A Muslim leader in the United Kingdom, Noor Ramjanally, has been arrested for falsely telling police that he had been kidnapped by anti-Muslim racists belonging to the British National Party, The Guardian reports.

Ramjanally had told the police and British media that on August 24, two men threatened him with a knife and kidnapped him and said they'd kill him unless he stopped holding prayer services.

"They said 'We don't want your Islamic group in Loughton.' I was scared, I feared for my life. I was in a forest, a knife was held against me, how would you feel? They said, 'If you don't stop, we'll come back.,'" he had told The Guardian.

He accused the British National Party which has been campaigning against his services of inspiring the so-called attack.

Islam expert Robert Spencer wrote on his JihadWatch.org website that radical Muslims exaggerate or invent stories about anti-Muslim bias and hatred as part of a strategy.

"Ramjanally and CAIR [Council on American-Islamic Relations] know well that victimhood is big business," he wrote. "…They want and need hate crimes against Muslims, because they can use them for political points and as weapons to intimidate people into remaining silent about the jihad threat."