Liberty (advocacy group) activist group, and Paedophile Action for Liberation became affiliated to the pressure group. Shami Chakrabarti, the former director of Liberty, issued an apology about the links between the NCCL and the PIE. In December 2013, she said: "It is a source of continuing disgust and horror that even the NCCL had to expel paedophiles from its ranks in 1983 after infiltration at some point in the 70s." Gay rights and censorship NCCL acted for the owners of "Gay's the Word" bookshop, whose stock was confiscated by Customs officers in 1984. All charges were dropped in 1986. Miners' strike During the
Farouk Shami that he has a deep sense of personal relationship with God and that he felt a 'religious tug' in deciding to run for the public office. Shami lost to former Mayor Bill White in Democratic Primary by over a 60% margin. Shami has had controversial moments on the campaign trail. Most notably, when asked if he believed it was possible the U.S. government had involvement in the September 11 attacks in 2001, Shami stated that he was "not sure" if the U.S. government was behind the bombing or not. After being given a chance to clarify his statement, Shami again