Times Cartoon by Peter Brookes Smells of Anti-Muslim Prejudice

June 17, 2025 Article

The June 16th Times cartoon by Peter Brookes can be found here.

It speaks about the topical issue around the Israel and Iranian conflict and around the missiles that Iran has fired towards Israel.

No-one can be in any doubt that the Iranian regime, which is highlighted in this cartoon, is anything but a repressive, violent and coercive regime that has long blighted the Middle East and the hopes and aspirations of many Iranians. Indeed, many young people were abused, tortured and traumatised in the recent ‘Women, Life and Freedom’ revolt sparked by the killing of young Mahsa Amini in 2022. So, the regime has much to answer for.

However, Brookes’ cartoon does not rely on any evidence of the regime firing missiles from mosques or that mosques have been a front for the launch of such weapons in this conflict. The cartoon is reminiscent of the Swiss People Party’s successful 2009 referendum campaign against minarets which led to far right groups channeling anxieties about demographic change in the country into leaflets that associated mosque minarets to missile launches.

We are clear that those leaflets were an example of anti-Muslim prejudice and tropes being played out and virtually comparable to the Brookes cartoon. Whilst we acknowledge that Brookes was trying to associate missile launches to the Iranian regime, associating them with mosques played on anti-Muslim tropes and prejudice that has been seen, documented and highlighted before by others, as well as us within Tell MAMA.

Brookes could have made the point in another way. He chose to take this path and the cartoon re-enforces anti-Muslim bigotry. It really is as simple as that.

Mosques and minarets are not missile launchers, nor are they places of danger. They are legitimate religious spaces where worshippers deserve to pray in peace. Neither, should we say, has any evidence emerged that Iran, which is a predominantly Muslim country, launched rockets from mosques.

We therefore hope that the Times swiftly removes the cartoon which promotes anti-Muslim tropes. The Times has a long tradition of fair and accurate journalism and whilst cartoons are meant to lampoon and caricature, this cartoon does none of the above. It simply re-enforces prejudice.

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Categories: Iran, Missiles, mosques, News, Peter Brookes, The Times

Dame Louise Casey’s Review Says What Needs to be Said

June 17, 2025 Article

Dame Louise Casey’s review on the abuse of young white girls over the last two decades makes for a harrowing read where statutory authorities chose to place the preservation of social cohesion above the safeguarding of many white young girls. There is no getting around the scale and the failures that Casey has raised in her excellent and brutally honest report.

Tell MAMA has previously highlighted how some far right groups have used the child grooming scandals to whip up collective anti-Muslim hate, though this cannot and should not take away from honest and frank discussions as Casey mentions. The child grooming scandals are widespread and have shown inaction and complicity, whether this be through previously elected councillors or local authority officers willing to blame the victimised young children rather than the monstrous middle-aged perpetrators.

Which brings us onto the following. There is nothing anti-Muslim about discussing issues around child sexual exploitation and the ethnicity of perpetrators. Blaming all Muslims as being potential child rapists is one thing, and we previously highlighted such anti-Muslim rhetoric promoted online by far right groups. Speaking about the link that Casey highlighted in areas such as Greater Manchester, West and South Yorkshire and where the majority of group related child grooming activities were undertaken by Asian men of Pakistani heritage, is another thing altogether. The former is anti-Muslim bigotry and the latter, legitimate public debate and discourse which needs to take place.

This is an important distinction and should not stifle legitimate public debate, The lives of many women have been deeply affected by what they endured at the hands of men who preyed on their vulnerabilities. These courageous women deserve to be heard and made the focus for real change so that children are no longer blamed as perpetrators, and the perpetrators let off in the interests of social cohesion.

Commenting on the Casey review, the Director of Tell MAMA, Iman Atta OBE said:

“Evidence alone should determine the basis of challenging prejudice and bigotry where we come across it. Knee-jerk reactionism in the misguided belief of protecting social cohesion and couched as campaigning against anti-Muslim prejudice and bigotry should be given no quarter by any legitimate organisation carrying out this line of work. Calling legitimate discourse on tackling child sexual exploitation ‘anti-Muslim’ bigotry by virtue of the ethnicity of the majority of perpetrators in areas like Greater Manchester does a disservice to the female victims of it and to public confidence in this area of work”.

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Categories: Child Grooming Gangs, child sexual exploitation, Greater Manchester, Louise Casey, News, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, White girls

Man who burned Koran guilty of religiously aggravated public order offence

June 2, 2025 Article

The burning of a Koran outside the Turkish consulate in London amounted to a religiously aggravated public order offence, a judge has found.

Hamit Coskun, 50, shouted “f*** Islam”, “Islam is religion of terrorism” and “Koran is burning” as he held the flaming Islamic text aloft in Rutland Gardens, Knightsbridge, on February 13, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard last week.

District Judge John McGarva delivered his verdict at the same court on Monday.

Coskun was found guilty of a religiously aggravated public order offence of using disorderly behaviour “within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress”, motivated by “hostility towards members of a religious group, namely followers of Islam”, contrary to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986.

District Judge McGarva said Coskun’s conduct was “provocative and taunting”.

Addressing Coskun, the judge said: “After considering the evidence, I find you have a deep-seated hatred of Islam and its followers.

“That’s based on your experiences in Turkey and the experiences of your family. It’s not possible to separate your views about the religion to your views about the followers.

“Your actions in burning the Koran where you did were highly provocative, and your actions were accompanied by bad language in some cases directed toward the religion and were motivated at least in part by hatred of followers of the religion.

“Your evidence was that your criticism is of Islam in general, not its followers; I don’t accept that. You believe Islam is an ideology that encourages its followers to violence, paedophilia and disregard for the rights of non-believers, you don’t distinguish between the two.”

The judge added: “Standing holding a burning Koran and saying loudly: ‘Koran is burning’ is clearly aimed at provoking others.

“I do accept that the choice of location was in part that you wanted to protest what you see as the Islamification of Turkey. But you were also motivated by the hatred of Muslims and knew some would be at the location.”

District Judge McGarva said the prosecution was not “an attempt to bring back and expand blasphemy law”, adding “it is clearly not an offence to criticise a religion”.

He added: “Burning a religious book, although offensive to some, is not necessarily disorderly.

“What made his conduct disorderly was the timing and location of the conduct and that all this was accompanied by abusive language.”

Coskun was fined £240, with a statutory surcharge of £96.

The National Secular Society (NSS) branded the verdict a “significant blow to freedom of expression” which “signals a concerning capitulation to Islamic blasphemy codes”.

Turkey-born Coskun, who is half Kurdish and half Armenian, travelled from his home in the Midlands and set fire to the Koran at around 2pm, the court heard.

In footage captured on a mobile phone by a passerby that was shown to the court, a man approached and asked Coskun why he was burning a copy of the Koran.

Coskun can be heard making a reference to “terrorist” and the man called the defendant “a f****** idiot”.

The man approached him allegedly holding a knife or bladed article and appeared to slash out at him, the court heard.

The footage appeared to show Coskun back away and use the burning Koran to deflect the attacker, who is alleged to have slashed out at him again.

The man chased Coskun, and the defendant stumbled forward and fell to the ground, dropping the Koran, the footage showed.

Coskun was spat at and kicked by the man, the court heard.

The man said: “Burning the Koran? It’s my religion, you don’t burn the Koran.”

Coskun had posted on social media that he was protesting against the “Islamist government” of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who the defendant allegedly said “has made Turkey a base for radical Islamists and is trying to establish a Sharia regime”, prosecutors said.

The defendant, who is an atheist, believes that he protested peacefully and burning the Koran amounted to freedom of expression, the court heard.

His legal fees are being paid for by the NSS and the Free Speech Union (FSU), which said they intend to appeal against the verdict “and keep on appealing it until it’s overturned”.

An FSU spokesperson said: “If that means taking it all the way to the European Court of Human Rights, we will do so.

“Religious tolerance is an important British value, but it doesn’t require non-believers to respect the blasphemy codes of believers. On the contrary, it requires people of faith to tolerate those who criticise and protest against their religion, just as their values and beliefs are tolerated.”

NSS chief executive Stephen Evans said: “The court’s acceptance of the prosecution’s assertion that Mr Coskun’s actions stemmed from hostility towards Muslims raises serious concerns. It is essential to differentiate between prejudice or hatred aimed at individuals and hostility towards the ideologies of Islam or Islamism.

“The conviction of Mr Coskun on the grounds that his actions were ‘likely’ to cause harassment, alarm, or distress suggests a troubling repurposing of public order laws as a proxy for blasphemy laws. This jeopardises freedom of expression by establishing a ‘heckler’s veto’ that incentivises violent responses to suppress views deemed offensive.

“Such an erosion of free speech is detrimental to community relations. Social cohesion is best achieved not by restricting rights but by fostering their free exercise.”

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Categories: burn, Burning, guilty, Hamit Coskun, Koran, News, Public Offence, Quran, Religiously aggravated, terrorism