Labour’s Islamophobia definition risks silencing Iranian protesters, a former leading diplomat has claimed. Sir John Jenkins, who was ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Syria, claimed that any criticism of the Ayatollah Khamenei’s regime in Tehran would “involve hostility towards Islam” and would fall foul of the definition. He said that protests against the regime were a “worked example” of the consequences of an Islamophobia definition. “If you have a definition which seeks to stigmatise hostility toward Islam, you are potentially preventing anyone from saying anything at all about Islam,” Sir John told The Telegraph. “The connections between the Iranian regime and organised Islamism are absolutely central to what the regime is. Protests against the Islamic Republic take on an anti-Islamist flavour.” A protester against the Iranian regime holds a picture of the exlied crown prince – Dan Kitwood/Getty Sir John’s warning comes as Steve Reed, the Communities Secretary, is finalising the definition, based on a draft from an advisory group. He said this week that it would be published “very shortly”. He insisted that …