Dilpazier Aslam (born 1978) is a former trainee journalist with The Guardian. He came to public attention in July 2005 when he lost his position with the newspaper after being named as a member of the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir. The Guardian was alerted to Aslam's membership in the group by bloggers who read Aslam's 'Comment' op-ed article on the 7 July London bombings. Entitled "We Rock the Boat," the 13 July article discussed the attitudes of young British Muslims and how their increasing anger over perceived injustices contrasted with their elders' silence. a website closely associated with Hizb ut-Tahrir, and was once called its Middle Eastern correspondent. The newspaper stated that after publication of "We Rock the Boat," it found an article on Khalifah.com, that appeared to be an "incitement of violence against Jews." Aslam told Alan Rusbridger, The Guardian's editor, that he personally rejected anti-Semitism, would not leave Hizb ut-Tahrir, and did not consider Khilafah.com anti-Semitic. Rusbridger and other executives decided that membership in Hizb ut-Tahrir was not compatible with membership in the trainee scheme. The article begins as follows:
<blockquote>If I'm asked about 7/7, I – a Yorkshire lad, born and bred – will respond first by giving an out-clause to being labelled a terrorist lover. I think what happened in London was a sad day and not the way to express your political anger. Then there's the "but." If, as police announced yesterday, four men (at least three from Yorkshire) blew themselves up in the name of Islam, then please let us do ourselves a favour and not act shocked. A blogging campaign soon began, supported by notable left- and right-wing blogs, and taken up by some of the mainstream press, to get Aslam sacked. At first, The Guardian appeared to stand by its employee, but he was finally given his notice for refusing to end his membership in Hizb ut-Tahrir. The Guardian said it had been unaware of his membership of the party, and that "on his 15-page application form he did not mention that he was a member of the Islamist political party, Hizb ut-Tahrir, despite being invited to describe any participation in public affairs or political campaigning." However it also noted that after joining the Guardian, Aslam "made no secret of his membership of this political party, drawing it to the attention of several colleagues and some senior editors." The publication wrote that Scott Burgess had made a failed application for the Guardian traineeship that had gone to Aslam. Burgess countered that he had only facetiously posted the application on his weblog to entertain his readers.
Aslam sued over his premature dismissal from the paper. The Guardian released a statement on 26 May 2006 that it and Alsam "had reached an agreement for the final settlement of an Employment Tribunal claim following the early termination of Mr Aslam's contract as a trainee reporter with the Guardian in July 2005."