Fire at mosque in Peacehaven on Saturday night left front entrance damaged and a car burnt out
A suspected arson attack on a mosque in an English seaside town is being investigated by police as a hate crime.
The front entrance to the mosque in Peacehaven, East Sussex, was damaged and a car parked outside was entirely burnt out after the incident on Saturday night, which has been condemned by political figures and faith groups.
Continue reading...Shaker, wanted over his connection to deadly shootout between militants and army, had been hiding out in Palestinian refugee camp
A Lebanese pop star turned wanted Islamist militant handed himself over to the country’s military intelligence service 12 years after going on the run.
Fadel Shaker had been on the run since the bloody street clashes between Sunni Muslim militants and the Lebanese army in June 2013 in the coastal city of Sidon. He was tried in absentia and sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2020 for providing support to a “terrorist group”.
Continue reading...Serbian nationals also accused by Serbian police of defacing Jewish sites, as French officials investigate foreign interference
Serbian police have arrested 11 people, accusing them of “inciting hatred” in France and Germany, and linking them to acts that include placing pigs’ heads near mosques and defacing Jewish sites.
The arrests came days after French prosecutors said foreign interference was probably to blame for a spate of provocative acts that had targeted Jewish and Muslim sites in France in recent years, as tensions run high over the war in Gaza. French officials have previously said they were investigating Russia’s role in destabilising operations that have stoked social tensions and sown division in France.
Continue reading...Manchester mayor urges Keir Starmer to reveal plans to deliver reform but denies he is plotting to replace PM
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has described Nigel Farage over his comment implying Donald Trump might be right about paracetamol posing a risk to pregnant women. (See 10.23am.)
Dangerous and irresponsible.
This man is a snake oil salesman and it’s time people stopped buying.
Police do not rule out possibility of finding more as incidents raise alarm over increase of anti-Muslim hatred
At least nine pigs’ heads were found outside several mosques in the Paris region on Tuesday, the city’s police chief said, prompting alarm over rising anti-Muslim hatred.
“Pigs’ heads have been left in front of certain mosques ... Four in Paris and five in the inner suburbs,” Laurent Nuñez told a press conference, adding that officers were not “ruling out the possibility of finding more”.
Continue reading...Conservative People’s party in Jumilla votes to stop civic centres and gyms being used for activities ‘alien to our identity’
A local authority in south-east Spain has banned Muslims from using public facilities such as civic centres and gyms to celebrate the religious festivals Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha.
The ban in Jumilla, in Murcia, is a first in Spain. It was introduced by the conservative People’s party (PP) and passed with the abstention of the far-right Vox party and the opposition of local leftwing parties.
Continue reading...British Muslim Trust expected to begin monitoring incidents from early autumn, government says
The UK government has appointed a new partner to monitor anti-Muslim hatred, months after its relationship with the Islamophobia reporting service Tell Mama ended.
The British Muslim Trust (BMT) – a new organisation – is expected to begin receiving reports and monitoring incidents from early autumn, after being “selected as the recipient of the government’s new combatting hate against Muslims fund”, a statement from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said on Monday.
Continue reading...Judges praised the Sudanese author for centring Muslim women, describing her writing as “a balm, a shelter, and an inspiration”
Leila Aboulela has won this year’s PEN Pinter prize for her writing on migration, faith and the lives of women.
The prize is awarded to a writer who, in the words of the late British playwright Harold Pinter, casts an “unflinching, unswerving” gaze on the world, and shows a “fierce intellectual determination … to define the real truth of our lives and our societies”.
Continue reading...Many feel counter-terrorism policies and brazen Islamophobia have increased hostility and isolation experience by community
For many in the British Muslim community, the tragedy of 7 July 2005 lives long in the memory. The bombings sent shockwaves through the nation but also marked a turning point that left many grappling with grief, fear and a new scrutiny of their identity.
Twenty years on, feelings of suspicion, isolation and hostility experienced in the aftermath of the attacks have, for some, only worsened after decades of UK counter-terrorism policies, and a political landscape they say has allowed Islamophobia to flourish.
Continue reading...Turkey police face demonstrators after prosecutor orders arrests at LeMan magazine, whose editor-in-chief denies allegation and says image has been deliberately misinterpreted
Clashes erupted in Istanbul with police firing rubber bullets and teargas to disperse a mob on Monday after allegations that a satirical magazine had published a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad.
The clashes occurred after Istanbul’s chief prosecutor ordered the arrest of the editors at LeMan magazine on grounds it had published a cartoon that “publicly insulted religious values”.
Continue reading...There are fears the crackdown against ‘outsiders’ is driving widespread persecution as expelled Indians are returned by Bangladesh border guards
The Indian government has been accused of illegally deporting Indian Muslims to Bangladesh, prompting fears of an escalating campaign of persecution.
Thousands of people, largely Muslims suspected of being illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, have been rounded up by police across India in recent weeks, according to human rights groups, with many of them deprived of due legal process and sent over the border to neighbouring Muslim-majority Bangladesh.
Continue reading...Home secretary appears to accept early release proposals will put more pressure on police as she is questioned at select committee
Defence sources believe that Britain will be forced to sign up to a target of lifting defence spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2035 at this month’s Nato summit after a campaign by the alliance’s secretary general to keep Donald Trump onboard, Dan Sabbagh reports.
Later today the data (use and access) bill will return to the Commons from the Lords in the third round of “ping pong” between the two houses. It is not unusual for “ping pong” to go on for a round or two, as bills which are almost ready for royal assent shuttle between the elected and unelected chamber while they try to resolve matters of dispute. But, in this case, the Lords are digging in a bit more than usual.
The government has been accused of “supporting thieves”, as it suffered a further heavy defeat at the hands of peers pressing their demand for steps to safeguard the creative industries against artificial intelligence.
The fourth and latest setback for the Labour frontbench over the issue in the House of Lords was inflicted despite pleas by a minister for the upper chamber to end its prolonged stand-off over the data (use and access) bill.
Continue reading...‘Any strategy based on either phasing out fossil fuels in the short term or limiting consumption is a strategy doomed to fail,’ says former PM
Severin Carrell is the Guardian’s Scotland editor.
Keir Starmer is not expected to campaign in the Hamilton byelection, a critical contest for Scottish Labour which takes place in early June, Anas Sarwar has confirmed.
I wouldn’t expect Keir to be campaigning in the byelection. That’s not to say he won’t, but I’m not expecting Kier to campaign in the byelection.
I’ll be on the stump campaigning for a Labour win. I’m the candidate for first minister next year. I’m the one that wants to remove the SNP from government.
Next year, we’ve got to demonstrate to people that for all Nigel Farage might want to come here with his easy answers and create a bit of a circus, the reality is a vote for Reform only helps the SNP. If you want to get rid of the SNP, only Scottish Labour can beat them.
Continue reading...Muslim Votes Matter concerned about policy preventing religious schools from discriminating against teachers or students
A potentially influential Muslim advocacy group is planning to tell voters to preference the Greens above Labor on how-to-vote cards in several key seats, despite objecting to the minor party’s position on religious freedom in schools.
Muslim Votes Matter has expressed concern about the party’s plan to ensure religious schools cannot discriminate against teachers or students on the basis of their sexuality, but has welcomed a commitment to ensure “all rights are acknowledged and taken into account”.
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Continue reading...Groups call for a unified anti-racism standard and say separate definition would ‘shield’ universities from criticism of the antisemitism definition
A coalition of Muslim and Palestinian organisations have rejected a push by universities to adopt a new definition of Islamophobia, arguing it would “shield” the institutions from criticism of their contentious new antisemitism definition, and that a unified standard that rejects all racism is what is needed.
Last month, Australia’s universities confirmed they would unilaterally enforce a new definition of antisemitism on campuses after an inquiry recommended higher education providers “closely align” with the contentious International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition.
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Continue reading...‘The chanting you heard was not directed at you in any way,’ inspector tells Sydney man who complained about neighbour’s Christmas party in Glenmore Park
A NSW police internal investigation has found that off-duty officers who allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar boom” and “Hezbollah” at a Christmas party after a verbal dispute with a Muslim man who lived next door were indulging in “banter between friends”.
The incident allegedly took place on 13 December at Glenmore Park in western Sydney, after the man complained to his neighbours about water from their swimming pool leaking into his property.
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Continue reading...Police sources raise alarm over cut as anti-Muslim hate incidents in Britain hit record high
The government is cutting all funding for the Islamophobia reporting service Tell Mama, leaving it facing closure weeks after it revealed a record number of anti-Muslim hate incidents in Britain.
Since its foundation in 2012, Tell Mama has been wholly funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to run its reporting service, which received almost 11,000 reports in 2023-4, and support victims of Islamophobia.
Continue reading...Amid claims that deportees may face torture, family of one man say he was forcibly repatriated and will never see his children again
The family of one of dozens of Uyghurs feared to have been forcibly deported from Thailand to China have condemned the decision as “shameful”. The deportations came despite a UN statement saying those being sent to China faced a “real risk of torture” on their return.
Thailand ignored protests by the UN refugee agency, EU and US in deporting 40 Uyghurs who had been detained in the country for a decade, claiming they had returned voluntarily “to their normal lives” with their families.
Continue reading...Brahim Aouissaoui claimed the fatal stabbings at a church in southern French city were revenge on westerners
A Tunisian man who fatally stabbed three people in a terrorist attack at a church in Nice, almost decapitating one victim, has been sentenced to life imprisonment in France.
Brahim Aouissaoui, 25, had told the special court in Paris he had no recollection of the attack in October 2020. He later admitted he was taking revenge on “you [westerners] who kill Muslims every day”.
Continue reading...British Muslim Network aims to bring together experts to identify challenges the community faces to policymakers
Prominent British Muslims in politics, media, business and sport have come together to influence government policy on behalf of 4 million British Muslims.
The minister for faith Wajid Khan, the Tory MP and deputy speaker Nusrat Ghani, the former Conservative party chair Sayeeda Warsi, the broadcaster Mishal Husain, the ex-England cricketer Azeem Rafiq and the anti-racism group Hope Not Hate are backing the newly formed British Muslim Network (BMN).
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