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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In Australia, an Imam and his wife faced verbal abuse and physical assault from fellow motorist while driving along a major highway, with police arresting two men responsible for the alleged attack, meanwhile in Canada, a swastika was spray‑painted on the Abu Bakr Al‑Siddique Mosque and Community Centre on Ellice Avenue, marking the fourth reported hate‑related graffiti incident in Winnipeg over the past week, and lastly, the UK has settled out of court by paying a “substantial sum” to Abu Zubaydah, a Guantánamo Bay detainee who sued the government for its alleged complicity in his rendition and torture. Our recommended read of the day is by The Wichita Eagle, on how a mosque proposal in a Tulsa suburb has ignited anti-Muslim ugliness in the community of Broken Arrow, with “bigotry and hatred expressed openly and applauded loudly” at a public hearing on the project. This and more below:
United States
Freedom of religion is taking a beating in a Tulsa suburb | Recommended Read
The social contract that binds Americans together in more-or-less peaceful coexistence is being shredded in the Tulsa suburb by religious fanatics, who want to stop the construction of a house of worship on 15 vacant acres next to a freeway. The problem, from the perspective of Broken Arrow’s self-appointed guardians of all things holy, is that the proposed house of worship is a mosque. A planning commission hearing on the mosque plan last month drew an overflow crowd. In my more than 40 years of journalism, covering thousands of public meetings, I’ve never seen one where bigotry and hatred were expressed so openly and applauded so loudly. When the commission chairman tried to steer the comments toward actual planning issues, several anti-Islam speakers accused him of trying to stifle their First Amendment right to free speech. Then they proceeded to advocate for trampling the Muslims’ First Amendment right to freedom of religion. read the complete article
International
Top UN court to hear Rohingya genocide case against Myanmar
The Gambia brought the case accusing Myanmar of breaching the 1948 Genocide Convention during a crackdown in 2017. Legal experts are watching closely as it could give clues for how the court will handle similar accusations against Israel over its military campaign in Gaza, a case brought to the ICJ by South Africa. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims fled violence by the Myanmar army and Buddhist militias, escaping to neighbouring Bangladesh and bringing harrowing accounts of mass rape, arson and murder. Today, 1.17 million Rohingya live crammed into dilapidated camps spread over 8,000 acres in Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh. read the complete article
UAE paid for Nigel Farage trip to Abu Dhabi amid anti-Muslim Brotherhood efforts
The UAE paid for Nigel Farage, the leader of the UK’s right-wing Reform Party, to travel to Abu Dhabi to meet with senior Emirati officials, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. The trip came after Farage pledged in a speech to the Reform UK party conference last September to ban the Muslim Brotherhood in the UK, saying it was a “dangerous organisation with links to terrorism”. The UAE has long opposed the Muslim Brotherhood and worked against leaders and governments it claims are affiliated with the group across the Middle East and North Africa. During his trip to the UAE, Farage was given free accommodation by Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and passes to a Formula 1 race car competition. The total value of the gifts presented to the right-wing leader was approximately £10,000, according to the UK’s register of MP interests. read the complete article
UAE cuts funds for citizens to study in UK over refusal to ban Muslim Brotherhood
The United Arab Emirates has restricted funding for citizens to study at British universities over tensions with the UK for its decision not to ban the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation. Abu Dhabi has excluded British universities from a list of institutions eligible for state scholarships while including universities in Israel, France and the US, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. The UAE has a track record of seeking to encourage a crackdown on non-violent political Islam in the UK. In January 2025, the UAE labelled eight British organisations as terror groups over alleged links to the Muslim Brotherhood, although none of these organisations are considered to have broken any British laws. In response, Reform MP Richard Tice urged the Labour government to "act on" the organisations named by the UAE, a state where political opposition to the government of any kind is banned and risks heavy prison sentences. In 2023, it was revealed that the UAE had paid Alp Services, a private intelligence firm based in Geneva, to smear Britain’s largest Muslim charity, Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW), by seeking to link its officials with the Muslim Brotherhood and violent extremists. read the complete article
India scolds Mamdani for sending letter to Indian activist held without trial
The Indian government delivered a sharp rebuke to New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani after a letter he wrote to jailed Indian activist Umar Khalid was publicised. Mamdani penned the letter in early December after meeting Khalid's parents, who were visiting the United States in December last year. Khalid’s parents shared the letter a few days ago, which has been circulating on social media platforms such as X and Instagram. Randhir Jaiswal from the external affairs ministry said in a public statement that Mamdani should focus on his own affairs rather than wading into another country's. Student activist Khalid has been held in prison without trial since September 2020, and is accused of being behind the New Delhi riots that took place in February 2020. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) considers Khalid as being persecuted for "protesting religious freedom conditions". read the complete article
UK ‘pays substantial sum’ to tortured Guantánamo Bay detainee
The UK has settled out of court by paying a “substantial sum” to a Guantánamo Bay detainee who was suing the government for its alleged complicity in his rendition and torture, according to the inmate’s legal team. Lawyers for Abu Zubaydah have accused the British intelligence services of providing questions to his CIA interrogators to put to him while they were torturing him at a string of CIA “black sites” around the world where he was held between 2002 and 2006. They claim that the case has relevant lessons for the UK today, highlighting the legal and moral risks involved in cooperation with the US at a time it is violating international law. Abu Zubaydah, whose full name is Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn, is a stateless Palestinian who grew up in Saudi Arabia. He was one of the first detainees in the US “war on terror” to be tortured, and was subjected to a full range of what the Bush administration at the time termed “enhanced interrogation techniques”, in secret prisons in Thailand, Lithuania, Poland, Afghanistan, Morocco, and then the US base at Guantánamo Bay, on Cuba’s southern coast. read the complete article
Australia
Brendan Nicholls: Man charged after alleged attack on Muslim religious leader
A man has faced court after a Muslim religious leader was allegedly punched in the face during an attack in Melbourne. Imam Ismet Purdic, who leads the Bosnia-Herzegovina Islamic Society (BHIS) Noble Park Mosque, was travelling by car with his wife, along the South Gippsland Hwy towards Dandenong about 7.40pm on Saturday. Police allege the pair were racially abused by occupants of a car driving next to them, who blocked the victims’ car, forcing them to pull into a nearby service station. It is alleged Mr Purdic and his wife continued to be racially abused before he got out of the vehicle, and was physically assaulted. According to Victoria Police, two men, aged 23 and 22, were arrested in Dandenong South on Sunday and charged over the alleged attack. read the complete article
Australian festival writers resign over author ban, calling it 'anti-Palestinian racism'
A top Australian arts festival has seen the withdrawal of dozens of writers in a backlash against its decision to bar an Australian Palestinian author spur free speech concerns. The Adelaide Festival board said last Thursday it would disinvite Dr Randa Abdel Fattah from February's Writers Week in the state of South Australia because "it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to programme her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi". A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel Fattah responded, saying it was "a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship", with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival. Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported. Among the boycotting authors, Kathy Lette wrote on social media that the decision to bar Abdel Fattah "sends a divisive and plainly discriminatory message that platforming Australian Palestinians is 'culturally insensitive'." read the complete article
United Kingdom
Councillor criticised over Muslim prayers comments
A senior Reform UK councillor has been criticised for saying he was worried about "seeing children in primary schools being taught to pray the Muslim way". Carl Abbott made the remarks during an internal Prevent counter-terrorism briefing held by Leicestershire County Council, attended by politicians and police, on Monday. In a recording of the meeting, seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Abbott said he feared it could lead to the radicalisation of children. Labour county councillor Jewel Miah, who was also in the briefing, said Abbott's remarks were prejudiced and has called for him to resign. read the complete article
Canada
Hate graffiti found at mosque, fourth hate‑related incident in Winnipeg in past week
A swastika was spray‑painted on the Abu Bakr Al‑Siddique Mosque and Community Centre on Ellice Avenue on Thursday, marking the fourth reported hate‑related graffiti incident in Winnipeg over the past week. The mosque was targeted with the hate symbol in the latest act of vandalism. Winnipeg Police Service says its major crimes unit is investigating the incident. It is not yet clear if any of the recent incidents are connected, and no arrests have been made in any of the cases. The first incident happened last Friday, when a swastika was spray‑painted on the Congregation Shaarey Zedek Synagogue building. Two days later, Habibiz Café was vandalized, and a note calling the business “terrorists” was left behind. On Monday, Kelvin High School was defaced with another spray‑painted swastika. read the complete article