Islamophobia on the increase

Thursday, 16 December 2004 12:00 AM

British Muslims have experienced increasing levels of prejudice since the September 11 terror atrocities, a report has found.

Eight out of ten Muslims said they had experienced discrimination since the attack on the US in 2001, the report by the London-based Islamic Human Rights Commission found.

The IHRC report entitled "social discrimination: across the Muslim divide" said incidences of discrimination had nearly doubled in the last four years.

In 1999, a third of those interviewed said they had experience discrimination.

The survey asked 1,200 British Muslims for their thoughts and experience of discrimination.

Eight per cent of respondents said discrimination was a weekly problem. Another eight per cent said it was monthly and over half (55 per cent) said they had been discriminated against "on some occasions".

Only 15 per cent said they had never experienced discrimination because they were Muslim.

Arzu Merali, a spokesman for the IHRC spokesman, said the report revealed prejudice against Muslims pervaded all aspects of society and was "normal" and even considered "justifiable" in social circles.

"This is a wake-up call for Britain. The British government cannot continue to ignore the depth and nature of anti-Muslim prejudice in the UK.

"This report conveys British Muslims expectations of their Government to protect their rights and create a space for their civic participation free from harassment, discrimination and violence.

"British society needs fair and consistent anti-discrimination legislation, but it also needs an attitude change and this can only come about when Government kick starts the processes required to make anti-Muslim hatred and discrimination an abhorrence not only under the law but in people's minds."

Britain is the home to 1.8 million Muslims.

The report concurs with studies by the Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia, which found post-9/11 Britain was increasingly intolerant of followers of the Islamic faith.

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