Islamophobia Watch

Siddique released after terror conviction quashed

2010-02-09T12:20:48Z

A man branded a "wannabe suicide bomber" by prosecutors will not face a retrial on terrorism charges.
The Crown Office has said it does not wish to seek a fresh prosecution. Siddique has now been released.

BBC Scotland news story

Migrants must renounce veil if they want to live in France, says minister

2010-02-09T11:19:13Z

Immigrants should sign a "no burka" contract before being allowed to live in France, the country's families minister has said.

It would be added to an "integration agreement" that all newcomers already have to commit to, which also bans forced marriages and polygamy.

Nadine Morano said: "Equality between men and women is a fundamental principle of French society. "This applies to polygamy, forced marriages, female mutilation and the full-face veil."

Her proposal came at a government conference yesterday following a three-month debate on national identity. Last month a government committee said women who wear the garment should be barred from using public transport and outlawed from public buildings like schools and hospitals.

Ms Morano has the backing of many prominent MPs in her call to have immigrants who wear burkas banned from staying in France.

French interior minister Brice Hortefeux said in December that both women who wear veils and their husbands should be "systematically refused" French residents' permits. And President Nicolas Sarkozy has branded face veils "a sign of debasement" and said they were not welcome in France.

Daily Mail, 9 February 2010

The government and the MCB

2010-02-09T07:51:00Z

Inayat Bunglawala reports on John Denham's move to restore links between the government and the Muslim Council of Britain, and the backlash against that decision.

Islam Online, 8 February 2010

Attacks on City University Muslim students will not result in prosecutions

2010-02-08T18:32:33Z

The three men arrested last November after attacks on City University Muslim students will not face court proceedings. According to a police spokesperson, charges have been dropped "due to insufficient evidence and a lack of witnesses coming forward."

The three men, aged 17, 18 and 19, were arrested and released on bail until 4 January. The conditions of bail, stating the men were not to go within 100 metres of the university or to contact any City students or prosecution witnesses, are no longer enforceable as they have expired.

At the time the police said that they were treating the attacks against members of the university's Islamic Society as racially aggravated.

It remains unclear whether the police continue to carry out extra patrols around campus. The incident on 5 November started near the university's Gloucester Building which houses the Muslim prayer room. Fighting then continued on St John Street where the students were attacked with sticks and poles by a group of 30 white and black males.

Although the security services at the university were unaware of this development, Richard Mansfield, Security Services Manager, said that "there is no intelligence to suggest" that whoever was responsible for the attack would try to seek revenge. He added that he did not believe there was added threat to students.

The Inquirer, 7 February 2010

For details of the November attacks, see Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Hate Crime: a London Case Study by Jonathan Githens-Mazer and Bob Lambert.

Police chief blames Muslim community for failure to identify terrorists

2010-02-08T07:59:00Z

Muslims in Britain must do more to inform police of potential terrorists, one of the country’s top officers will warn tonight.

Sir Norman Bettison, Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police, is to call for greater help from Islamic communities to identify suspects at home. He says: "I'm looking for the community to work much more closely with the police in identifying young people they have concerns about in terms of people they’re mixing with, the sort of websites they're going on and the material they're reading. That information can only come from the community itself."

The police chief speaks out in a three-part BBC documentary, Generation Jihad, which begins tonight. It examines the threat posed by young Muslims who have been radicalised on the internet.

Ratna Lachman, director of JUST West Yorkshire, a project aiming to promote racial equality, said she was concerned that Sir Norman might be tarring "an entire community with a brush of non co-operation".

But a spokesman for the Quilliam Foundation, a think-tank which aims to combat extremism, said: "Terrorism cannot be defeated by the police alone. It is important that all communities are alert to the dangers of extremism and help the police wherever possible."

Daily Express, 8 February 2010