Islamophobia in the United Kingdom
A definition put forward by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in May 2019[3] was rejected by both the police and Government, on the grounds that it was too broad to enforce and had potential consequences for freedom of speech.
Research in 2014 by Dr Nabil Khattab and Professor Ron Johnston using data from the Office for National Statistics' Labour Force Survey found that "Muslim men were up to 76% less likely to have a job of any kind compared to white, male British Christians of the same age and with the same qualifications.
[6] A September 2017 Social Mobility Commission report concluded that Muslims were being held back in the workplace by widespread Islamophobia, racism and discrimination.
Professor Jacqueline Stevenson of Sheffield Hallam University, which led the research, stated that "Muslims are being excluded, discriminated against or failed at all stages of their transition from education to employment.
[15] The government issued Casey Review into Integration and Opportunity which aimed to examine the conditions for immigrants to the United Kingdom was criticised for its over focus of the Muslim community, as well as deeper methodical failings.
[18] In October 2017, Conservative MP Bob Blackman was criticised for hosting a parliamentary event attended by far-right Hindu nationalist Tapan Ghosh.
[25] A Conservative councillor, Stephen Ardley had been suspended after he allegedly posted Islamophobic comments about Sadiq Khan, who had by this point been elected as Mayor of London.
"[3] An academic paper by Katy Sian published in the journal South Asian Popular Culture in 2011 explored the question of how "forced conversion narratives" arose around the Sikh diaspora in the United Kingdom.
[31] On 16 June 2017, BBC Radio 4 acknowledged a complaint that it failed to properly introduce or challenge Frank Gaffney's "conspiracy theories about Muslims and Islam" when he appeared as a guest on Today.
Kavanagh cited an opinion piece by Labour Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities Sarah Champion MP several days previously as a reason that it was "now acceptable" to describe Muslims as a "specific rather than cultural problem".
"[36] A cross-party group of over 100 MPs from the Conservatives, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens subsequently signed a letter to the editor of The Sun demanding action over the column.
De Menezes was trailed and then shot dead at London's Stockwell tube station by jumpy security officers who mistook him for a suicide bomber a fortnight after multiple bombings on the capital's transport network in 2005.
Critics of the ruling claimed that it upheld the right of the authorities to kill potentially innocent people on the basis of mere supposition and racial/religious prejudice.
[39][needs update] In September 2017, police officers warned a Muslim doctor, Naila Imran, against pressing charges following anti-Muslim harassment as a counter claim could lead to her "being arrested.
[44][45] Another survey of Muslims, this by the Open Society Institute, found that of those polled 32% believed they had suffered religious discrimination at airports, and 80% said they had experienced Islamophobia.
The Islamophobic incidents it described include: "Neil Lewington, a violent extremist nationalist convicted in July 2009 of a bomb plot; Terence Gavan, a violent extremist nationalist convicted in January 2010 of manufacturing nail bombs and other explosives, firearms and weapons; a gang attack in November 2009 on Muslim students at City University; the murder in September 2009 of Muslim pensioner, Ikram Syed ul-Haq; a serious assault in August 2007 on the Imam at London Central Mosque; and an arson attack in June 2009 on Greenwich Islamic Centre.
"[48][49] Other Islamophobic incidents mentioned in the report include "Yasir, a young Moroccan," being "nearly killed while waiting to take a bus from Willesden to Regent's Park in London" and "left in a coma for three months"; "Mohammed Kohelee," a "caretaker who suffered burns to his body while trying to prevent an arson attack against Greenwich Mosque"; "the murder" of "Tooting pensioner Ekram Haque" who "was brutally beaten to death in front of his three year old granddaughter" by a "race-hate" gang; and "police officers" being injured "during an English Defence League (EDL) march in Stoke.
[57] In August 2017, West Yorkshire Police launched a hate crime investigation after letters threatening acid attacks on Muslims were posted in Bradford.
The police said the threats were "extremely seriously" increased patrols in Hanover Square, a mainly Muslim inner-city area where at least two residents received the letters last week.
"[58] An October 2017 Press Association investigation found that hate crimes targeting mosques and other Muslim places of worship across the UK more than doubled between 2016 and 2017.
Police said there was no credible evidence of a planned attack,[61][62][63] and in June of the same year a man from Lincoln was arrested and charged with fourteen criminal offences in connection with the hate mail campaign.
[64] At his trial at the Old Bailey in October 2018 he pleaded guilty to fifteen charges relating to the "Punish a Muslim Day" letters and other correspondences sent to individuals, public figures and organisations.
[85][86] In July 2017, an SDL supporter was found guilty of kicking on the body and punching on the head of an anti-fascist protester who was handing out anti-racism leaflets in Edinburgh.
[91] In 2005, the party stated that its primary issue of concern was the "growth of fundamentalist-militant Islam in the UK and its ever-increasing threat to Western civilization and our implicit values".
[93] Following a protest by the EDL in April 2017, the Birmingham Central Mosque held a tea party with the goal of countering those demonstrations and promoting interfaith dialogue.
[100] British Asians (both Muslim and non-Muslim) faced increased discrimination following Enoch Powell's Rivers of Blood speech and the establishment of the National Front in the late 1960s.
