2017 marked the first year that the German Interior Ministry officially registers Islamophobic (islamfeindliche) hate crimes. The authorities have now released preliminary figures on anti-Muslim criminal activity for the past year.1 950 Islamophobic criminal incidents in 2017 According to these statistics, Muslim individuals or institutions were targeted in 950 separate instances in 2017. This includes…
A January article from the Spectator discusses the emergence of two distinct Muslim cultures in Britain. Cohen writes of the reaction to St Stephen’s primary school in Newham banning the wearing of the headscarf for girls under the age of eight, drawing links to issues of Muslim engagement with public life and counter-extremism efforts in the UK.
17 year-old Lloyd Gunton was reportedly radicalised online, where he viewed Isis propaganda and accessed guides on carrying out terrorist attacks. Security services and ministers have issued warnings about “remote radicalisation”, which is thought to be becoming more common with the decline of Isis.
Paul Moore attempted to kill two Muslim women wearing headscarves in Leicester in September, and was convicted days after warnings were given about the increased threat from far-right terrorism. Moore has not been labelled a terrorist.
Umar Haque, who taught at two schools and at a madrassa, has been convicted of attempting to radicalise 110 of his pupils despite Ofsted inspections at the schools not revealing any concern of extremism. Questions have been raised about extending Ofsted’s powers to combat extremism as a result, a topic which is already controversial.
