Blasphemy Continues to Fuel Extremism in Pakistan & Europe

About six weeks ago, a 32 year old doctor in the Sindh province in Pakistan was shot by police. Shah Nawaz was killed by police who suggested that he was resisting arrest after being accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad. The blasphemy charge was that he had shared ‘blasphemous’ content on social media.

Nawaz’s family reject this charge and say that he was giving himself up and that he was killed by a member of the local police force on the basis that he had allegedly promoted ‘blasphemous’ content.

This killing came on the heels of another murder on September the 12th 2024, where a 52 year old man  was killed in custody in Balochistan and who was being held on the basis of spurious ‘blasphemy’ charges.

Judiciary Involvement in Blasphemy

We must not forget that these killings and the charges of ‘blasphemy’ come on the back of a range of cases that have mainly involved the beleaguered Christian community in Pakistan, with the most high profile case being that of Asia Bibi.

Following on from Asia Bibi’s case, in May 2020, Aneeqa Ateeq a 26 year old Muslim woman was arrested in May 2020 and charged with circulating ‘blasphemous material’ on her Whatsapp messages. A court in Rawalpindi subsequently found Ateeq guilty and gave her a 20 year jail sentence and ordered her to be ‘hanged by her neck till she is dead”.

In 2021, a Pakistani Christian, Shagufta Kiran, was arrested for posting ‘blasphemous’ content on her Whatsapp messaging app in September 2020. The 40 year old mother of four was recently found guilty and has been sentenced to death.

The list of Christians and Muslims who have been accused of blasphemy continues to rise in Pakistan on the back of the introduction of ‘blasphemy’ as a political tool by the Islamist extremist group, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP). Such has been the spread of their narrative that the lives of minorities and those who even question faith, are at risk. The impacts of ‘blasphemy’ are therefore felt by Christian and Ahmadi communities who have borne the brunt of the actions of the state in denying them the most basic of rights.

Faith Matters will continue to highlight these human rights abuses and to highlight the lives of those affected by the ‘blasphemy police’ and extremists in Pakistan who seek to target minorities. Furthermore, the U.K. Government has not done enough in highlighting and challenging the human rights abuses around ‘blasphemy’ that are becoming pervasive in the country. The meekness of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) on this matter, is unacceptable.


READ MORE: Two Christians Sought by Police in Pakistan on Blasphemy Charges

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Categories: Ahmadi, Aneeqa Ateeq, Asia Bibi, Balochistan, Blasphemy, Christians, Pakistan, Persecution, Shah Nawaz, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan, TLP

Tommy Robinson to miss planned protest after being remanded into custody

Political activist Tommy Robinson will miss his own planned march for thousands of people after being remanded into custody by police.

The 41-year-old, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is accused of being in contempt of court following the airing of a film at a protest in central London.

He attended Folkestone Police station on Friday where he was separately charged with failing to provide his mobile phone pin to police under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000, Kent Police said.

Robinson is due to appear at Woolwich Crown Court on Monday for a two-day hearing concerning allegations he breached a 2021 High Court order barring him from repeating libellous allegations against a Syrian refugee who successfully sued him.

Supporters of Robinson are due to hold a demonstration on Saturday, which is expected to be met with a counter-protest organised by Stand Up to Racism.

The Metropolitan Police and British Transport Police are due to be supported by officers from other forces across the country as the Met said there will be a “significant police presence” to ensure the two groups are kept apart.


READ MORE: Why did Tommy Robinson move from the EDL to Pegida?

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Categories: News, protest, Schedule 7, Stephen Yaxley Lennon, Syrian Refugee, Terrorism Act, Tommy Robinson

Neo-Nazi guilty of attempted murder after terror attack on asylum seeker

A neo-Nazi who attempted to murder an asylum seeker at a hotel near Worcester in a far-right terror attack was today found guilty.

Callum Ulysses Parslow, 31, stabbed 25-year-old Nahom Hagos from Eritrea in the back and hand, resulting in serious injuries that required extensive medical treatment on April 2.

“I still look at it as a miracle. God saved me,” Mr Hagos told the media.

News of Parslow’s conviction emerged after he switched to a guilty verdict concerning an unrelated trial that imposed reporting restrictions – to sending racist and sexual messages to a Black woman online, the journalist Lizzie Dearden revealed on X (formerly Twitter).

Parslow had appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court days after the terror attack, charged with attempted murder and possession of a bladed article to which he pleaded not guilty.

That prosecution outlined his use of social media to express his neo-Nazi views and the ideological motivations of the terror attack and to intimidate “asylum seekers and those providing accommodation to asylum seekers.”

Following the terror attack, he attempted to upload his terrorist screed to X, describing that he “just did my duty to England” and tried to “exterminate” his victim.

He was, however, unable to publish his terrorist screed as he tagged in too many accounts – ranging from news sources to the likes of Nigel Farage, Richard Tice, Suella Braverman, Keir Starmer, Laurence Fox, Michael Gove, David Cameron Lee Anderson, Boris Johnson, Donald Trump and others. He also attempted to tag those on the far-right spectrum – including Tommy Robinson (aka Stephen Yaxley-Lennon), Paul Golding, and Nick Griffin.

Online search results pulled from Parslow’s phone included the far-right, anti-Muslim terror attacks in Finsbury Park and Christchurch, New Zealand, respectively.

On X, Callum Parslow glorified the Christchurch terrorist, promoted white supremacist conspiracy theories about demographic changes and routinely used anti-Black racist slurs.

Parslow used two X accounts, Cyberpunknazi and iambutagardener, and the latter might have benefited from paid-for blue tick verification, according to screenshots posted on the platform from other users.

Credit: X/deletedacc0982

Some online mentions to iambutagardener redirect to deletedaccount0982, which boasts a paid-for verified status since February 2024. Some replies to the previous username criticised the platform for not removing their racist content.

Extracts of the racist and terrorist screed included antisemitic tropes that blamed them for “demonising Christianity, White people and all European culture” before blaming “Muslims and Africans” for rape and criminality, the Daily Mail reported.

West Mercia Police uncovered various Nazi-era paraphernalia at Parslow’s bedsit in Worcester, as well as a second knife, an axe, and a metal bat.

 

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Categories: Christchurch, Neo-Nazi, News, Nigel Farage, terrorism, Tommy Robinson, West Mercia Police, X

Former British soldier jailed after sending weapons to Taliban

A former British soldier who sent night vision and thermal imaging rifle scopes to support terrorist activity by the Taliban in Afghanistan has been jailed.

Muhammad Choudhary, 41, sent the items to Pakistan on a number of occasions in 2017 and 2018.

He bought 12 thermal imaging rifle scopes from legitimate specialist UK suppliers at a total cost of £31,500, the Old Bailey heard.

He was caught after a joint investigation by His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command and later admitted they were intended for use by the Taliban, which, at the time, launched various attacks against the then-Government and coalition forces in Afghanistan, the forces said.

On Tuesday, Choudhary, who had pleaded guilty to terrorism funding and fundraising offences, was sentenced to a total of seven years’ imprisonment, with an additional year to be served on an extended licence.

Judge Mark Lucraft KC, during sentencing, said: “From all the evidence, it is clear you knew the money you sent and the thermal imaging rifle scopes you acquired and sent, or tried to send, were intended to be used for the purposes of terrorism, namely by the Taliban in Afghanistan in its conflict with the Afghan government and coalition forces.

“You exported, or tried to export, rifle scopes knowing that you were prohibited from doing so and the contents of the packages containing the scopes were misdescribed no doubt in order to increase the likelihood of their export.

“As a former British soldier, whilst your service in the military was primarily to be engaged in medical duties, you would have been well aware of the capabilities of the scopes and how they were to be deployed.”

Thermal imaging systems help identify objects that emit infrared radiation such as humans while night vision imaging systems help users to see things in low light level conditions.

These systems, which are used by the military to detect targets and aim weapons, can be used as rifle sights by snipers to find and shoot targets both night and day.

The judge said Choudhary had made contact with the overseas organisations by December 2016 and had offered to help them with some money plus small or large weapons from that time.

In January, Choudhary pleaded guilty to a charge of fundraising for the purposes of terrorism, and two charges of making funding arrangements for the purposes of terrorism.

He first came to the attention of HMRC after a seizure of rifle scopes at Heathrow Airport in January 2018 when he was linked to a consignment, which was intended for an address in Pakistan.

Investigators found that Choudhary had bought the sniper sights from legitimate hunting suppliers. He later admitted to HMRC investigators to being in touch with individuals in Pakistan and Afghanistan and that he knew the scopes were for use by Taliban fighters.

Choudhary was then investigated by the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command and charged in September 2023.

After sentencing, Acting Commander Gareth Rees, of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, described it as “a unique case where Government colleagues identified potential terrorist-related activity and shared information with us”.

He said: “This case is a prime example of how terrorist activity can take many different forms, and shows that we will investigate anyone in the UK who supports terrorist activity, regardless of what it may be in support of or to where it may be linked.”

Mike Pass, assistant director of the fraud investigation service at HMRC, said: “The UK operates a strict licensing regime to uphold international sanctions and to ensure military equipment does not fall into the wrong hands.

“We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to ensure effective controls and enforcement on military goods, which contributes to the UK’s national security.”

The police said Choudhary was also previously charged with 23 offences under the Customs and Excise Management Act (1979). He pleaded not guilty to these offences at a hearing in February, and it was subsequently agreed for these offences to lay on file.

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Categories: British soldier, Muhammad Choudhary, News, Old Bailey, Pakistan, Rifle scopes, Taliban, Weapons

Man jailed over Facebook posts that called for the burning of mosques and murder of worshippers

A man who called for the murder of Muslims and the burning of mosques on Facebook following the Southport stabbings received a two-year prison sentence.

Geraint Boyce, 43, of Rhondda Cynon Taf in Wales, pleaded guilty to one charge of publishing written material intending to stir up religious hatred.

During sentencing, the judge made clear that Boyce’s posts were “encouraging activity that would threaten or endanger life”.

The prosecution outlined how his far-right rhetoric had religiously and racially aggravated motivations.

On 31 July, Boyce posted an image of a mosque on his Facebook wall, captioned “no more mosques” before calling for the burning of mosques with worshippers inside in subsequent comments.

Police arrested him on 9 August. The CPS issued charges three days later.

The BBC reported that he called for the sinking of boats containing refugees.

Other inflammatory and threatening Facebook posts included captions like “I’m ready for war” over an image of a Union Jack and a lion, according to Sky News and a subsequent post that read “time to fight”.

He also shared an AI-generated picture of a “Hulk-sized” man chasing Muslims in religious clothing, the prosecution further outlined.

Whilst accepting his early guilty plea and reducing the prison sentence, the judge made clear that Geraint Boyce intended to “incite serious violence” during a “particularly sensitive social climate”.

In August, Blake Hindry threatened to burn down various mosques in anonymous menacing phone calls before receiving a prison sentence spanning over two years.

News of his jailing came against the backdrop of record levels of recorded religious hate crimes in England and Wales, with almost two in 5 of those targeted in religious hate crimes being Muslims (3,866 offences, 38 per cent of religious hate crimes).

Tell MAMA revealed how a year after the Hamas terror attacks on 7 October 2023, our service recorded almost 5,000 cases.

 

 

 

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Categories: News

Recorded religious hate crimes hit record levels, Home Office reveals

Home Office figures revealed that religious hate crimes across England and Wales rose by 25 per cent in the year ending March 2024 – driven by the disproportionate targeting of Muslim and Jewish communities.

The Home Office briefing, drawing on data from 31 police forces, cited that the “increase was driven by a rise in hate crimes against Jewish people and to a lesser extent Muslims and has occurred since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas conflict,” adding that this was “the highest annual count in these offences since the hate crime collection began in the year ending March 2012.”

In the year ending March 2024, religiously aggravated hate crime figures stood at 10,484 offences, with 8,370 offences recorded by forces the previous year.

Recorded hate crimes towards Muslim communities rose 13 per cent, with 3,866 offences compared to the previous figure of 3,400 offences. Almost two in 5 of those targeted in religious hate crimes were Muslims, and the targeting of Jewish communities more than doubled in the recorded data from the previous year, accounting for more than one-third of religious hate crimes (33 per cent).

Offences towards Muslim communities across England and Wales rose by 67.5 per cent between September and October last year, rising from 194 offences to 325 offences and rising by a further 11.38 per cent the following month.

Credit: Home Office

The figures for December dropped slightly from the previous month but remained higher than offences recorded in September, August and July 2023. This pattern followed into 2024, with 332 offences against Muslims recorded by forces in March this year.

Several days ago, Tell MAMA revealed how it recorded almost 5,000 anti-Muslim and Islamophobic cases towards Muslim communities across the UK a year after the deadly Hamas terror attacks on 7 October 2023.

As our article mentioned, our service recorded cases of “violence, abuse, and discrimination – Muslims targeted for displaying pro-Palestine views, hostility in the workplace, or even losing out on employment or job opportunities based on their social media posts about Palestine or the war. Individuals described harassment or abuse when speaking Arabic in public areas.”

Our Director, Iman Atta, made clear that anti-Muslim hatred and discrimination harms the social mobility of Muslims, harms their careers or studies, and undermines their fundamental rights. Adding that “It falls on politicians, the media and other public bodies to do more to help Muslim communities, but also challenge stereotypes and falsehoods and undo the normalisation of tropes that link communities to violence and criminality or as cultural threats. The challenge is collective: we must not lose sight of what brings communities together.”

Tell MAMA has also produced updated safety advice for communities, including an Arabic translation.

Other safety tips and security advice for mosques appear on our Resources.

 

 

 

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Categories: Antisemitism, hate crime, Israel, News, Palestine

Tell MAMA recorded almost 5,000 anti-Muslim cases a year on from 7 October

A year on from the Hamas terror attacks of 7 October and the war on Gaza,  Tell MAMA recorded 4,971 cases, a level of anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobia – unlike anything we recorded in over a decade of our work.

On the first anniversary, Tell MAMA Director Iman Atta made clear that: “Since 7 October, we have seen peaks and rises of anti-Muslim hatred where Middle Eastern communities (irrespective of faith), Muslim communities and Muslim women who are visible in their faith, who have supported Palestinian rights have been called ‘terrorists’, ‘Hamas’, ‘bombers’ and ‘Nazis’ on our streets, threatened, abused and in some cases subjected to violence or discrimination – harming their social mobility, careers or studies, and undermining their fundamental rights. It falls on politicians, the media and other public bodies to do more to help Muslim communities, but also challenge stereotypes and falsehoods and undo the normalisation of tropes that link communities to violence and criminality or as cultural threats. The challenge is collective: we must not lose sight of what brings communities together.”

“In total, Tell MAMA recorded 4,971 incidents of anti-Muslim hate and discrimination cases between 7 October 2023 and 30 September 2024, the highest total ever recorded in over a decade. (The data covers cases of anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobia directly reported to Tell MAMA).

“Almost two-thirds (63%) of the cases reported were abusive behaviour in nature, and 27% were threatening behaviour cases, the majority of which took place in London, Northwest, Yorkshire and the Midlands.

“The war on Gaza has left some questioning their safety and sense of belonging in the UK – a feeling compounded by the far-right violence in parts of the country following the horrific stabbings in Southport. Hate crime across all strands remains vastly underreported, and others told us that the daily levels of abuse meant some stopped reporting to the police. The long-term impacts on social and community cohesion and economic insecurity risk more significant threats to communities that the government must not overlook in the months and years ahead.

“The abhorrent and profoundly troubling rise in antisemitism, as recorded by the Community Security Trust and police forces since 7 October, cannot be ignored either. The strains between Muslim and Jewish communities will take time to repair. However, it must also not deter us from reaching out to check on each other and stand together against the racists and the extremists who seek to divide and harm our communities.

“We all deserve to live in a society that upholds fundamental rights for all, that holds those to account who seek to divide (whether in politics, the media or elsewhere) and that Muslim, Jewish and other communities are listened to and have their experiences heard, and that we work across society to make our society stronger.”

In preparation for the first anniversary, Tell MAMA worked alongside various partners and police forces to draft tailored security and safety advice that we translated into Arabic.

Your safety and security are vital.

We saw cases of violence, abuse, and discrimination – Muslims targeted for displaying pro-Palestine views, hostility in the workplace, or even losing out on employment or job opportunities based on their social media posts about Palestine or the war.

Individuals described harassment or abuse when speaking Arabic in public areas.

Last year, we highlighted how a Muslim family had a firework put through their letterbox, which they believed was motivated by a Palestinian flag they hung outside of their property. Following the attack, they removed the flag, fearing further attacks. We also reported on a family who had their window smashed for displaying a pro-Palestine kite.

Tell MAMA continued to work across various sectors, providing advice and training, and in the justice sector, helped the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) with an impact statement after 62-year-old Jonathan Katan targeted two mosques, a café and the Palestine Mission to the UK with red paint on eleven separate occasions.

We also provided the CPS with an impact statement over the abhorrent Islamophobic abuse Terry Eury subjected a group of women to in Romford High Street. After leaving court with a suspended sentence after being found guilty of religiously aggravated public order offences, we further raised the lack of a custodial sentence.

In a more recent example, our impact statement was read out in court when racist Michael Mongan appeared in court, receiving a 10-month prison sentence after he spat at and called a Muslim bus driver a “Muslim terrorist b*stard” and subjected staff at a betting shop to racist abuse before damaging the building in August.

In August, we published polling carried out amongst Muslims in the UK, revealing that 60% of the participants surveyed believed that anti-Muslim hate in British society has increased over the past year. Almost one-third of Muslims surveyed (27%) had faced incidents in the past twelve months. Nearly 69% of Muslims polled who received verbal attacks did not report these to the police, authorities or third-party services. It demonstrates the importance of providing more support and access to justice for those impacted by anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobia

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Categories: Israel, News, Palestine, War