Universities unlawfully giving data to police, say Muslim students - The Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS) are advising students of their legal rights following disclosure that universities have been illegally providing counter-terrorism police with personal details that breaches the 1998 Data Protection Act, The Muslim News has exclusively learnt.

CIA given details of British Muslim students - Personal information concerning the private lives of almost 1,000 British Muslim university students is to be shared with US intelligence agencies in the wake of the Detroit bomb scare.

Over 250000 terrorist stop-searches in UK last year - British police carried out more than a quarter of a million stop and searches under the country’s terrorism laws last year, according to provisional figures.

POLICE officers are being drafted on to Merseyside school buses to stop Muslim pupils being racially abused.

The problems centre around verbal attacks on hijab- wearing girls at West Derby’s Holly Lodge Girls’ College. Last night, bus drivers who are accused of refusing to stop for the veil-wearing Muslim pupils in order to avoid trouble were also branded “racist”.

The Daily Post can reveal police officers will now board the buses to protect the school girls from the “racist” taunts of other passengers.

A probe was launched after concerned female members of Liverpool’s Muslim community highlighted the abuse of pupils travelling to Holly Lodge to police.

Police chiefs have since held talks with travel authority Merseytravel and the Muslim community.

Complaints are contained within a Merseyside Police Authority report that “young Muslim women are targeted by racists on the way to Holly Lodge School” and “often buses won’t stop” for the girls “easily identified by their veils”.

Merseyside police last night said community police officers would now board buses in the area to deter the racism and would work with city schools to remind pupils “racial abuse is a criminal offence.”

But police stressed the issue of drivers failing to stop for the girls was a matter for Merseytravel.

Merseytravel said it condemned “all acts of racism” and, after probing the claims, has “now drawn up an action plan to deal with and prevent any further incidents”. It was not, however, able to release details of the measures which might be implemented.

Members of the Muslim community said the problem was a long-running one.

Amina Ismail was approached by Holly Lodge pupils while overseeing a widening participation event for Hope University last year.

Ms Ismail, now employed by Liverpool John Moores University, said: “They said people driving past were being abusive because they were wearing the hijab (head scarf) at the bus stops on Queens Drive or West Derby Road.”

She said bus drivers refusing to stop were “cowardly” and that “they should not push their own personal prejudices on young people.”

And with pupils now frequently travelling farther afield to the school of their choice, she urged people to “see past the scarf or skin colour and look beyond this”.

Around 10% of the 1,274 Holly Lodge pupils on roll are from ethnic minorities, and the school has won praise from Ofsted for its “promotion of equality and diversity”.

Head teacher Julia Tinsley said: “There have been a small number of cases where ignorant people have directed racist comments at our pupils while they are on buses. It is completely unacceptable and very upsetting for those involved and we have provided support to those affected.

“We welcome the assistance from Merseyside Police in tackling the mindless minority who think it is acceptable to make racist comments.”

Merseyside Police Authority committee member and city councillor, Paul Clein, said any driver deliberately failing to stop was “guilty of racism and bullying”.

But Colin Carr, regional advisor for the North West branch of giant union Unite – whose members include bus drivers – said he would be surprised if they were failing to stop.

“The union would condemn this kind of action, and equality and diversity is something we promote across the spectrum,” he said.

A Merseyside police spokesman said the force was committed to tackling racism and added: “We will be putting police community support officers on public buses during the periods these incidents are happening to reassure passengers and deter would-be offenders. CCTV will be routinely checked following allegations of any criminal offence.”

The police are also looking at ways for people to anonymously pass on information so they could catch the culprits.

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2010/02/26/police-to-ride-school-buses-to-save-girls-from-racism-92534-25918777/

Most people in Britain hold a critical opinion on the (niqab) veils worn by some Muslim women, according to a poll by Angus Reid Public Opinion. 67 per cent of respondents say that garments that conceal a woman’s face represent an affront to British values, while 25 per cent disagree with this notion. However, 58 per cent of respondents believe the government should not be allowed to tell individuals what they can and cannot wear.

Angus Reid Global Monitor, 27 January 2010

Full poll here

Unfortunately, the apparently reassuring opposition to state interference didn’t prevent 66% of respondents backing a ban on the niqab in public places, 75% a ban in schools and universities and 85% a ban at airports.

http://www.islamophobia-watch.com/islamophobia-watch/2010/1/27/uk-poll-66-per-cent-back-ban-on-niqab-in-public-places.html

Most of Europe’s Muslims want to live in mixed communities, not segregated neighbourhoods, a new report says.

The work by the Open Society Institute (OSI), an independent think-tank, looked at the social integration of Muslims in 11 West European cities.

It calls for improved efforts to tackle discrimination.

Europe’s Muslim population is expected to double by 2025 and could reach 40 million (there are currently 830 Million Europeans and 38 Million are Muslim). But data on them is very limited, OSI says.

The report says religious discrimination remains a critical barrier to their participation in European society, and the situation has worsened in recent years.

The OSI says its aim is to promote tolerance and fairness.

Identity issues

Nazia Hussein, who supervised the work, says many Muslims are still seen as outsiders.

“The majority of Muslims that we’ve spoken to across 11 cities feel very strongly attached to their neighbourhood and city, they feel quite strongly attached to their country,” she told the BBC.

“But at the same time they don’t believe that their fellow countrymen or the wider society sees them as either German or French or English.”

The report offers a series of snapshots from: the Netherlands (Amsterdam and Rotterdam), Belgium (Antwerp), Germany (Berlin and Hamburg), Denmark (Copenhagen), the UK (Leicester and London), France (Marseille and Paris) and Sweden (Stockholm).

In the Kreuzberg neighbourhood of the German capital Berlin few Muslims identified themselves with their nation - not because they rejected German values but, it says, because society still sees them as “foreigners”.

New laws forbidding the wearing of visibly religious symbols or clothing in schools have had a detrimental impact, it says.

In the Netherlands recent controversies like the assassination of the film-maker Theo van Gogh by a Muslim extremist have “convulsed public opinion”. Muslims, it says, have “become scapegoats for public anxieties over security”.

Segregation problem

City authorities were “fighting residential segregation”, it acknowledged, but educational segregation remains a problem.

Meanwhile in Rotterdam’s Feyenoord district, which has a high concentration of immigrants, attempts to create a more mixed society by allocating housing differently have been legally halted on discrimination grounds.

Muslims there say they feel that the bar for measuring how well Muslims integrate is “constantly raised” and anti-Muslim sentiment and even violence has increased across the country.

In Leicester - one of Britain’s most ethnically diverse cities - the police were praised for their community understanding. And though ethnic minorities are well represented politically, “racial discrimination is still very much alive” in the city.

The authors conclude that social segregation does matter, but it is of most concern to Muslims themselves.

The findings and recommendations include the following:

• Among Muslims surveyed, 61% have a strong sense of belonging to the country and 72% a strong sense of belonging to the city;
• The majority of Muslims eligible to vote did vote in local and national elections;
• Many Muslims who are not EU citizens remain disenfranchised, particularly in Germany and France;
• Half of Muslim respondents reported experiencing religious discrimination over last 12 months;
• Muslims are almost three times more likely to be unemployed than non-Muslims;
• City officials must strive to maintain areas that are ethnically and religiously mixed, and ensure that discrimination is not a barrier for Muslims when choosing where to live;
• Cities should foster an inclusive city identity - Amsterdam, Antwerp and Copenhagen have run such campaigns successfully;
• The EU should collect accurate data on minorities and encourage equal treatment in education, housing and other services;
• The EU should enable cities to exchange information and best practices about collecting educational data on minority students.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8413795.stm

Britain is ‘more sympathetic towards Islam than other European countries’: http://www.islamophobia-watch.com/islamophobia-watch/2009/12/14/britain-is-more-sympathetic-towards-islam-than-other-europea.html

More than a million Muslims have migrated to Britain because it is more sympathetic towards Islam than other European countries, a study has found. There are now some 1.1million Muslim immigrants in the UK, according to the report by IPPR, the Blairite think tank. It means around 46 per cent of Britain’s 2.4million-strong Muslim population were not born in this country.

The IPPR report found that over the past decade, there has been an increase of 275,000 in the number of British residents born in Pakistan or Bangladesh – twice the population of Oxford. The number of Somali-born residents has also shot up, from fewer than 40,000 in 1999 to 106,700 this year.

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch, said: “The rapid rise in the Muslim population is just one way in which mass immigration promoted, even encouraged, by this Government has affected the whole nature of society.”

British Muslims most patriotic: http://islamineurope.blogspot.com/2009/12/uk-british-muslims-most-patriotic.html

Muslims in Britain are the most patriotic in Europe — but more than a quarter in some parts of the country still do not feel British, according to a new study.

The report, funded by George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist, found that on average 78% of Muslims identified themselves as British, although this dropped by six points in east London.

This compares with 49% of Muslims who consider themselves French and just 23% who feel German.

The findings, based on more than 2,000 detailed interviews, suggest that Muslims may be better integrated in Britain than in other parts of the European Union.

The report will reopen the debate about the merits of multiculturalism, a policy that has actively promoted cultural and religious differences among minorities in Britain but has been criticised as a barrier to integration by Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

France prides itself on its secular notion of citizenship and has banned Muslim pupils from wearing the hijab, or headscarf, in classrooms. Yet the study, by the Open Society Institute, found only 41% of Muslims in Paris see themselves as French.

The report appears to contradict previous research in the UK suggesting some Muslims are failing to embrace British values.

A charity is offering one-to-one support for Muslim criminals on their release from jail in a bid to cut reoffending.

The scheme is being run by Mosaic, which runs programmes to support young Muslims living in deprived areas.

A study of Muslim prisoners found many were rejected and stigmatised by their communities on leaving custody.

About 12% of inmates in England and Wales are Muslim, compared with 3% of the general population overall. (Who knew there were so many?! British Muslims, shape up now!)

No guidance

Twenty-six-year-old Mohammed (not his real name), is serving an indeterminate sentence in Latchmere House prison in south-west London after being convicted of conspiracy to rob.

“You know many families don’t actually deal with what their son or daughter has done.

The rest of society, the non-Muslims, they have the same views, that you’re a criminal and on top of that you’re a Muslim so in their eyes you’re twice as dangerous Mohammed, inmate

“They don’t try to understand it, they bring a lot of their own emotions of embarrassment into the way they deal with it, thinking about themselves rather than what’s good for their son or daughter.”

Mohammed said he started getting into trouble at 18 as he had no guidance or other opportunities, and has been in jail more than once.

He said although all prisoners needed help on release, Muslim offenders trying to re-enter society faced unique problems.

“Parents say things like ‘Oh my son… he’s been to Pakistan for the last six months’, ‘he’s been studying in Morocco for 18 months’, or ‘he’s just gone off to get married’, rather than admitting he has been inside.

“The Muslim community don’t want to have anything to do with them because they’ve come out of prison and they (the community) feel they’re making Islam look very bad.

“On the other hand they’ve got the rest of society - the non-Muslim - they have the same views, that you’re a criminal and on top of that you’re a Muslim so in their eyes you’re twice as dangerous.

“That’s because of the moral panic that surrounds some aspects of Islam, committed by a very small minority.”

Laila Shannon wants to be a mentor after getting in trouble as a teenager

Providing support

In June 2008, 9,795 Muslims (12% of the prison population) were in jail in England and Wales, compared with 4,188 in March 1998.

Mosaic aims to reduce the “disproportionate” number of Muslim inmates. Its mentors will work to get prisoners aged between 16 and 30 back into education or employment, which it says is the key to preventing reoffending.

A study by the Muslim Youth Helpline in 2006 found 35% of the Muslim inmates it surveyed had reoffended.

Mosaic’s national operations director, Jonathan Freeman said: “We work very closely with the Muslim Youth Helpline which for many years has had a programme supporting prisoners.

“They undertook a research project (with Muslim inmates) and it was very clear, they said, that those who had reoffended felt one of the biggest reasons was the lack of support they were getting on their release from the community.

“They didn’t feel that they could go to their mosque or go to the more established community leaders because there was a particular stigma that was attached to them.”

Muslim Laila Shannon, 28, is from Hayes in London and is training to be a mentor.

I hope I can be an example to that person that if they keep trying, they don’t just give up on themselves Laila Shannon, mentor trainee

She left school at 13 and spent years “dealing with a lot of issues and getting into mischief.”

Ms Shannon said she was left to her own devices and a lot of her friends ended up in prison or in care.

But she said she now wants to use her life experience and knowledge to give prisoners the guidance she feels was missing from her life at an early age.

“I hope I can be an example to that person that if they keep trying, they don’t just give up on themselves - they can achieve something from their life - they can get a job, they can get accommodation, then they can contribute back to society.”

‘Identity issue’

Mohammed said something needed to change as the number of Muslims in prison was rising fast.

“In this country Muslims have an identity issue, they don’t know how to mix that in with whatever culture they’ve been brought up with here.

“They can’t relate to their elders because they speak a totally different language, they have a totally different dress sense.

“They’re not communicating with these young people, which is what these young people need and so they get caught up with the wrong influences… bad influences.”

The first mentors will start their roles in early 2010 and work with prisoners in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Bradford and Leicester.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8403245.stm

Conservative peer Baroness Warsi of Dewsbury, named Britain’s most powerful Muslim woman, has been pelted with eggs during a visit to Luton.

Baroness Warsi was taking part in a walkabout in the predominantly Muslim Bury Park area of Luton when she was confronted by a group of protesters.

The male protesters accused her of not being a proper Muslim and supporting the death of Muslims in Afghanistan.

Baroness Warsi, who was hit by at least one egg, debated with the men.

The shadow minister for community cohesion and social action was then taken into a nearby shop.

‘Views challenged’

Baroness Warsi told the BBC that the men were “idiots who did not represent the majority of British Muslims”.

She said these type of protesters “bring Muslims into huge disrepute”.

“I stood up to this group and said I challenge your views,” she told BBC News.

“They just weren’t prepared to listen. They shouted. I said if you want to have this debate, listen.”

She continued her walkabout with a police escort.

One of the protesters against Baroness Warsi, Sayful Islam, told the BBC they were “against everything she stands for”.

He said: “She is not a practising Muslim. Clearly by looking at her she does not represent Muslims.”

He said he and his fellow protesters did not throw the eggs at her.

Baroness Warsi was named as one of the most powerful women in The Power List - chosen by a panel led by Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

The award was set up to celebrate high performers in business, the arts, media, voluntary and public sectors.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/beds/bucks/herts/8387110.stm

The “English Defence League” (EDL) will be demonstrating in Leeds on Saturday.
Let’s come out to counter demonstrate this group that promotes the ideals of the BNP and has members of the far-right spreading their hatred. Let’s show them that we are not fooled by their claim that they are against “Islamic Extremism” when they in fact just spread the same message as the BNP and other such groups. As British Muslims, WE are the ones who are truly against “Islamic Extremism” and terrorism.

Saturday 31st October
12 Noon
In front of the Art Gallery,
Leeds City Centre

See Here.

And for those in London, check out the Muslims 4 UK march: http://www.islamic-dictionary.com/blog/?p=175

Muslims4UK are planning, God Willing, to hold a counter-demonstration on Saturday October 31st 2009 at Piccadilly Circus against al-Muhajiroun (Islam4UK), the English Defence League - who are both scheduled to hold protests there that day - and the Daily Express.

Muslims4UK are proud to live in a multifaith and multicultural Britain. We are proud to be both Muslims and British.

We are very concerned by the ongoing provocative actions of al-Muhajiroun, the English Defence League and the Daily Express who all seem to be working to undermine social cohesion in the UK and incite hatred and intolerance towards British Muslims.

In recent months there have been arson attacks on mosques in Luton, Bishop’s Stortford, Woolwich and Sunderland.

It is time to stand up and be counted and say:

• to al-Muhajiroun: You do not represent us. You are a tool for those who hate Muslims.
• to the EDL: You do not represent English people. You are clearly looking to incite trouble.
• to the Daily Express: You are not a newspaper. You are a vile, xenophobic recruitment publication for the far right.

If you agree with us then - whether you are Muslim or non-Muslim - please consider joining us at the counter-demonstration and let others know about it too.

Date: Saturday Oct 31 2009
Time: 13,00 to 16.00
Venue: Piccadilly Circus
See also the article by Inayat Bunglawala on the Guardian’s Comment is Free website

http://www.muslims4uk.org.uk/

Two BBC reporters of South Asian origin who lived for eight weeks on a housing estate in Bristol, posing as a married Muslim couple with limited English, were racially abused more than 50 times, a documentary will show tonight. The edition of Panorama, titled Hate on the Doorstep, also features the pair suffering physical assault. Reporter Amil Khan, who was pretending to be a part-time painter and decorator, was punched in the head by a local man. Tamanna Rahman, who wore a hijab headscarf and acted as if she spoke very little English, was pelted with stones and glass and on one occasion an 11-year-old boy tried to steal her purse, threatening to kill her.

The programme will be shown in the week the British National Party leader, Nick Griffin, appears on BBC1’s Question Time. While there was some canvassing for the party for June’s European elections during the period the pair spent on the 1930s estate, a few miles from the centre of Bristol, there was no other sign of BNP activism there.

Using secret cameras, Rahman and Khan filmed themselves being abused regularly, both for their race – “Paki” was a common term of abuse – and over their religion, with a number of jibes used related to terrorism, including “Taliban” and “jihad”. A good deal of the abuse on the estate is shown to come from children and teenagers, although adults are also involved.

Rahman tells the film that while the reaction to her “husband” from local people was unpredictable, she is “bullied and abused just about every time I step outside the door”, an experience ranging from physical attack to muttered insults.

The programme hears from a local charity, Support Against Racist Incidents, which says that such cases are routine. Incidents it has dealt with recently include people being threatened with a knife and having eggs or water bombs thrown at their houses.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/19/bbc-panorama-racism-bristol-report
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/bristol/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8315000/8315745.stm