Islamophobia Watch

Three men have been jailed for three years for a campaign of racial harassment against a Muslim colleague. Amjid Mehmood was tied to railings and force-fed bacon while a rucksack with protruding wires was put on his locker, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

Fellow road maintenance workers Lee McDermott, of Rowley Regis, and Sean Melaney and Phillip Skett, both from Birmingham, admitted racial harassment.

The nine-month campaign of abuse came to light when Mr Mehmood told police.

McDermott, 31, from Blue Stone Walk, Sean Melaney, 28, of Steatham Grove, Kingstanding, and Skett, 39, of College Road, Erdington, were each jailed for three years.

BBC News, 17 April 2008

Nicola said: "They have destroyed my life – I cry every night because I am so worried about our kids' safety. "I would happily move out of my flat and into a shed in the middle of nowhere if it meant we could be safe. We have suffered so much abuse over the last two years – they have even thrown bacon at me because they know Muslims don't eat pork. I'm not Muslim but I know it was a dig at my partner. It's absolutely awful."

She said yobs chased her partner up the street with an iron bar, and later threw a beer can at them. The 32-year-old claims the gang of teenagers, believed to be aged from about 13 to 17, have repeatedly hurled racist abuse at them and warned them to leave the estate. Nicola, who last year gave birth to her second child, Arshad, claims she has also been forced to scrap three cars over the last 18 months after they were vandalised by the yobs.

Sheffield Star, 26 March 2008

COPENHAGEN — Danish Muslims link the racist murder of a Muslim teen last week to an increasing Islamophobic atmosphere fanned by the reprinting of a cartoon satirical of prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

"Deniz Ozgur Uzun was killed because of his dark, Middle Eastern skin," Jihad Abdelalim Alfara, the chairman of the Islamic Council in Denmark, told IslamOnline.net. Uzun, a 17-year-old Turk attending a technical high school, was distributing newspapers in the Amager district of Copenhagen Wednesday when he was verbally harassed by three Danes, aged 15, 17 and 18.

"They tried to provoke him with racist slur," said Abdel-Hamid Hamdi, head of the Shura Council of the Islamic Council in Denmark. "He ignored them and went his way before they stopped their car and started assaulting him."

A friend of Uzun, identified by the media as Mohammed, said the three attacked Uzun with a baseball bat and a hammer, leaving him unconscious. The Muslim teen was put on life support at a hospital in Copenhagen with "severe brain damage" before he was pronounced dead the next day.

Alfara, the Muslim community leader, believes the racist attack is directly linked to an Islamophobic atmosphere in the Scandinavian country fanned by the recent reprinting of the prophet cartoon. "Was it necessary to have someone killed for people to realize that racism is on the rise in Denmark following the cartoon crisis?"

Islam Online, 24 March 2008

"On Thursday 13th of March between 5pm and 8 pm in Dudley Hill in Bradford, West Yorkshire, a Madrassah was attacked. 20 white youths wearing hoodies rushed the madrassah armed with hammers, axes and baseball bats. They attacked everyone in the madrassah. There were young kids in there aged between 9 and 19 who were also attacked and beaten by these thugs. And the teachers were also given a kicking. Most of the students from the madrassah have been hospitalised. It was just sheer luck that no one was killed."

MPACUK forum, 21 March 2008

It's too early to tell if the case of three men charged with setting a Columbia mosque on fire will be tried solely in federal court, said Mike Bottoms, Maury County district attorney. Michael Golden, 23, Eric Baker, 32, and Jonathan Stone, 19, are accused of spray painting swastikas and throwing Molotov cocktails at the Islamic Center of Columbia, 1317 South Main St., on Feb. 9. The men are being held on $250,000 bond in Nashville, Bottoms said.

In a preliminary hearing on Monday, agents testified that the men incriminated themselves by admitting to various levels of participation in the crime, Bottoms said. Two of the three men facing federal charges in connection with the mosque firebombing told federal authorities that they are members of the Christian Identity movement, widely considered a white separatist movement.

The men had planned in early February to "burn" the Islamic Center, according to a federal affidavit. The men purchased black spray paint and gasoline, the affidavit alleges. The Islamic Center was set on fire shortly before 5:20 a.m. on Feb. 9.

Stone told special agents that brick was used to break the window of the door and that they threw two Molotov cocktails on the floor. Stone nearly set himself on fire, according to the affidavit. Baker told agents he was the driver, according to the court document. Baker admitted to spray-painting swastikas and white pride slogans on the building, the document states. Baker added, "what goes on in that building is illegal according to the Bible," the affidavit states.

The Tenesseean, 28 February 2008

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today asked the St. Louis, Mo., office of the FBI to investigate apparent threats against a local mosque posted on an anti-Muslim Internet hate site. Threatening comments on the Little Green Footballs hate site about a new minaret being built near that mosque included:

1. "I suppose dynamite would be considered an extreme response."
2. "The tower would make a nice target for lots of things…Perhaps one could start by bombing the thing with pig s**t from a light plane."
3. "Anyone got some RPGs to coat in pig fat?"
4. "Would be a shame if it were to be vandalized or destroyed. Just a shame I tell you....wink wink STL youth."

"These types of violent comments should not be taken lightly and should be investigated by state and federal law enforcement authorities," said CAIR Civil Rights Manager Khadija Athman.

The apparent threats come following a recent arson attack on a Tennessee mosque allegedly by three members of the "Christian Identity" movement and a fire-bomb attack on a Minnesota Muslim business.

See also St Louis Post-Dispatch, 20 February 2008

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Three men have been charged in the firebombing of a small mosque over the weekend, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. Authorities said Eric Ian Baker, 32, Michael Corey Golden, 23, and Jonathan Edward Stone, 19, had planned for a week to burn down the Islamic Center of Columbia, about 40 miles southwest of Nashville, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul O'Brian said.

The men are accused of using gasoline, rags and empty beer bottles to set fire to the storefront mosque on Saturday. The men, who were arrested later that day, are facing federal charges of unlawful possession of a destructive device and state charges of arson.

The federal complaint filed against the men says Stone and Baker told officers they were members of the Christian Identity movement, an extreme doctrine that claims white Europeans are God's chosen people. The complaint also said Baker spray-painted swastikas on the walls of the building, including the phrase "White Power."

Associated Press, 13 February 2008

See also Al Arabiya, 13 February 2008

A 32-year-old woman who stabbed an Asian teenager she called a terrorist has been jailed for six years.

BBC News report 

The exposure of faked evidence for a thinktank report is a warning of the dangers of Britain's anti-Muslim media campaign, argues Seumas Milne.

Guardian, 20 December 2007

A Muslim woman says she is scared to venture out after being ordered to take off her veil in a terrifying ordeal.

Kauser Bibi was in Oldham Town Centre when she says a man began following her and asking her to take off her veil.

"I had just been to the Halifax bank when this guy started shouting 'Oi' at me. I just carried on walking and ignored him at first. Lots of people were there watching and no-one seemed to notice what was going on. He followed me and started shouting at me. I walked towards my car but then things got ugly.

"He kept saying 'Take your bloody veil off – I want to see your face'. He stood in front of my car and then when I tried to reverse started kicking my car. He was really kicking the car door really hard. He was abusing me and saying all sorts of other things. I was crying and was so upset and panicked. I didn't know what to do."

Kauser of Blackburn who was in Oldham visiting her relatives says that passers-by then intervened and tried to pull him away but he wouldn't listen to them. Police said a 50-year-old man from Oldham was arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated damage to a vehicle and was bailed, pending further inquiries.

Asian Image, 7 November 2007