{{Short description|British lawyer}} {{Infobox person | name = Gavin Boby | image = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth based on age as of date|48|2013|1|29}} | birth_place = | education = | occupation = Solicitor | known_for = Anti-mosque litigation }} '''Gavin Boby''' (born January 1964)<ref>https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/gzIg69gKXibiWXJ3juic6bQ036g/appointments</ref> is a British planning lawyer and activist known for his campaigns to use existing legislation to resist planning permission applications for new mosques in the United Kingdom. He describes himself as a "mosque-buster".<ref name="business"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/best-law-firms/profile-legal/article/mosque-buster-lawyer-gives-free-advice-on-how-to-block-worship-bt37p6pr3zd|title='Mosque buster' lawyer gives free advice on how to block worship|first1=Richard|last1=Kerbaj|first2=Robin|last2=Henry|date=13 January 2013|work=The Sunday Times|url-access=subscription|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230820020342/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/mosque-buster-lawyer-gives-free-advice-on-how-to-block-worship-bt37p6pr3zd|archive-date=20 August 2023|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2012/02/23/mosquebusters/|title=Mosquebusters|first=Spike|last=Johnson|work=Foreign Policy|date=23 February 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230803060432/https://foreignpolicy.com/2012/02/23/mosquebusters/|archive-date=3 August 2023|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Anti-mosque activities== As director of the Law and Freedom Foundation, Boby helps "local neighbourhoods to resist planning applications for mosques".<ref name="guardian">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/23/uk-mosque-buster-advising-bendigo-residents|title=UK 'mosque-buster' advising Bendigo residents opposed to Islamic centre|first=Michael|last=Safi|date=23 June 2014|work=The Guardian|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230820020345/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/23/uk-mosque-buster-advising-bendigo-residents|archive-date=20 August 2023|url-status=live}}</ref> As of 2023, he takes credit for the rejection of 58 out of 95 planning applications for UK mosques which he has contested in the preceding decade.<ref name="hyphen">{{cite news|url=https://hyphenonline.com/2023/07/24/how-to-fight-back-against-far-right-anti-mosque-campaigners-harrogate/|title=The fight-back against anti-mosque campaigners|first=Jessica|last=Bateman|date=24 July 2023|work=Hyphen|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230821022212/https://hyphenonline.com/2023/07/24/how-to-fight-back-against-far-right-anti-mosque-campaigners-harrogate/|archive-date=21 August 2023|url-status=live}}</ref> Some councils have however disputed that he has been instrumental in blocking the development of local mosques, instead attributing them to other issues.<ref name="business"/>
In order to legally oppose mosque constructions, he cites issues such as "non-regulation number of parking spaces",<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/spike-johnson-mosquebusters-creeping-sharia-edl-gavin-boby/|title=Hate the Thought of Muslims Being Near You? Call Mosquebusters|first=Joshua|last=Haddow|date=19 April 2012|work=Vice News|archive-url=https://archive.today/20250114014014/https://www.vice.com/en/article/spike-johnson-mosquebusters-creeping-sharia-edl-gavin-boby/|archive-date=14 January 2025|url-status=live}}</ref> and gives advice centring on arguments such as "parking congestion", "disturbance" and "community relations".<ref name="business"/> In speeches in opposition to mosque constructions, he has however referred to mosques' historical uses as "fortresses" and "places of executions", and added that "terrorists form plots in mosques" where "they cannot be detected".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/golders-green-islamic-centre-public-meeting-1.446555|title=Tempers flare at Islamic centre meeting|first=Ben|last=Weich|date=24 October 2017|work=The Jewish Chronicle|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230820020346/https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/golders-green-islamic-centre-public-meeting-1.446555|archive-date=20 August 2023|url-status=live}}</ref> His organisation's logo features a mock-up of the movie ''Ghostbusters'', with the ghost in the logo exchanged for radical former UK-based Muslim cleric Abu Hamza.<ref name="business">{{cite news|url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/britain-now-has-a-far-right-mosque-buster-113011300409_1.html|title=Britain now has a far-right 'mosque-buster'|date=29 January 2013|work=Business Standard|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230820021837/https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/britain-now-has-a-far-right-mosque-buster-113011300409_1.html|archive-date=20 August 2023|url-status=live}}</ref>
Boby has additionally provided advice abroad to Australian anti-mosque activists such as the Q Society of Australia and to the Bendigo mosque protesters.<ref name="guardian"/> He has also spoken to activists in Canada,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/anti-mosque-lawyer-speaks-in-ottawa-despite-protests-1.1300508|title=Anti-mosque lawyer speaks in Ottawa despite protests|date=4 February 2013|work=CBC News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230820020345/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/anti-mosque-lawyer-speaks-in-ottawa-despite-protests-1.1300508|archive-date=20 August 2023|url-status=live}}</ref> and been interviewed by Erick Stakelbeck on CBN News in the United States.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www1.cbn.com/stakelbeckonterror/stakelbeck-on-terror-show%3A-mega-mosque-madness|title=Stakelbeck on Terror Show: Mega-Mosque Madness |date=11 December 2012|first=Erick|last=Stakelbeck|work=CBN News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230820020346/https://www1.cbn.com/stakelbeckonterror/stakelbeck-on-terror-show%3A-mega-mosque-madness|archive-date=20 August 2023|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Other activities== In an initiative called "Never Shall Be Slaves", Boby also offers ''pro bono'' legal support for victims of British-Pakistani child exploitation gangs.<ref name="jamin">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DTCuDAAAQBAJ&dq=%22gavin+boby%22+mosque&pg=PA2014-IA17|title=L'extrême droite en Europe|first=Jérome|last=Jamin|publisher=Bruylant|year=2016|isbn=9782802755548}}</ref> On his YouTube channel, he has called for "mass repatriations" of immigrants from the UK.<ref name="hyphen"/>
He has been considered a part of the counter-jihad movement,<ref name="jamin"/><ref>{{cite report|url=https://issuu.com/hopenothate/docs/cj-cartoon-report_final|title=The Muhammad Cartoons: The Counter-Jihadist Plot To Ignite A Civil War In Britain|work=Hope not hate|first=Nick|last=Lowles|page=20|date=July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230228095631/https://issuu.com/hopenothate/docs/cj-cartoon-report_final|archive-date=28 February 2023|url-status=live|via=Issuu}}</ref> and was a speaker at the 2012 counter-jihad conference in Brussels, Belgium.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EjolDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA150|page=150|title=Understanding the Populist Shift: Othering in a Europe in Crisis|first1=Gabriella|last1=Lazaridis|first2=Giovanna|last2=Campani|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2016|isbn=9781317326069}}</ref> He has also spoken at a Pegida rally in Dresden, Germany,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a3VQDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22gavin+boby%22&pg=PA67|title=PEGIDA and New Right-Wing Populism in Germany|page=67|first1=Hans|last1=Vorländer|first2=Maik|last2=Herold|first3=Steven|last3=Schäller|publisher=Springer|year=2018|isbn=9783319674957}}</ref> and to For Frihed (formerly Pegida Denmark).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ekstrabladet.dk/krimi/ondt-blod-i-koebenhavn-kamphaner-strides-paa-ord/5940694|title= Ondt blod i København: Kamphaner strides på ord|first1=Torsten|last1=Ruus|first2=Ulrik|last2=Bachmann|work= Ekstra Bladet|date=6 February 2016|language=da|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230507082856/https://ekstrabladet.dk/krimi/ondt-blod-i-koebenhavn-kamphaner-strides-paa-ord/5940694|archive-date=7 May 2023|url-status=live}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{Official website|https://gavinboby.com/}} * {{YouTube|h=gavinboby2405}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boby, Gavin}} Category:1960s births Category:Living people Category:21st-century British lawyers Category:British counter-jihad activists Category:British YouTubers Category:Pegida activists