Category Archives: Religious hatred law

Quebec coalition criticises ‘reasonable accommodation’ hearings

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A coalition of Muslim and social justice-groups says the Bouchard-Taylor commission has fanned the flames of racism and Islamophobia by offering a platform to those with extremist views. Instead of dealing with such issues as exploitation of immigrant, home-care and migrant workers, the commission has sought to deal with minor irritants, speakers from various groups said yesterday.

May Haydar, of the Al-Hidaya Association, said the reasonable-accommodation debate was “fabricated, manipulated” because “there is no crisis.” Poverty and streets gangs in Montreal are the real issues, she continued, while Muslim women with headscarves, Sikh men with Kirpans, and Jews with skullcaps are not threats.

The coalition, under the banner Refusing Intolerance in Quebec, plans to organize a series of demonstrations to underline its stance on these issues.

Montreal Gazette, 20 November 2007

Muslim police anger over leaflet

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslim police leaders are demanding to know why no action has been taken over a leaflet which blames Muslims for the heroin trade. The leaflet, distributed to hundreds of households in parts of Lancashire, Cumbria and Yorkshire, says people should “heap condemnation” on Muslims.

The Crown Prosecution Service said there was not enough proof it was meant to stir up racial or religious hatred. The National Association of Muslim Police said the CPS advice was flawed.

The leaflet says Muslims are “almost exclusively responsible” for the manufacture, transport and sale of heroin, 95% of which it says comes from the Afghanistan and Pakistan region. It says the process of “naming and shaming” Muslims will have a “positive effect” on bringing about the abolition of the heroin trade.

The Crown Prosecution Service said the contents of the leaflet were “racist” but has advised police that no criminal act had been committed. The National Association of Muslim Police said the CPS advice gave a green light to those behind the leaflet to continue distributing them.

BBC News, 19 September 2008

Update:  See also the Muslim News which quotes editor Ahmed Versi as stating, quite rightly: “It just shows that incitement to religious hatred legislation is inadequate and the BNP members use the loophole to target Muslims. If the leaflets were targeted at other ethnic communities like the Jews and Black people then the perpetrators would have been charged for incitement.”

BNP is inciting religious hatred on Facebook

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Solihull Unite Against Fascism press release, 24 March 2008

BNP is inciting religious hatred on Facebook group – “Say no the Solihull Mosque”.

The BNP has used Facebook to help organise its campaign against the planning application by Solihull Muslim Community Association. The BNP facebook group “Say no to Solihull Mosque” claims to have 1600 members. It has generated over 1000 posts in under two weeks.

The Facebook group is being organised from Stoke on Trent, the administrator is based in Keele and the You Tube video is credited to Stoke BNP. The BNP administrator is openly using it as a recruitment tool, Alex E says “if you are fed up with mosques being built get involved in the BNP”.

The Group wall postings are inviting racist and islamophobic comment without the BNP organisers uttering a word. Examples of racist comments on the BNP Facebook site:

At 5:29am on 23rd March 2008
U avan a laugh???? Even if they did build a dirty mosque mans would just throw pigs guts at it!!!

At 10:35pm on March 18th, 2008
I have just heard the good news CONGRATULATIONS but the fight is not over. These bastards will not go away and until we kick them all out and send them back to their own countries we will have to continue fighting this war. But every time a muslim blows himself up or abuses a white person or tries to take over a neighbourhood we gain more supporters. Time is actually on our side and all of Europe is itching to kick these useless perverts out of Europe . I do not know one person who wants muslims in Europe and I know a lot of people around Europe . If Hitelr hadnt gone and messed things up for nationalism we would never have let them in. Well the tables are turning and these guys are toast.

At 12:43am on March 12th, 2008
fuck the pakis! this is our country! :@:@

These comments from the site are arguably an incitement to religious and racial hatred under the Public Order Act 1986. The BNP is responsible for publishing these comments if not directly speaking them. It is also in breach of the terms of use of Facebook. Facebook terms of use state that users agree not to upload, post or share content that the site deems “harmful, threatening, unlawful … inflammatory … hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable”.

A Solihull Unite Against Fascism spokesman said: “The BNP’s campaign against the so-called islamification of Solihull is clearly racist and is intended to direct hate against a particular section of the community. It is in clear breach of the Facebook terms of use and the site owners should take urgent action to close it down.”

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Police probe into BNP heroin leaflet

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A British National Party member could face police investigations after he distributed hundreds of leaflets across Preston which blame Muslims for the heroin trade in Britain.

Tony Bamber, who stood in local elections for the BNP in Tulketh ward in 2006, denied being solely responsible for the distribution of the leaflets but admitted he was involved. Mr Bamber, 52, said: “The leaflets are not making a comment about the Islamic religion, they are making a statement about the activities of Muslims. The leaflets were made by Preston Pals, a group of concerned indigenous people in the city.”

The question of whether the leaflets amount to incitement to religious hatred is now being considered by the Crown Prosecution Service.

Detective Sergeant Graham Gallagher, head of the Hate Crime Diversity unit at the Lancashire Constabulary, said: “This leaflet has been distributed around Preston, Burnley, and Pendle. We received a number of complaints after the leaflet was distributed to a number of addresses and we have now submitted a file to the Crown Prosecution Service to see if we have sufficient evidence to progress with our inquiry.”

Another inquiry looks set to be launched by the Royal British Legion, as the leaflets claim to be a Preston Pals’ publication. The Pals represent a Lancashire regiment – the 5th Battalion – which endured heavy casualties in the First World War. Mr Bamber, whose name appears on the leaflet, said he would continue distributing them.

This is Lancashire, 6 March 2008

Muslims ‘let down by race law’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anti-Muslim prejudice is dealt with less seriously than other forms of discrimination, a university study found. The research conducted at Bristol University examined 30 years of Government legislation and legal rulings to distinguish the difference between prejudice towards race, ethnicity and religion.

In the study, Dr Nasar Meer, research associate in the Department of Sociology at Bristol, found that Muslims are let down by race legislation because being a Muslim is recognised as a lifestyle choice or a “voluntary identity”. Dr Meer says other religious identities – such as Sikh and Jew – have had race law applied in their favour in a way not extended to Muslim communities. He said many Muslims view their faith as an “involuntary identity” as they are born into the religion.

He said: “We explored what legislation exists to help protect people with what we call an involuntary identity. People with an involuntary identity shouldn’t be disadvantaged by others’ views. The legislation should offer them support and make sure they’re not discriminated against. Muslims have been totally missed out of the protection offered by race-relations legislation because it treats Islam as a religion and not a race.”

Dr Meer said he has come across various examples of when hatred towards Muslims was dismissed but hatred towards other religions had not been tolerated.

Press Association, 31 January 2008

Download Dr Meer’s article here.

See also University of Bristol press release, 31 January 2008

More hysterical nonsense from comrade Namazie

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Maryam Namazie’s so-called Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain offers its take on the Gillian Gibbons case. The MCB, which forthrightly condemned Ms Gibbons’ arrest and stated that it was “appalled at the decision of the Sudanese authorities” to charge her, is falsely quoted as saying it found the situation merely “embarrassing”, and is further accused of favouring the lashing of people who insult Islam, while the adoption of an utterly toothless law against incitement to religious hatred is equated with death threats against apostates:

“The CEMB notes that Islamic organisations such as the Muslim Council of Britain find the events in Sudan ’embarrassing’ – as indeed all supporters of the Shariah should. But they do so on the grounds that no insult to Islam was intended by Ms Gibbons. This implies that had an insult been perpetrated, it would have been deemed a crime and punishable according to the Shariah, which could have resulted in 40 lashes or worse. Recent death threats against apostates or the case of the Danish cartoons of Muhammad two years ago are some examples of how any criticism is deemed offensive or insulting. Islamists will not hesitate to use Islamic law where possible or other violent means to stifle such criticism. In line with this, they have been aggressively campaigning for a law on incitement to religious hatred in the UK, which will severely curtail freedom of expression.”

Maryam Namazie’s blog, 2 December 2007

‘Why we must fight evil Sharia laws here too’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Now Muslims Get Their Own LawsRoss Clark explains in today’s Daily Express: “The real scandal is not that a British teacher has fallen foul of Sharia law in a Muslim country but that Sharia law is being practised beneath our noses in Britain and the police are doing nothing to stop it. A youth worker from Woolwich recently told the BBC about the case of a South London stabbing victim. Rather than let the police investigate the case and bring a prosecution, the victim’s family said they would settle the matter privately, in an unofficial Sharia court, and no official prosecution followed. Whether the culprit was lashed, murdered or given a slap on the wrist she didn’t say.”

Clark continues: “Britain has a deserved reputation as a tolerant country but that should not extend to tolerating private courts and legal systems.”

In fact, Britain has a long history of “tolerating private courts and legal systems”. Beth Din courts have operated for years within the Jewish community in the UK. And, as is the case with Sharia courts, their role is in fact restricted to arbitrating in civil disputes.

However, while rabbinical courts have attracted no interest at all from the Express, the supposed “threat” of Sharia law has become something of a theme in the paper. Last April the Express featured a front-page report with the scaremongering headline “Now Muslims get their own laws in Britain” (illustrated). Characteristic articles in the paper have included: “Muslim law reaches Britain“, “Shocking secrets of Sharia ‘courts’” and “We cannot sit back and let Sharia law take root in Britain“.

Needless to say, the Express has been unable to come up with a single example of a British citizen being lashed or murdered by a Sharia court in the UK.

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BMI denounces Tories’ selection of Boris Johnson

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Boris JohnsonBritish Muslim Initiative views the Conservative choice of Boris Johnson as the mayoral candidate as an affront to the sensitivities and beliefs of London Muslims. In a city in which one in eight of its population is Muslim, Johnson has demonstrated an antipathy to the Quran that borders on the realm of the bigotry.

During the debate on the religious hatred bill Johnson is recorded as saying “if this bill makes any sense at all it must mean banning the reading in public or in private of a great many passages of the Quran itself”. He also wrote in one of his articles “the Koran is full of stuff that plainly falls into that category (religious hatred)”.

Mohammad Sawalha Chair of BMI said: “In the light of such invective BMI affirms any individual aspiring to represent the people of London must demonstrate respect for all its communities. Mr Johnson is on the hostile path with the religious and ethnic minorities and he would destroy the great harmony enjoyed in London.”

Mr Sawalha further added: “What is required at this juncture is a Mayor who has the understanding of the needs of the great many communities in London and unite them, unfortunately Mr Johnson does not fit that bill. Boris Johnson’s record of hostilities and disdain for the sacred book of Muslims must automatically disqualify him from their support, to the same degree that his public offence and disrespect for black and ethnic minority communities should equally render him unworthy of their support.”

BMI press release, 27 September 2007

Lib Dem MP defends right to incite hatred

Posted on by Bob Pitt

NF Islam Out of BritainAttacking Asghar Bukhari’s criticism of the decision to award Salman Rushdie a knighthood, Liberal Democrat MP and leading National Secular Society member Evan Harris writes:

“I will not tolerate the persistent demands, led by Muslim activists, for special protection for religious views. People should be allowed to attack religious ideas in ways which adherents may find offensive – whether by criticism, lampoon or even insult. I organised the Parliamentary campaign that last year voted down – by a margin of one – a Government plan to outlaw the incitement of religious hatred.”

National Secular Society website, 3 August 2007

So it’s not just just criticising, lampooning or insulting a religion that Harris defends but also the right to incite hatred against it. Little wonder, then, that his actions over the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill were applauded by the far Right, against whom the Bill was aimed. As one National Front activist wrote in appreciation of Harris’s efforts:

“Evan Harris is not a perfect MP but nevertheless he has spoken out on a number of important issues where others have remained silent. For instance he has campaigned against special religious education for minorities. He has opposed the hijab and was one of the few to criticise it in public. Harris is a defender of freedom of expression…. The government is attempting to legislate against ‘religious hatred’. All patriots must oppose this proposed law which could be used against us. You will find that Harris will be one of the most articulate spokesmen against this law.”

In his NSS piece Harris writes that he finds the ideology of the far Right loathsome and that he should be “entitled to incite hatred of Nazis”. Unfortunately, he also defends the right of Nazis to incite hatred of Muslims.