Its Time to Take Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes Seriously

Following recent reports of the abduction by racists of a Muslim community leader in Essex, the Muslim Council of Britain today called for a serious response to deal with increasing anti-Muslim crimes. The call comes after the abduction of Noor Ramjanally who was reportedly threatened with his life unless he stopped running prayer sessions in a local community hall. His case is the latest in a stream of anti-Muslim violence on the streets of Britain this summer. The recent incidents include attacks and fire bombings on mosques in Luton and Greenwich; and Islamic Relief offices in Scotland; and arrest of a Mosque bomb plotter amid growing threats to the Muslim population from the far right. These crimes have taken place amidst ongoing anti-Muslim bigotry and scant attention to these cases in the media.

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, Secretary General of the MCB said, “Anti-Muslim bigotry has become pervasive and is now translating itself into hate crimes. It is time to take this matter seriously’. He urged British Muslims to write to their members of parliament and ask them to give this serious and disturbing trend their utmost attention.

Update

8 September 2009

The voracity of the abduction allegations are being investigated by the police. As we await the outcome of this investigation, we should not lose sight of our initial concern, the pervasive rise of anti-Muslim hate crimes. Soon after the news of the abduction, in an apparent bid to defend the actions of the other party, a Loughton BNP councillor said: “A brick through the window is a British method but firebombing is not a way of showing displeasure.

This coming after we learn of the murder of Ekram Haque after he left the Idara-e-Jafferiya mosque in Tooting last week. Police are treating the crime as racist.

[Ends]

The Muslim Council of Britain is an umbrella group of over 500 Muslim organisations – mosques, charities, community groups.

[ENDS]