UN chief compares Nigel Farage and Donald Trump to ISIS with a claim they all want to roll back history to a fictional 'perfect past' 

  • Human Rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein made the claims in a speech
  • The high commissioner's main target was Dutch politician Geert Wilders 
  • He also named French politician Marine le Pen among 'demagogues'

By Tim Sculthorpe, Mailonline Deputy Political Editor

Published: 10:09 EST, 6 September 2016 | Updated: 12:52 EST, 6 September 2016

A UN human rights chief has branded Nigel Farage and Donald Trump 'demagogues' and compared them to the ISIS terror group.

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said the pair - together with other politicians such as Geert Wilders and Marine le Pen - shared with ISIS a desire to roll back progress to an imagined past.

The Human Rights High Commissioner lashed out at 'racists' who are confused by his background as a white-skinned Muslim with a European mother and Arab father.

UN Human Rights High Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein has compared ISIS to a string of populist politicians including Nigel Farage and Donald Trump 

UN Human Rights High Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein has compared ISIS to a string of populist politicians including Nigel Farage and Donald Trump 

The inflammatory speech was aimed primarily at controversial Dutch politician Mr Wilders who he attacked for a 'grotesque manifesto'.

Mr Zeid said: 'What Mr Wilders shares in common with Mr Trump, Mr Orban, Mr Zeman, Mr Hofer, Mr Fico, Madame le Pen, Mr Farage, he also shares with Daesh (ISIS).

'All seek in varying degrees to recover a past, halcyon and so pure in form, where sunlit fields are settled by peoples united by ethnicity or religion – living peacefully in isolation, pilots of their fate, free of crime, foreign influence and war.

'A past that most certainly, in reality, did not exist anywhere, ever. Europe's past, as we all know, was for centuries anything but that.'

Mr Zeid branded the desire to recover a 'supposedly perfect past' a 'fiction' and said those who pursue it are 'cheats'. 

In the speech at the Hague, he insisted he was not comparing the actions of populist politicians with the 'monstrous, sickening' activities of the terror group.

But he added: 'In its mode of communication, its use of half-truths and oversimplification, the propaganda of Da'esh  (ISIS) uses tactics similar to those of the populists.

'And both sides of this equation benefit from each other – indeed would not expand in influence without each others' actions.'

Nigel Farage featured in Mr Zeid's blast at 'demagogues' who share a desire of ISIS to roll back progress and take the world back to a 'fictional' past
Donald Trump was also targeted

Nigel Farage and Donald Trump both featured in Mr Zeid's blast at 'demagogues' who share a desire of ISIS to roll back progress and take the world back to a 'fictional' past 

Reacting to Mr Zeid's speech, Mr Wilders told AFP the Jordanian prince was 'an utter fool'.

'Another good reason to get rid of the UN,' he said and repeated a call for the world to 'de-Islamise'.

He added: 'Islam and freedom are incompatible whatever this Jordanian bureaucrat says.'

Mr Zeid's speech was primarily aimed at the Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders who he blasted for a 'grotesque' manifesto 

Mr Zeid's speech was primarily aimed at the Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders who he blasted for a 'grotesque' manifesto 

 

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