People have been slammed for using an old photograph to claim Muslims are flouting the coronavirus lockdown rules and congregating at a Leeds mosque.
South Leeds Life ran an article on people going to places of worship during the pandemic and it included a photograph of men attending Friday prayer at Masjid Ibraheem.
The photograph was taken on Friday, March 20 – three days before the government imposed lockdown rules, which banned public gatherings of more than two people and stated that people should only to leave their homes under a list of “very limited purposes”.
People have been sharing the image on Twitter and accusing West Yorkshire Police of failing to stop Muslims from congregating - but the force has repeatedly stated it is "taken from a week-old news article about the mosque closing".
Jeremy Morton, editor of South Leeds Life, said: "I'm appalled. It's a very fast-changing situation and that story is from a week ago when the lockdown wasn't in place.
"Mosques were making their own judgement about how to observe the guidance at that time.
There are 26 mosques across Leeds and Qari Asim, imam at Leeds Makkah Mosque, insists that most of them are now closed.
He said: "The overwhelming majority of the mosques are not open.
"We are keen to know if there are any that are not following instructions because they are acting irresponsibly.
"The religious leadership has religious and social responsibility to protect lives and act in the interest of people's health and wellbeing."
The lockdown measures have been imposed to try and curb the spread of Covid-19, which has infected 95 people in Leeds and 17,089 people across the country.
Over 1,000 people have in the UK after contracting the virus and eight of them died in Leeds.
Speaking today, Stephen Powis, National Medical Director of NHS England, said that if the UK can keep the number of deaths below 20,000 during this epidemic, the country will have "done very well".
