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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the United Kingdom, a man has been found guilty of a religiously aggravated public order offense after he burnt a copy of the Quran outside the Turkish Consulate in London, meanwhile in France, a 53-year old French man has killed his Tunisian neighbor in Puget-sur-Argens on Saturday with advocacy groups saying this killing and others like it are a warning sign to escalating racism in the country, and in the United States, on Sunday, several people sustained burns after an assailant hurled Molotov cocktails and a makeshift flamethrower into a crowd of pro-Israel protesters, with anti-Muslim MAGA aligned figures calling for mass deportations of Muslims and travel bans. Our recommended read of the day is by Peter Irwin and Henryk Szadziewski for Foreign Policy, who write on how several international hotel giants are pursuing real estate development opportunities in the Xinjiang region of China, despite countries across the globe acknowledging that China is committing atrocities against the indigenous Uyghur Muslim communities. This and more below:
International
International Hotel Giants Are Profiting Despite Genocide in Xinjiang | Recommended Read
In January 2021, the U.S. government declared that China was committing genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs in Xinjiang. The U.K. Parliament and the French National Assembly soon followed suit with their own such pronouncements. The U.S., U.K., and French statements sought to employ a core tactic of modern human rights advocacy: the “naming and shaming” of abusive governments by other states, legislative bodies, and nongovernmental organizations. But sometimes, governments that name and shame other countries are silent when companies profit from those very same abuses. Some prominent companies have accepted that operating amid atrocity crimes is untenable. But our own research at the Uyghur Human Rights Project suggests that one prominent industry continues to avoid scrutiny for operating in Xinjiang: major international hotel chains. Rather than reducing their exposure to the region, these companies are on a building spree. In addition to the 115 hotels that are currently operational in Xinjiang, we identified another 74 in various stages of planning and construction from international hotel giants—Accor, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, Marriott, Minor Hotels, and Wyndham. Marriott will open at least 13 hotels located in Xinjiang in 2026, including a Ritz-Carlton in Urumqi. IHG will open nine hotels in the region in 2025 and another seven in 2026, including InterContinentals in Urumqi, Kashgar, and Ghulja. Moreover, we documented a long list of rights abuses connected to hotels in Xinjiang, including forced labor, presence on territories controlled by an entity under targeted human rights sanctions, financial and management links to Chinese state-owned enterprises, and hotels hosting Chinese state propaganda events. Hilton even opened a hotel on the site of the Duling Mosque in central Khotan, which local authorities demolished in 2018. None of the seven hotel chains responded to our repeated requests for comment. read the complete article
CAIR urges US to designate India as 'country of particular concern' over demolition of Muslim homes
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has called on the US State Department to designate India as a "country of particular concern" after over 8,500 Muslim homes in the city of Ahmedabad were reportedly destroyed. "India's far-right Hindutva government has been escalating its targeting of Indian Muslims. Violence and ethnic cleansing are becoming more common," CAIR's National Executive Director, Nihad Awad, said in a statement on Monday. "It is time for the State Department to recognise India as a country of particular concern and take action to stop the Modi government from continuing its violence against Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and other minorities," he added. Earlier, a report said that more than 8,500 homes were demolished in the area in an anti-encroachment drive, rendering thousands of Muslim families homeless. The report said that despite the officials' claims that the move was targeting "illegal Bangladeshi migrants", many of those who lost their homes have been living there for decades. It also said that the move appeared to selectively target Muslims, as several Hindu-owned properties were spared. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Man convicted for burning Quran outside Turkish consulate in London
A man has been found guilty of a religiously aggravated public order offence after he burnt a copy of the Quran outside the Turkish Consulate in London, in a case that has reignited debate over the limits of free speech and the line between protest and hate. Hamit Coskun, 50, was accused of chanting Islamophobic slogans as he held up a burning copy of the Islamic holy text in Knightsbridge, west London, in February. District Judge John McGarva ruled on Monday that the defendant’s actions were “motivated at least in part by hostility towards Muslims” and that his conduct “was not a reasonable exercise” of his rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. Delivering the verdict, McGarva said on Monday: “Your actions in burning the Quran where you did were highly provocative, and your actions were accompanied by abusive language in some cases directed toward the religion and were motivated at least in part by hatred of followers of the religion.” read the complete article
France
French man kills Tunisian neighbour in suspected racist attack in Puget-sur-Argens
A French man killed a Tunisian neighbour in Puget-sur-Argens, southeastern France, on Saturday evening and wounded a Turkish man, the local prosecutor's office said on Sunday. The suspect "shared two videos on his social media account containing racist and hateful content before and after his attack," the prosecutor said in a statement. “Today I’m cleaning,” the killer reportedly said in one of the videos. The 53-year-old suspect, who is in police custody, is a sports shooter. Several weapons were found in his vehicle, "including an automatic pistol, a shotgun and a handgun," the prosecutor said. On Sunday night, the SOS Racisme association denounced in a communique that "racism has struck again in our country. “These crimes thrive in a poisoned climate: trivialisation of racist discourse, media complacency towards the far right and worrying institutional signals,” the statement read. "The double crime that struck two men in Puget-sur-Argens is not a bolt from the blue. It is the result of meticulous work carried out by the racist camp, aimed at once again legitimising the expression of racism in words and deeds." "Faced with this sinister development, it is urgent that political leaders and the media stop ignoring anti-racist discourse, when they are not working to marginalise it," the NGO’s president, Dominique Sopo, said, warning that France was “on the eve of a shift that, in reality, is already underway." read the complete article
United States
Colorado attack sparks MAGA calls for Muslim travel ban, mass deportations
In the aftermath of a firebombing at a pro-Israel rally in Boulder, Colorado, prominent MAGA-aligned figures have responded with sweeping calls for anti-Muslim immigration policies, including mass deportation and travel bans. On Sunday, several people sustained burns after an assailant hurled Molotov cocktails and a makeshift flamethrower into a crowd of pro-Israel protesters. Police arrested a suspect later identified by Fox News as Mohamed Sabry Suleiman, an Egyptian national allegedly residing illegally in the United States since March 2024. Far-right activist and self-defined "proud Islamophobe" Laura Loomer seized upon the attack to issue a series of inflammatory posts on X, declaring: "It appears Mohamed Suleiman, the Muslim man who carried out the Islamic terrorist attack, is an immigrant from Kuwait who arrived in the US two years ago under Joe Biden's open-border policy." Loomer went further, calling for the deportation of all Muslims residing in the US, as well as a total travel ban on Muslim entry into the country. "Islam is the greatest threat to humanity," she wrote, urging Republican lawmakers to act decisively. She demanded that Congress implement a ban on forcibly expelling non-American Muslims, and that current Muslim residents be monitored and deported "en masse". "It’s not enough for Republican candidates to simply say 'deport illegals'," Loomer wrote. "They need to explicitly speak out about Islam ... We are being killed and maimed by Muslim immigrants because Republicans were too afraid of being called 'Islamophobes'." read the complete article
Canada
Recent Islamophobic vandalism sparks action in the Town of Whitby
Rhianne Campbell has the latest from officials who say, hate-motivated incidents are a growing issue seen Canada-wide. read the complete article
Netherlands
Dutch far-right leader Wilders threatens to quit government coalition
Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders threatened on Monday to topple the Netherlands' already fragile right-wing government, which he said did not back his ideas for stricter asylum policies. Anti-Muslim populist Wilders, who won the most recent election in the Netherlands, last week demanded immediate support for his proposals to completely halt asylum migration, send Syrian refugees back to their home country and to close asylum shelters. Coalition partners have not embraced his ideas, and have pointed out that it is up to the migration minister from Wilders' own party to work on specific proposals. After meeting government party leaders on Monday evening, Wilders said this was not enough to secure his continued support for the coalition. "We have a serious problem," he told reporters. "We will take it up again tomorrow morning, but it does not look good." read the complete article
Australia
Mehreen Faruqi accuses University of Melbourne of ‘witch hunt’ for expelling students over pro-Palestine protest
The Greens deputy leader, Mehreen Faruqi, has accused the University of Melbourne of a “witch hunt” after the first formal expulsion of pro-Palestine student activists since waves of campus demonstrations began in 2023. On Monday, letters were sent from the university’s vice-chancellor, Emma Johnston, to four students, informing two that they had been terminated and two that they were suspended until March next year after taking part in a pro-Palestine demonstration at an academic’s office last October. The students were given 20 business days to lodge an appeal, however Johnston’s decision, which upheld recommendations made by the university’s student discipline committee, will remain in place until the process is completed. The protesters were calling on the university to disband its joint programs with Israeli universities, which have been a target of the global boycott, divestment and sanctions movement since 2004. “Universities like the University of Melbourne should cease the disciplinary witch hunts on brave student activists and issue a public apology for the McCarthyist crackdown on staff and students speaking out for a free Palestine,” Faruqi said. “From draconian anti-protest policies and police interventions to surveillance, suspensions and disciplinary actions, university management have used every trick in the book to stifle activism. read the complete article