Teenager charged after rock smashes mosque window while worshippers inside

March 17, 2025 Article

A teenager has been charged after paint was thrown at a mosque and a rock smashed a window while worshippers were inside.

Aberdeen Mosque and Islamic Centre has condemned incidents which happened on Saturday evening.

In the first incident, paint was allegedly thrown at the door and pavement area on Spital and a few hours later a rock came through a window of the mosque.

Police are treating the incident as a hate crime and said a 17-year-old boy has been charged.

Nobody was hurt but those in the building were left shaken.

A mosque spokesperson told the PA news agency: “The rock went through the window and (it) shattered. Everybody was fine but people are a bit shaken.

“It happened at around 9pm while prayers were going on.”

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Following an investigation into reports of vandalism at a mosque in Spital, Aberdeen, officers have arrested and charged a 17-year-old male. The incident occurred on Saturday 15 March.

“Police are treating the incident as a hate crime.

“The male has been released on an undertaking and will appear at court at a later date.”

In a joint statement on social media, the Mosque and Islamic Centre thanked those who offered support in the aftermath and praised “kind neighbours and worshippers” who united to help clean up the mess.

They said: “We are very grateful to our neighbours and well-wishers in these difficult times.”

They added: “The mosques in Aberdeen would like to assure all members of the community that, in light of these incidents, all the mosques are taking additional security measures as well as being assured of support from the police.

“The police will be performing additional patrols around the mosques during prayer and other busy times.

“We would ask all attendees and worshippers to please be alert and remain vigilant, however, do not be alarmed and continue with your efforts and prayers to gain maximum benefits from this blessed month of Ramadan.”

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Categories: Aberdeen, anti-Muslim hate, Charged, mosque, mosques, News, Teenager

Tell MAMA Makes Intervention to Support Finsbury Park Mosque Staff

March 12, 2025 Article

A butcher has avoided jail after making “extremely threatening” phone calls filled with racist language to the Finsbury Park Mosque that left its caretaker frightened that the place of worship would be attacked.

Lee Harper, 47, made four calls from his own phone number to the north London mosque’s office between 3.30pm and 5pm on January 21.

During the calls, he said “I’m a butcher, I will come around with the boys”, “go back to your Middle East country” and referenced the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court heard on Monday.

The calls left the man who answered the phone, named as Mr Hussein, “extremely frightened and fearful”, according to his impact statement summarised by the prosecution.

Prosecutor Varinder Hayre said Mr Hussein was “fearful of the mosque being attacked as he was the caretaker” and that this was heightened because worshippers including women and children were around the site at the time.

Harper, of Highgate High Street, Hornsey, was sentenced to 10 weeks’ imprisonment suspended for 18 months.

District Judge Hina Rai said the calls, three of which were recorded, were “vile, abusive and extremely threatening” and raised the suspended sentence from eight weeks because of Harper’s “racial language”.

Prior to the ruling, Harper’s defence barrister told the court “he’s packed his bags, he’s made arrangements, because he knows full well” a custodial sentence “is a very realistic outcome”.

Judge Rai said Harper, who wore a pale-blue shirt in the dock, embarked on the “clearly targeted” campaign after watching a programme on the Southport killings.

The day after watching it, he drank alcohol at work and left the butcher’s to call the mosque, his defence barrister Daniel Cavaglieri said.

Each call was picked up by Mr Hussein and expletive-filled transcripts were read to the court.

Harper referred to the Mayor of London in one call, saying: “I’m going to come there tonight, arm yourselves because you’ve got no idea what’s coming, because I’ve got nothing to lose, and tell Mr Sadiq Khan f****** hell, he was coming a mile off.”

The butcher said his “mate” was unable to “claim even a little bit” of benefits “because all your brothers have got it”.

“But I will make an example of you, and you will read about me in the paper”, he said.

Harper repeatedly asked the victim for his name before questioning if he was called “Mohammed” or “Hamza”, referring to radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza who Harper claimed he used to see by the mosque.

Hamza led the Finsbury Park Mosque in the 1990s and is serving a life sentence in the US for terrorism offences.

Mr Hussein responded that he had no name and Harper told him he should kill his parents for that.

Police officers attended the butcher’s shop on January 24 and Harper nodded as the allegations were read to him, the court heard.

He was arrested and admitted making the calls but said he “doesn’t adhere to any racist ideologies”, it was told.

His defence barrister said Harper had intermittently struggled with alcohol for several years.

This manifested as “binge drinking when moments get a bit too much for him”, Mr Cavaglieri said.

The lawyer said Harper had shown “genuine remorse” and accepted his calls were “entirely vile”.

Tell MAMA Director, Iman Atta OBE read out a Tell MAMA community impact statement in the court about how anti-Muslim hate aimed at people in institutions can exacerbate wider fears for those who use the mosque in question. The judge also referenced Tell MAMA data on the numbers of anti-Muslim hate cases on an annual basis and Tell MAMA’s work was highlighted by the judge in the sentencing remarks.

Harper, of previous good character, pleaded guilty to one count of sending a message via telephone call that conveyed a threat of serious harm, namely “coming down to a mosque with references to butchering”.

He also admitted two counts of making menacing telephone calls to the Finsbury Park Mosque’s office.

Sentencing him, Judge Rai said the comments “consisted of racist language, derogatory comments and threatened harm”.

She warned of the online “misinformation” after the Southport killings.

False information about the identity of the attacker sparked riots in the UK this summer.

She added: “Finsbury Park Mosque has previously been attacked and this is well known, which will have added to (Mr Hussein’s) fear of reprisals.”

Darren Osborne ploughed a hired van into worshippers gathered near the place of worship in an Islamophobic terror attack on June 19 2017.

Harper was ordered to attend an alcohol treatment programme for three months and told he must carry out five days of rehabilitative activity, as well as 200 hours of unpaid work.

He was also handed a five-year restraining order barring him from contacting or attempting to contact Mr Hussein directly or indirectly, from contacting the mosque, or going within 200 metres of it.

The court was told that anti-Islamophobia reporting service Tell Mama recorded the highest number of “anti-Muslim hate cases” per year in 2024, since their records started in 2011 to 2012.

It heard that a total of 6,313 such cases were reported that year, a 165% rise on 2022.

The post Tell MAMA Makes Intervention to Support Finsbury Park Mosque Staff appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Categories: anti-Muslim hate, Finsbury Park Mosque, Highbury Corner Magistrate's Court, Lee Harper, mosques, News, Sentencing

World HIjab Day & Online Anti-Muslim Sentiment

February 2, 2025 Article

‘World Hijab Day’ 2025 has just passed and was on Saturday the 1st of February. The hashtag was #HijabisUnsilenced.

Correspondingly, we have seen anti-Muslim sentiment on some social media platforms, notably ‘X’, where disagreement with such a day, has led to anti-Muslim tropes and sentiment. Sadly, in today’s world, discussions about Hijab and Muslims in general, leads to the circulation of toxic tropes about Muslims. It has become a tedious cycle where themes and topics of discussions about Muslims, turn into racist and anti-Muslim tropes.

Tell MAMA does not take a public position on the ‘World Hijab Day’. Our work is fundamentally based on supporting the victims of anti-Muslim hate, whether that be online or offline, and in monitoring and mapping anti-Muslim hate in the U.K. This work also involves working with police forces across the United Kingdom so that victims can receive access to justice.

We are also mindful and aware that Muslim women who do not wear the Hijab and those perceived to be Muslim, also suffer anti-Muslim prejudice and hate. It is also to be noted, that many of the cases that we received from British Muslims, are from individuals who are visibly Muslim and who wear the Hijab, the Niqab, Muslim prayer caps and cultural clothing such as ‘thobes’.

What we wanted to add is that the volume of anti-Muslim sentiment on platforms such as ‘X’ has worryingly grown and is taking a sharply upward trend. Ultimately, what Muslim (or any) woman wants to wear, is not of anyone’s concern and it is up to the woman’s choice as to how she covers her body – or not.

We are also mindful that some Muslim women in other countries in the world may feel political and social pressures to wear the Hijab, such as in Iran. However, Britain is not Iran and Muslim women in the U.K by enlarge have a choice as to whether they wear the Hijab or not. Which goes back to our central point, that what women choose to wear, or not, is their choice.

Sadly, armchair pundits who sit on platforms like ‘X’ fail to see this basic tenet and some in their defence of ‘saving women’ from wearing the Hijab, spread anti-Muslim tropes and prejudice. We just wish that people think and take a step back before posting comments on social media platforms.

The post World HIjab Day & Online Anti-Muslim Sentiment appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Categories: #HijabisUnsilenced, anti-Muslim hatred, anti-Muslim tropes, Community Cohesion, Muslim women, News, Opinions, World Hijab Day, X

Tell MAMA’s Survey Finds that 1 in 3 British Muslims are considering leaving the U.K

November 20, 2024 Article

TELL MAMA British Muslim Poll Findings (30th September – 14th October 2024)

The findings of a Tell MAMA and Survation poll with British Muslims carried out 8 weeks after the start of far-right demonstrations after the murder of 3 young girls in Southport, have demonstrated the following:

➢ 1 in 4 British Muslims interviewed online and via the telephone experienced anti-Muslim hate or Islamophobia post July 30th 2024. (This accounted for Islamophobic hate incidents that took place online or at a street level).
➢ 2 in 3 British Muslims surveyed said that the potential of risk and harm to Muslim communities had increased post the 30th of July.
➢ 1 in 3 British Muslims surveyed said that the far-right demonstrations made them consider leaving the U.K. to settle into another country.
➢ 7 in 10 British Muslims surveyed felt that anti-Muslim hate or Islamophobia has become more widespread post the 30th of July.

➢ Nearly 4 in 10 surveyed said that there is a risk to their local mosque from far-right groups and extremists.

The Tell MAMA/Survation survey also found some positive and more optimistic findings after the 30th of July far right demonstrations that took part in various parts of the United Kingdom.

These included:

➢ 1 in 2 British Muslims surveyed said that the recent far right demonstrations (post the 30th of July), made them feel more open about their Muslim identity. This was usually through conversations that they had with friends and colleagues.

➢ 6 in 10 Muslims said that they felt safe in Britain.

These findings highlight growing fears within British Muslim communities and these findings should also be read in conjunction with the Tell MAMA/Survation poll conducted with British Muslims from the 15th of July to the 29th of July 2024. (In this poll, 550 British Muslims were surveyed and the polling took place just before the far right riots that have formed a benchmark for the latest Tell MAMA/Survation No2H8 November campaign poll.)

The recent poll also demonstrates that a substantive number of British Muslims polled feel that their local mosques are at risk from far-right extremist groups. Tell MAMA also understands that the ‘Places of Worship Protective Security Fund’continues to try and meet the security needs of local places of worship such as mosques. (This scheme is administered by the Home Office).

The Tell MAMA/Survation poll also worryingly points to 1 in 3 British Muslims seeking to leave the U.K. and to move to other countries. These findings do demonstrate that local police forces, local authorities, local political leaders, national government and statutory authorities all have a role in re-assuring local faith communities such as Muslim communities, particularly around their safety and security.

Of particular concern is that 7 in 10 British Muslims who were polled say that anti-Muslim hate or Islamophobia has become more widespread post the 30th of July demonstrations.

Finally, it is also clear that the recent far right demonstrations have added to a sense in about half of the British Muslim polled, that they are willing to assert their Muslim identity in a more open and transparent manner, rather than shying away from asserting this part of their identity. This is an interesting and heartening finding and also points somewhat as a reaction to anti-Muslim commentary and actions by far-right groups.

Speaking on the findings of the Tell MAMA/Survation poll, the Director of Tell MAMA said:

“The poll findings demonstrate that anti-Muslim hate or Islamophobia is having significant impacts on Britain’s Muslim communities. The findings show that much more work needs to be undertaken in re-assuring Britain’s Muslim communities and in supporting the social cohesion in our local areas. The findings should be a wake-up call for Central Government.

In the weeks since the riots at the end of July, Tell Mama has been inundated with calls from members of the public who have been shouted at aggressively and threatened to be killed, some have been spat at and assaulted. There has also been an increase in online reports including calls to burn down mosques, calls for mass migration and calls for Muslims and migrants to be killed.

Tell MAMA continues to support the victims of anti-Muslim hate or Islamophobia in a number of ways since 2011. We help them report incidents to Police or work with employers when incidents occur in the workplace.  We are an ‘always-on’ service for those who need us both in terms of practical, legal and emotional support.

But there must now be a laser like focus from the government on preventing the causes of anti-Muslim and Islamophobia. We must see Central Government acknowledge that much more work needs to be done in re-assuring British Muslim communities and in making real long-term commitments to challenging such hate”.

NOTES 

Survation (on behalf of Tell MAMA), contacted 750 members of the Muslim communities in the UK – online or by telephone between 30 September 2024 and 14 October 2024.

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Categories: anti-Muslim hate, British Muslims, Leaving U.K, mosques, News, poll, Survation, Survey

Recorded religious hate crimes hit record levels, Home Office reveals

October 10, 2024 Article

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

October 7, 2024 Article

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

The post Tell MAMA recorded almost 5,000 anti-Muslim cases a year on from 7 October appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Categories: Israel, News, Palestine, War

Islamic State fanatics called Rochdale based imam ‘Voldemort’

September 24, 2024 Article

Two Islamic State extremists who planned the murder of an imam referred to him as “Voldemort” who was engaging in “black magic”, a public inquiry heard.

Father-of-seven Jalal Uddin, 71, died in a “brutal and ferocious” attack with a hammer in a children’s play area in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, on February 18 2016, because his religious practices were deemed sacrilegious by his killers.

An inquiry examining whether intelligence failures contributed to Mr Uddin’s death by failing to spot and stop his extremist killers, sat in public for the first time today.

The hearing, at Liverpool Crown Court, first sat at the start of the month to hear evidence in “closed” sessions, not open to press or public.

Inquiry chairman Judge Thomas Teague KC ruled some evidence must not be made public and heard only in private sessions to prevent harm to the detection and prevention of terrorism and public safety.

Mohammed Kadir, then 24, is believed to have struck the fatal blows with a hammer and had planned the killing with former Manchester United steward Mohammed Syeedy, then 21, who drove Kadir to the scene and helped carry out surveillance on their target.

Kadir fled the UK three days after the killing and is thought to have headed to Syria, while Syeedy was in September 2016 convicted of murdering Mr Uddin and sentenced to life with a minimum term of 24 years.

Syeedy’s trial was told both men were sympathisers of the terrorist group calling itself Islamic State and consumed by hatred of Mr Uddin for his practise of Ruqyah, a form of exorcism, which the terror organisation considered “black magic”.

A third man, Mohammed Syadul Hussain, was convicted in April 2017 of helping Kadir leave the country and jailed for five years.

Opening the hearing, chairman Judge Teague said it was “deeply unfortunate” more than eight years had passed since Mr Uddin’s death and for “compelling legal reasons” it is impossible to hear all the evidence in public.

Jason Beer KC, counsel to the inquiry, said Mr Uddin, who first came to the UK from Bangladesh in 2002, was a scholar of the Koran and a very well-regarded member of the community in Rochdale and formerly an imam at the local Jalalia Mosque.

But his practice of Ruqyah, involving using amulets, made him a target for IS supporters, who believed Islam should be practised as in the seventh century.

Mr Beer said: “IS is said to have regarded this practise as black magic. The men who murdered Mr Uddin were supporters and followers of IS.

“The murder was motivated by their hatred of Mr Uddin as a practitioner of Ruquya.”

Mr Beer said in some mobile phone exchanges between the two that Mr Uddin was referred to as Voldemort, a reference to Lord Voldemort, a fictional character in the Harry Potter books.

A previous hearing heard from October 2015, Kadir was assessed and continued to be assessed as a person of high risk and significant concern, and latterly as someone who posed a risk of acting on his Islamist extremist aspirations.

And after police raided Syeedy’s home following the murder, phones and laptops revealed IS propaganda and material.

These included photos of both men doing the one finger IS salute, photos of IS flags draped over road signs in Rochdale and a photo of Syeedy with an IS flag on a street with a mosque.

In August 2015, Mr Uddin’s property including a book he used during Ruqyah was stolen from Jalalia Mosque and destroyed.

Kadir and Syeedy also planned to report him to the Border Force, as Mr Uddin was in the UK illegally.

But the inquiry heard in December 23, 2015, Mr Uddin was photographed with Simon Danczuk, the then-MP for Rochdale, at the door of Jalalia Mosque.

A phone exchange between the two plotters and others, stated: “Oh dear. Voldemort is never going to be busted by the immigration service now.”

Two months later, the two men launched the attack, leaving Mr Uddin dead.

Around 2,000 mourners attended his funeral, paid for by the local community.

The inquiry was adjourned until Tuesday morning.

Read More: Killing of Imam Jalal Uddin shows how extremism is morphing

The post Islamic State fanatics called Rochdale based imam ‘Voldemort’ appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Imam Jalal Uddin, Islamic State, Jalal Uddin, Jalalia Mosque, Mohammed Kadir, News, Rochdale, Ruquya, Ruqya, Voldemort

Three year prison sentence for X user who incited racism online

August 19, 2024 Article

Tell MAMA reported a racist to Lincolnshire Police last November, months before he received a three prison sentence last week for stirring up racial hatred online, we can reveal.

Wayne O’Rourke, 35, came to our attention after members of the public reported an X post (formerly Twitter) that read made in late November that read: “Palestinian genocide is way more funny than you are” and other posts of concern.

O’Rourke (@Waynegb88) posted under his real name (@WayneOrourke88) last year, “Should I live stream a Quran burning? F*** Islam”, “A vote for labour is a vote for the continued islamifaction of Britain”, and that mosques would have “beheading rooms” for Christians.

As our investigation continued, we found that O’Rourke had posted AI-generated images linking Muslim men to bestiality and used “white lives matter” in some posts.

He also has a history of posting racist, anti-Black memes, evoking older historical racist tropes.

Other racist material included examples of him dehumanising refugees by calling them “foreign invaders” and later posting racialised memes linking refugees to criminality.

Weeks before his jailing, Tell MAMA wrote to the courts citing several posts we believed breached Contempt of Court laws regarding the Southport killings and how they pushed anti-Muslim conspiracies more broadly in early August. One such post had almost 700,000 impressions on X. He had also published details about the suspect on his X account, generating millions of impressions, before the judge had lifted an anonymity order.

On 2 August, posting on X, O’Rourke called for the mass deportation of “traitors” who protected mosques alongside Muslim communities following far-right violence disorder and violence after disinformation about the suspect went viral. Days earlier, he posted, “Today was a terror attack by a Muslim…heads must roll.”

The court heard that a further post urged the “people of Southport” to “get out on the street,” generating almost two million impressions as he celebrated the burning of a car in Sunderland with the caption: “Sunderland, go on lads”.

Further examples included inflammatory language, such as “Starmer has basically said it is against them. Hold the line.” And  “give them hell lads”, the BBC and other media outlets reported.

Wayne O’Rourke posted a dehumanising meme, inverting a crescent moon and star to spell “c****,” and compared Muslims to an “infestation” in early August. Tell MAMA has long continued to document in our research how racialised, dehumanising content uses animalistic or mechanistic forms of dehumanisation.

He also told the court that he made £1,400 monthly on X and boasted over 98,000 followers.

During his sentencing, Judge Catarina Sjolin Knight told O’Rourke: “You were not caught up in what others were doing, you were instigating it,” adding: “The flames fanned by keyboard warriors like you.”

The judge rejected his claims of using “dark humour” and, after pleading guilty to a charge of stirring up racial hatred, sentenced O’Rourke to three years in prison as the trial at Lincoln Crown Court concluded last Friday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Categories: News, X

Anti-Muslim Hate or Islamophobia Needs Serious Action Now

August 11, 2024 Article

The ground has really changed after the 29th of July and after the murder of three little girls in Southport who simply wanted to dance. Who would have thought that the consequences of those brutal set of murders, would then set off of a chain reaction in communities leading to mosques being targeted by far right protests and whereby hotels accommodating asylum seekers were then targeted for arson and serious crimes. The mobs that attacked these sites were bent on harming people on the basis of disinformation that had been spread on social media.

Tell MAMA has been assessing the numbers of mosques attacked since the 29th of July and we have received a deluge of reports from British Muslims around the anti-Muslim hate and Islamophobia that they have been receiving.

What has been particularly distressing has been the speed with which the far right mobilised and the manner in which they immediately targeted mosques and Islamic institutions. Such has been the fear that they generated within large sections of British Muslims, that it will take months for levels of safety, security and confidence to build within British Muslim women, particularly, those who are visible and who wear the Hijab.

We are at a nexus point where it is clear that anti-Muslim hate or Islamophobia needs coordinated and concerted action by Her Majesty’s Government. For far too long some politicians have played with fire with the language that they have used about Muslims, migrants and asylum seekers. They must now, going forward, be held to account. Those who instigated and who left a question mark on social media platforms that a ‘Muslim’ may have been responsible for the murders of the innocent young girls, must be asked serious questions about their conduct in public life. They must also be assessed as to whether they have broken any criminal laws.

Tell MAMA continues to work with British Muslims at this time, and in supporting their needs and their desire for access to justice. We will not tire in supporting them going forward.

The post Anti-Muslim Hate or Islamophobia Needs Serious Action Now appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Categories: anti-Muslim hate, Far right demonstrations, Liverpool mosque, News, Southport Mosque, Tommy Robinson

Our Letter to Greater Manchester Police

July 26, 2024 Article

We have just written to the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police and our open letter is listed below.

We are deeply concerned about the way that Greater Manchester Police initially communicated the incident to members of the public and we are also aware that there were community based concerns before this incident in Manchester airport, around the flying of Gaza flags on private homes. Some residents who flew such flags on their properties were questioned by members of Greater Manchester Police. So, prior to the Manchester airport incident, there were community based concerns around policing.

We within Tell MAMA are clear. There are no circumstances that a man lying on the floor and who is not a threat to anyone, should end up being kicked in the head and then stamped on, as the officer in question did. Whilst Greater Manchester Police talked about context, there is no context that can justify these actions.

We understand that criminal charges may be brought against the officer. We await the result of the outcome of the IOPC investigation and we hope that the investigation will publish its results so that the findings are accessible to members of the public.

There are tens of thousands of men and women serving in our police forces on a daily basis. They suffer abuse, high stress levels and daily threats, yet, thankfully, we do not see them doing what the Greater Manchester Officer did on film. His actions are uncalled for and deeply troubling.

We will be tracking the outcome of this case and we will await a response to our letter from Greater Manchester Police.

The post Our Letter to Greater Manchester Police appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Categories: anti-Muslim hate, assault, Greater Manchester Police, IOPC, Kick, Manchester Airport, News