** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE** Rights group Muslim Engagement & Development (MEND) have launched a new report The Great Debunk: Challenging Islamophobic Conspiracy Theories, which examines how false narratives about Muslims once limited to the far-right fringes have entered mainstream political,...
In light of the recent controversy courted by the Youtube video ‘Innocence of Muslims’ and the subsequent caricatures printed in the French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, the Scottish paper, The Herald recently published an article by Abdel Bari Atwan exposing the inconsistency with which...
The BBC and the Guardian today both report that two US marines who were involved in a video showing them urinating on Taliban corpses in Afghanistan, will face trial in a military court. From the BBC: “Two US Marines have been referred for trial by courts martial for a video of troops urinating...
As criticism of the government’s proposals to extend secret trials to civil courts increases, the Guardian today reports that the government has clearly admitted that one of the main motives behind the proposals is to limit “reputational and political costs” arising from allegations of...
The Waltham Forest Guardian reported last Friday that the leader of the council, Chris Robbins, has written to the Home Secretary seeking a ban on an English Defence League march planned for October 27th. The paper, which has joined the campaign Waltham Forest – United. Strong. Together, notes...
There were several interesting columns and comment pieces published over the weekend on issues of free speech, responsibility, and the various dimensions of hypocrisy which come to the fore in light of the viral Youtube video ‘The Innocence of Muslims’ and the publication of crude cartoons of...
The Guardian on Saturday reported on the criticism leveled by the Labour Party at the government’s proposals to extend the mandate of secret trials to civil courts. In a letter to the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, the shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan described the coalition’s...
The Guardian today covers the report released by the Pew Research Center, The Rising Tide of Restrictions on Religion, which measures the “extent and direction of change in religious restrictions from the year ending in mid-2009 to the year ending in mid-2010.” The report uses two types of...
The Asian Image and Northern Echo both report on the decision by the North East Counter Terrorism Unit to drop the case against five men arrested on suspicion of posting racially abusive messages on social networking sites. From the Asian Image: “Five men arrested on suspicion of posting race...
Islamophobia Watch alerts us to a report in the South Wales Evening Post on charges faced by a man from Swansea, for “send[ing] racially and religiously offensive messages” on the social networking website, Twitter. From the local paper: “A man accused of using Twitter to send racially and...
It would seem that some see the reactions to the trailer on Youtube, ‘Innocence of Muslims’- a video portraying the Prophet Mohammed as a murderous child molester – as an invitation to prove a point about free speech. Such has happened in the past with the re-publication in...
