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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the United Kingdom, Baroness Warsi, a Muslim former minister in the UK, has warned that “deeply dangerous” Islamophobic narratives are being promoted in British public discourse, meanwhile in Europe, the Belgium-based Collectif Contre l’Islamophobie en Europe (CCIE), or Collective Against Islamophobia in Europe, reported that its founding members were subjected to police searches and taken into custody in France, and in Canada, London police are investigating after a man threatened to set an elderly Muslim woman’s house on fire in an incident they are calling hate-motivated. Our recommended read of the day is by Tassa Adidi for Middle East Eye, who writes on the French government’s new report on the alleged influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in France and how such reports are stoking fear and “providing the pretext for more Islamophobic laws”. This and more below:
France
Islamist ‘entryism’: French Muslims refuse to be labelled ‘enemies’ within | Recommended Read
There was no surprise - only dismay and frustration - among French Muslims following the publication last week of a government report highlighting the alleged influence of the Muslim Brotherhood and political Islamism in France. Commissioned last year to “clarify the threat posed by Islamist infiltration to security and national cohesion,” the document aims to raise awareness about so-called Islamist entryism. This is "considered a separatist mode of action" that "is characterised by involvement in local life to access positions of influence and power that enable the obtaining of amendments to existing laws". On 21 May, French President Emmanuel Macron convened a Defence Council meeting to discuss the report and asked the government to formulate proposals in light of the "seriousness of the facts". For many Muslims in France, this was just another worrying step in the stigmatisation of their community. "After accusing us of separatism, now we are suspected of plotting to seize power,” Salwa Hamiti, a former sports coach at a community centre near Paris, told Middle East Eye. “How far will this demonisation go, turning us into enemies to be defeated?” The report on the Muslim Brotherhood’s influence in France unveiled last week highlights primarily alleged lobbying and networking practices. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau denounced the "threat" posed by the "entryism" of the Muslim Brotherhood, whose goal, according to him, is "to push all of French society into Sharia law." For lawyer Sefen Guez Guez, this is "utterly false." And by promoting such a discourse, the authorities validate conspiracy theories about Islam, he told MEE. "These theories suggest that there are organisations whose goal is to destabilise the nation, while we are all witnessing a rise in Islamophobia in France," he said. read the complete article
AP’s deep, sensitive dive into France’s efforts to bar Muslim women in headscarves from sports
AP delivered a powerful, character-driven report giving voice to Muslim women in France who are being barred from sports competitions because they wear headscarves—garments some in positions of power view as threats to the French Republic’s secular principles. Finding women willing to speak on the record was not easy. Many feel ostracized and treated like outlaws. But Samuel Petrequin and Alex Turnbull earned their trust, centering their story on Salimata Sylla, a young basketball player who was told moments before a game that she could not play because of her hijab. The result was a deep, multi-format feature that combined text, video and photography by Thomas Padilla. It offered intimate access and compelling visuals just as France’s long-running debate over the place of its 5 million Muslims was reaching another flashpoint. AP’s reporting brought much-needed context and humanity to an issue too often discussed in abstract terms—underscoring the personal costs of state policies and the growing tension between identity, religion and secularism in French public life. read the complete article
United States
Georgetown researcher Badar Khan Suri calls 2-month immigration detention a ‘nightmare, like a hell’
Georgetown University researcher Badar Khan Suri describes his nearly two-month detention as “a nightmare, like a hell.” Suri, an Indian national, was arrested in March by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents while walking toward his Virginia home. “I saw something that is not regular: Oldish, blackish, unmarked car was just riding parallel to me in a very dangerous kind of situation where I thought that it may hit me,” Suri said, two weeks after a federal judge ordered his release from a federal detention center in Texas. “When I was about to reach the door of my building, then it all started. A guy jumped from that car. He was masked, no badges, nothing, no proper uniforms, he asked me, ‘Are you Badar?’ I said ‘yes,’ and then, next thing he said was I'm under arrest. I was totally terrorized, shocked. Why would he say this thing?” Suri, who has not been charged with a crime, said ICE agents never showed him a warrant. He is due back in court next month as his legal case continues. The Trump administration has called him a threat to U.S. foreign policy and has accused him of having connections to a senior adviser to Hamas. Suri’s wife is a Palestinian American. Her father, who lives in Gaza, once advised a Hamas political leader. read the complete article
United Kingdom
‘Deeply dangerous’ Islamophobia being promoted in UK: Baroness Warsi
Baroness Warsi, a Muslim former minister in the UK, has warned that “deeply dangerous” Islamophobic narratives are being promoted in British public discourse, The Independent reported. The House of Lords member, who was speaking at the Hay Festival — a prominent literary and arts event — compared rising Islamophobia in Britain to the treatment of Jews in 1930s Europe. In conversation with British-Israeli journalist Rachel Shabi, she described feeling “heartbroken” at the way Muslim communities are increasingly portrayed in the UK. “It doesn’t matter how many times you serve and how many times you do what you do for our country,” she said. “You still don’t belong. You still don’t matter. You still can’t be trusted.” Warsi, who was discussing her new book “Muslims Don’t Matter,” described growing up in a working-class family of Pakistani origin in Yorkshire. The former co-chair of the Conservative Party said she had recently discussed with her husband whether it was necessary to prepare “exit routes” from Britain. read the complete article
International
CAIR condemns French government's raid on anti-Islamophobia group
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation in the United States, has strongly condemned the French government for targeting a European organisation dedicated to fighting anti-Muslim bigotry. The Belgium-based Collectif Contre l’Islamophobie en Europe (CCIE), or Collective Against Islamophobia in Europe, reported that its founding members were subjected to police searches and taken into custody on May 13. In a statement, the group said the actions were not based on any serious offense or imminent threat, but were “politically motivated," Caliber.Az reports. “Their aim is to delegitimise grassroots efforts and support for victims, and to create a climate of fear around initiatives that call out anti-Muslim racism. This is an attempt to apply pressure, to discredit, to portray anti-racist activism as a threat. The police apparatus is being used to obstruct forms of expression that are nonetheless protected by the fundamental principles of law,” CCIE said in the statement. CAIR echoed these concerns, describing the raids as “baseless and fascist,” and accusing the French government of engaging in “government-sanctioned Islamophobia.” read the complete article
India
How case against Muslim teen accused of ‘love jihad’ fell apart in UP court
On the night of December 14, 2020, Mohammad Saqib’s life was upended. He had stepped out of his friend’s home in Nasirpur village in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnor district after a birthday party. Outside, he saw a girl on a bicycle surrounded by a few men. When he walked up to the group to find out what was going on, the men attacked him. Saqib, a 16-year-old daily wager, did not return home in Kirar Kheri village that night. The next morning, his parents learnt that he had been arrested. The girl was also 16 and a Dalit. On December 15, her father lodged a first information report against Saqib at the Dhampur police station. Saqib was 16 too. He was accused of kidnapping and “compelling” the minor “for marriage”. He was also booked under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020, better known as the state’s “love jihad” law. “Love jihad” is a conspiracy theory that accuses Muslim men of being part of an organised plot to trick unsuspecting Hindu women into romantic relationships to ultimately convert them to Islam. Saqib was one of the first men to be booked under the law, 18 days after it was brought in as an ordinance by the Adityanath government. Five years later, on May 21, a special court in Bijnor acquitted Mohammad Saqib, now 21, of all charges. “This is the first case where a Muslim man in UP has been acquitted of charges under the anti-conversion law after a trial,” said Bijnor-based advocate Mashruf Kamaal, Saqib’s counsel. read the complete article
Canada
Muslim groups calls for 'action' after London woman spit on in alleged hate crime
London police are investigating after a man threatened to set a woman's house on fire in an incident they are calling hate-motivated. Just after 8 a.m. on May 29, a man approached an elderly woman outside her residence near the intersection of Marconi Boulevard and Trafalgar Street in the city's east end. He began yelling at her, threatened to burn down her home and attempted to spit on her, police said, before walking away southbound on Marconi Boulevard. "The actual nature of the threats made were deemed to be hate-motivated," said Sgt. Sandasha Bough, adding that police will not share specific details until charges are laid. In a social media post, the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) said a Muslim woman was the person targeted in the attack, and was told to "go back to your country" among other hateful comments. 'The [Muslim] community is exhausted from having this conversation and having to repeat ourselves every time an incident like this occurs," said NCCM legal director Nusaiba Al-Azem, who received a report on the incident and has been in touch with the family since Thursday. "The family's feelings are very similar to the same feelings that I hear from the broader community," she said. read the complete article