Criminologist receives online threats after publishing research into Islamophobia

Imran AwanA leading Birmingham criminologist was bombarded with vicious hate mail and violent threats just days after publishing his research into online Islamophobia. One internet troll even accused Imran Awan, of Birmingham City University, of being worse than members of the barbaric jihadist group Islamic State.

Mr Awan said he was shocked by the sheer number of “vitriolic hate-filled” messages he received after an online discussion about his detailed research on anti-Muslim abuse on the internet. He revealed how he received anonymous threats and how one far-right website had even put him “under official investigation” – labelling him a “troublemaker”.

Mr Awan said: “My research attempted to show how hate groups on the internet, especially Twitter, were using this space to intimidate, cause fear and make direct threats against Muslim communities. That has particularly been the case since the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich last year.

“So it’s quite ironic that I became a victim of this type of abuse after I discussed my findings on a popular internet forum earlier this month.”

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Muslim cemetery vandalized; Bosnian refugees fear hate crime

Snohomish County cemetery vandalismThe Bosnian community in Western Washington was shocked to find headstones and memorials destroyed at their Snohomish County cemetery.

The refugees who escaped bloody violence in their home country now fear hate has driven vandals to target the place where their loved ones are laid to rest. “They’ve died in peace, they can’t rest in peace,” said Meliha Babic. “This is unacceptable for any place to have your headstones turned over and your grave site vandalized.”

For the Islamic Community of Bosniaks in Washington State, the Bear Creek Cemetery near Maltby is their final resting place.

Babic’s mother and uncle’s bodies are buried at the cemetery. She said her uncle’s headstone was toppled and smashed some time after the weekend. “He came here to escape that, to start a new life and to live in a safe area, and now look what’s happening,” she said.

But it’s what wasn’t damaged that has this immigrant community worried they have been targeted because of their faith. “We have two parts of the cemetery, one Christian, one Muslim,” Babic said. “It seems like all of the damage was in the newer part where the Muslim Bosniaks were buried.”

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Turkish Parliament report: 88% of attacks on German mosques unsolved

Mevlana Mosque arsonA report released by Parliament’s Human Rights Commission following the burning of three mosques in Germany in August has reached interesting conclusions in its study of Islamophobia in Germany, revealing that the vast majority of perpetrators of such crimes have gone unpunished.

Human Rights Commission President Ayhan Sefer Üstün reported on the comprehensive research carried out in Germany. The parliamentary report states that of the 297 attacks on mosques from 2001 to the present day, 244 (88 percent) of the crimes’ suspects or perpetrators have not been captured. According to the report, “A large portion of these attacks on mosques remain unpunished … opening the way for fear, worry and insecurity among members of the Muslim population.”

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Racist EDL not welcome in Luton this Saturday

We are Luton

SATURDAY 22 NOVEMBER 2014
TIME: 12PM
ASSEMBLE OUTSIDE BURY PARK COMMUNITY CENTRE, DUNSTABLE ROAD, LU1 1BW

EDL Not welcome in Luton!

The racist and Islamophobic EDL have announced that they will hold an Islamophobic demonstration, in Luton on 22 November.

In April and May 2009 the violent and racist EDL held its first protests in Luton. Such mobilisations saw hundreds of thugs rampage through the town attacking the Asian community. Since then the EDL has held a number of protests around Britain. They’ve attacked people and protesters, caused damage to buildings and smashed up a Hindu temple in Dudley when they couldn’t get close to the mosque.

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Rochdale’s Muslim community say they face ‘unprecedented and unacceptable’ racism after town’s grooming scandal

Members of the Muslim community say they are facing ‘unprecedented and unacceptable’ racism in Rochdale – and are calling on all parts of society to take a stand against Islamophobia.

A group of local leaders have come together to speak out about the rise in violence and discrimination they say Asian people have been subjected to following the town’s grooming scandal.

They say the ‘excessive’ focus on the ethnicity and religion of non-white sex offenders has led to the ‘stigmatisation’ of their community – meaning that Islamophobia is now an ‘acceptable norm’.

The group, a coalition of local leaders under the name of Rochdale Muslim Community, say they now want to work with people in the town to eradicate the hatred.

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EDL whips up hatred and violence against Muslim taxi drivers in Weston‑super‑Mare

John SheridanReports of taxi drivers telling passengers to remove poppies before they will accept the fare has led to a Weston firm promising to sack any employee who is prejudicial against the Remembrance Day symbol.

Social media has been abuzz with stories of multiple Apple Central Taxis’ customers being asked to take off poppies – allegations, which although unproven at this stage, have led to company cars being smashed and verbal abuse aimed at staff.

The taxi firm started an investigation last week despite no customers issuing an official complaint, although owner Iftikhar Ul-Haq promised the company is taking the claims seriously. He said: “I am Asian and I have never seen anyone say ‘I don’t want to wear a poppy’. I would sack any guilty driver there and then… I wouldn’t even let them come into the office.”

The Royal British Legion (RBL), which co-ordinates the poppy campaign, said Apple taxis is – and always had been – a supporter of the appeal and urged people to remain calm.

The Mercury has been told of two occasions where customers were allegedly asked to remove a poppy, one on October 26 and another on October 30. One of the customers described the driver’s stance as ‘disgusting’.

Apple taxis’ general manager Steve Tedd stressed it has no anti-poppy policy but said unless someone comes forward officially with a time and date, it cannot discover if the rumours are true or dispel them.

The allegations – which led to Weston’s English Defence League branch calling for a boycott of Apple taxis – have provoked revenge attacks.

Mr Tedd said: “A couple of drivers have had car windows smashed. We also had a soldier on Saturday afternoon walk into our office, having heard the rumours and was angry, and wanted to talk it out with our telephonist. Thankfully after half an hour it ended peacefully.

“The allegations have had a bad effect on my staff and drivers. I have heard four different versions of the same story. If I have anything factual, then I will act, but if I hear nothing officially then I will have to class it as a vicious hoax. We are talking about people’s livelihoods and I’m not going to sack people on say-so.”

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New South Wales: worshipper attacked outside mosque

Newcastle MosqueNewcastle’s Muslim community says it is shocked to hear of a worshipper being assaulted in an unprovoked attack outside the city’s mosque overnight.

Police have confirmed they are investigating the incident at Wallsend, just before 10:00pm (AEDT).

A 47-year-old man had been at evening prayers, and was standing near the main gates with two small children, when a four-wheel drive pulled up outside the main gates and a man got out. Police say words were exchanged and the offender tried to punch the victim, and then grabbed his hair, before pushing him.

Diana Rah from the Newcastle Muslim Association said the offender hurled abuse at the man. “Basically things like, ‘leave Australia, go back to where you came from, that they weren’t welcome here’ and so on,” she said. “The man then proceeded to physically attack one of the worshippers.”

The man then got into a car with several other people and drove off. The 47-year-old was not injured, but police were called and interviewed him at the mosque.

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Israeli settlers burn mosque in West Bank

al-Mughayir mosque arsonIsraeli settlers have torched a mosque in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said, amid growing tensions and violence in the territory and occupied East Jerusalem.

The attack on the mosque just before dawn on Wednesday, near the Jewish settlement of Shilo, came after separate Palestinian knife attacks on Monday killed a settler in the southern West Bank, and an Israeli soldier in Tel Aviv.

“The settlers set fire to the whole of the first floor of the mosque” in al-Mughayir village near the West Bank city of Ramallah, a security official said. Police confirmed the incident and opened an investigation.

Al Jazeera’s Imtiaz Tyab, reporting from inside the destroyed mosque in Mughayir in Ramallah, described seeing religious books turned into ashes and windows being blown out. “There an awful lot of anger in the community,” he said.

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Islam Center of Tucson under siege

Islamic Center of Tucson vandalismTUCSON — A religious place of worship is under siege by UA [University of Arizona] students living next door. Caught on camera, the vandals strike on weekends and late nights. There have been dangerous near misses at the hands of what some say are “drunken antics by students”.

The Islamic Center of Tucson is a place of worship and a community center for all Muslims in Southern Arizona. Within the last year, it has become a place that has been disrespected, which has left the members of this community humiliated.

Kamel Didan is the vice chairman of the center. “We’ve had people come in at the door multiple times and urinate in our door,” he said. The man was caught on camera in broad daylight as students walked by. “This was absolutely was the worst weekend,” said Didan.

On the Sunday of UA’s Homecoming Weekend, the community center attendees couldn’t even get into the parking lot and the children couldn’t play basketball. “We literally found like a war zone,” he said. “It was unbelievable, glass chunks, as big as a baseball and then as little as like maybe the fingertips all over the place.”

A car had its windows broken. Didan said it’s all because of students living in the high rise apartments next to the mosque. Again, all caught on camera. “Dropping bottles full of whiskey on cars, and on literally people.”

Didan showed the apartment manager of level the damages. He says he does this on a weekly basis. In the 25 years the mosque has been here he said they’ve never had this much trouble.

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France condemns ‘odious’ attack against Strasbourg Mosque

Strasbourg Grand Mosque arson attack

A fire at the entrance to the Grand Mosque of Strasbourg was quickly extinguished overnight Saturday. The attack, which took place at the entrance to one of the main mosques in France caused only minor cosmetic damage.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has decried the arson attack and has vowed to pursue those responsible for this “odious act,” an official statement said Monday.

The statement continued on to say that Cazeneuve “reaffirms his commitment to protect the places of worship of all religions from such outrageous acts and attacks which target them, and also to fight against all expressions of hatred and intolerance,” adding that “such acts went against the core values of the French Republic.”

The president of the Grand Mosque, Ali El Jarroudi condemned “with the greatest firmness this odious act” and said that a complaint had been lodged with the police, adding that there were images of an individual lighting the fires which he had handed to the police.

In a statement to AFP, Abdallah Zekri, president of the Observatory against Islamophobia, said that he feels “anger and disgust at those who want to create tensions between communities.”

The Mayor of Strasbourg Roland Ries, expressed his “outrage” against “acts which, as isolated they are, affect the serenity of cohabitation between religions and tradition of understanding and ‘openness’ of the city.

The President of the Union of mosques in France (UMF), Mohammed Moussaoui, also condemned “in the strongest force” the attack, calling on the “Muslims of France to be vigilant and calm in the face of these acts.”

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