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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney is condemning what he called a “reprehensible” attack on a Muslim woman in Ottawa this week, meanwhile in the United Kingdom, police are expected to begin disclosing the ethnicity and nationality of suspects charged in sensitive cases, a development which one Labour MP warned is “a gift to the far right,” and in India, thousands of families, mostly Bengali-origin Muslims, have been stripped of their homes, their communities and their place in the country. Our recommended read today is Jaffer A. Mirza’s piece for Middle East Eye, which examines the UK Charity Commission’s double standards—permitting funding to reach illegal Israeli settlements while targeting Muslim organizations with differing political views. This and more below:
United Kingdom
Why Muslim charities face disproportionate scrutiny in the UK | Recommended Read
Two UK-based charities, the Kasner Charitable Trust and UK Toremet, collectively donated around £5.7 million ($7.7m) between 2017 and 2021 to a religious school in Susya, an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, the Guardian recently revealed. The settlement is considered illegal under international law and the UK’s own foreign policy stance. These settlements are illegal under international law, and the UK government officially recognises them as such. Yet the charity regulator approved the donations, justifying them on educational grounds - something a legal review could appropriately address. In the meantime, this episode reifies concerns and accusations frequently levelled at the regulator’s impartiality, particularly in relation to Muslim charities. The charity regulator’s treatment of the two aforementioned charities stands in stark contrast to its handling of the Islamic Centre of England (Icel), a Shia Muslim centre in West London. The centre is religiously and culturally aligned with the Iranian diaspora living in the Maida Vale district, and attended by Shia from various national backgrounds. The Charity Commission issued a warning to Icel in 2020, after a group of protesters held a vigil for Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, who had been killed in a US drone strike. Soleimani was on the UK’s designated sanctions list. There is a general impression among those who followed Icel’s activities that it was targeted because of its critical stance on the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. While the charity regulator did not explicitly acknowledge this, the right-wing media frequently portrays Icel as the Iranian government’s “nerve centre”, largely due to its connection with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This disparity reveals a deeper issue: the Charity Commission’s apparent double standards, particularly in its treatment of Muslim organisations. Muslim organisations have long alleged that the charity regulator holds a structural bias against them. While pro-Israel charities’ funding activities in illegal settlements are approved, Muslim charities are routinely subjected to exceptional levels of scrutiny, often based on vague or politicised concerns. read the complete article
After disinformation-fueled riots, U.K. police to release suspects’ ethnicities
Police in the U.K. are expected to begin disclosing the ethnicity and nationality of suspects charged in sensitive cases if it might help deter the spread of disinformation, under guidelines endorsed Wednesday by the Home Office. Police were previously discouraged from releasing most personal details of suspects. False claims on social media that the man accused of stabbing three girls to death in the English town of Southport last year was a Muslim asylum seeker spurred anti-immigration riots across the country. In the guidance released Wednesday, police forces are advised “to disclose a suspect’s ethnicity and nationality when there is a policing purpose to do so. Advocates for migrants warned that the guidance would not address broader anti-migrant sentiments in Britain. “Releasing the ethnicity and nationality of suspects is simply a concession to far-right anti-migrant dog whistles,” said Julia Tinsley-Kent, head of policy at the London-based Migrants’ Rights Network. “All this does is signal that it is somehow legitimate to riot in scenarios where the suspect is a racialized person.” read the complete article
Releasing suspects’ ethnicity is a gift to the far right, Labour MPs warn
This question — when and how to disclose key details about suspects — has been a point of contention ever since. Now, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has announced new guidance whereby, in high-profile or sensitive investigations, police will be encouraged to disclose the ethnicity and nationality of suspects who have been charged. The stated aim is to reduce public risk when misinformation is spreading, particularly in cases that grip national attention, and ensure trust and transparency is restored. In some cases, it could be a way to undercut the dangerous rumour mill before it spins out of control. But a number of Labour backbenchers I spoke to pointed out what they believe is a glaring omission: in cases where the suspect is, in fact, from an ethnic minority background, confirmation of that could result in heightened tensions. “I’m all for transparency in government,” said one. “But publishing suspects’ ethnicity in this climate? That’s like handing torches to a lynch mob and rebranding it as ‘better lighting’. It’s not policy — it’s a gift to the far right.” Some legal experts I have spoken to also fear this is a kneejerk reaction to public outrage rather than a carefully measured reform. Lawyers warn that releasing information on immigration status in particular, which may not be relevant to a trial, could prejudice a case or influence potential jurors, jeopardising the fairness of the judicial process or even causing a prosecution to collapse. The courtroom is supposed to be a place for evidence, not public opinion shaped by early headlines. read the complete article
Islamic children’s camp cancelled over ‘safety concerns’ after objections from Herts Reform UK
A bank holiday weekend children’s camp in Hertfordshire run by a Muslim community organisation has been cancelled because of safety concerns over “potential third-party disruption”. The camp organisers accused Reform UK, who had raised concerns, of “Islamophobia” and of threatening to “mobilise protests” and “disrupt” the camp. Responding to the cancellation, an AIM spokesperson said “children are being punished simply for their faith” and accused “foreign political lobby groups, media outlets and far right thugs” of making “unfounded allegations that heighten the risk and encourage harm to children in the UK”. They continued: “For over a decade, Camp Wilayah has been a cherished space where our children could enjoy the outdoors, grow in their values and form lifelong friendships. read the complete article
India
After 78 years, India’s Muslims are being written out of citizenship
Every August, the paired anniversaries of India and Pakistan’s independence days invite a reckoning, a chance to reflect on the “promise” of India for the 35 million Muslims who chose to stay back during the carnage of Partition, when the new republic held out a vision of equal citizenship and socio-cultural freedoms. That community is now 200 million-strong, outnumbered only by Muslims in Pakistan and Indonesia, and is on course to be the largest Muslim population in the world by 2060. Yet their numbers alone do not explain why the Muslim League’s warnings in the 1940s, that a “Hindu Congress” party’s rule would politically marginalise Indian Muslims, subject them to socio-economic discrimination, cultural erosion, and targeted violence, feel so prescient today. A secular democracy and equality before the law for all citizens were at the heart of India’s founding promise, a deliberate rejection of Hindu nationalists’ vision of Partition as the creation of a Muslim state of Pakistan and a Hindu state of India, the ideological seed of a ‘Hindu Rashtra’. In fact, until December 2019, democratic India did not have a religious test of Indianness. That founding principle was upended only with the Citizenship Amendment Act, which introduced a religion-based criterion for belonging. Subsequent events, including the post-Pahalgam terror attack crackdown on so-called unauthorised Bangladeshi immigrants, have only intensified this trend, highlighting the state’s growing determination to enforce exclusion along religious lines. read the complete article
An ethnic cleansing of Muslims is happening right now in India's Assam state
In India’s northeastern state of Assam, a brutal campaign of displacement is underway. Thousands of families, mostly Bengali-origin Muslims, have been stripped of their homes, their communities and their place in the only country they have ever known. Yet, the dire humanitarian crisis has barely received attention beyond India’s borders. These evictions and demolitions violate both Indian and international human rights law. They are creating a new class of internally displaced people who are stateless in practice if not yet in law within India’s borders. These evictions and demolitions serve two purposes: to punish a minority population and to send a message, broadcast through social media and news footage of shattered homes and families sleeping under open skies, that Bengali Muslims in Assam can never be secure, no matter how many generations they’ve lived there. read the complete article
Canada
Police investigating 'hate-motivated' assault on Muslim woman in Kanata
A Muslim woman was assaulted and threatened in a "hate-motivated incident" on an OC Transpo bus in Kanata Monday afternoon, in a situation which has drawn the attention of Prime Minister Mark Carney. The suspect is a thin white man with a beard who left the bus in Kanata, Ottawa Police Service said in a Tuesday evening release that shared few details about the incident. OPS are seeking witnesses. Aisha Sherazi, a leader in the local Muslim community, said people are afraid, angry, and have many questions. "He allegedly used Islamophobic slurs and threatened her life," she said. "As a female as well, this touches a nerve for all of us. And so I hope the police are able to find him. I hope the community cooperates fully with them." read the complete article
Prime Minister condemns assault on Muslim woman aboard Ottawa bus
Prime Minister Mark Carney is condemning what he called a “reprehensible” attack on a Muslim woman in Ottawa this week. OC Transpo says special constables and Ottawa police officers were called to a bus on March Road and Teron Road shortly before 5 p.m. Monday following a reported incident on a bus in which a man assaulted a woman wearing a hijab. “Yesterday, a young Muslim woman in Ottawa suffered an unprovoked assault on public transit, including with reprehensible Islamophobic threats and slurs,” Carney said in a post on X on Tuesday. ”Hate and violence have no place in our city, or our country. The perpetrator must be held accountable, and my thoughts today are with the victim. No one should be unsafe as they head to work or school in our communities." Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe also condemned the assault. Sutcliffe alerted the public to the incident in a post on his social media accounts, saying the assault included “Islamophobic slurs and threats.” read the complete article