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‘UK govt. using terrorism as red herring to target Muslim community’

Tuesday, 12 May 2015 6:37 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 12 May 2015 6:40 PM ]

a London-based rights activist says the British government is using terrorism as “a red herring to target Muslims.

Reports coming out of the UK suggest that the British government is planning a crackdown on Muslims in the country under the pretext of fighting ISIL terrorism.

The strategy, which is expected to be made public in coming weeks, will target Sharia courts and make it harder for Muslims to obtain citizenship.

UK officials say the plan is aimed at preventing Britons from joining ISIL terrorists.

But a London-based rights activist says the British government is using terrorism as “a red herring to target Muslims.”

“UK government is using terrorism as a sort of red herring to try to target the Muslim community. The government has been following a xenophobic anti-Muslim policy for the last 10-15 years. Terrorism is just the excuse to do this,” Abed Choudhury, Head of Islamic Human Rights Commission told Press TV on Tuesday.

The British government has already been under fire for demonizing Muslims living in the UK.

Back in March, more than 60 Imams, Muslims community leaders and rights activists in the UK called on the British government to stop criminalizing Islam.

In an open letter to the government, the signatories have accused it of demonizing Islam in an attempt to deflect attention from crises in the economy and health service.

“We reject the exploitation of Muslim issues and the 'terror threat' for political capital, in particular in the run up to a general election. Exploiting public fears about security is as dishonorable as exploiting public fears about immigration. Both deflect attention from crises in the economy and health service, but are crude and divisive tactics, where the big parties inevitably try to outdo each other in their nastiness,” the letter reads.

The signatories also slammed criminalization of “legitimate political discourse and criticism of the stance of successive governments towards Muslims” and condemned crackdown on dissenting voices in Muslim community.

HH/HA

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