on rape.

The Respect party’s sole MP uploaded a video to YouTube that caused widespread offence and led to the departure of his party leader, Salma Yaqoob.

The controversial politician confronted members of the Muslim Women's Circle in his Bradford West constituency with repeated assertions that the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is wanted for questioning about alleged sexual assault in Sweden, had been "set up" by agents of the United States government.

He began a session with an unusually depleted audience, at the normally packed meetings, by saying: "No means no, no never means yes", but refused to withdraw any of the comments he made in a video last month.

These included references to "really bad manners" and "bad sexual etiquette", which have appalled campaigners against the sexual abuse of women.

Galloway told the meeting: "I cannot and will not apologise for what I said. Every word in my podcast, I stand by. I do not talk loosely about matters such as these."

He argued that the context of Assange being targeted by a vengeful Washington administration for exposing the brutality of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was the all-important context to his remarks that critics had overlooked.

"Rape is a vile crime. Mass murder is worse," he said. "The invasion and occupation of one Muslim country after another by the United States is even worse. Julian Assange has been set up by a government which is determined to see him serving 50 years of penal servitude in solitary confinement – conditions which amount to mental torture. I am speaking out against that and will continue to do so."

(H)