** 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,...
A new Hacked Off report is published today to mark the fourth anniversary of the sham press regulator “IPSO”. It details a number of recent cases of press abuse, demonstrating that nothing has changed since IPSO was set up. The report includes quotes from recent victims of press abuse,...
In a Times article on the 12th of September, Tony Blair accused MEND, an independent and community funded initiative, and others seek to present the Government as a “hostile force” is a misrepresentation of our work to encourage civic and political participation of British Muslims and our...
The Cornwall Live reports on Steve Rowell, Cornwall Council’s preventing extremism/terrorism lead, warning that there has been a surge of support for far-right extremist groups recently. Mr Rowell warned Cornwall councillors that “We are seeing a rise in extreme right-wing activists...
Over the bank holiday weekend, 24th to the 27th of August, MEND attended the second iteration of the Byline festival and hosted a festive reception, multiple thought-provoking discussions, and networked with guests to raise awareness of the rising problem of Islamophobia in the field of...
In the wake of the #MeToo movement, several political and public figures have been accused of rape in France, among whom figures the global intellectual, professor Tariq Ramadan. In all the cases, the presumed offenders have categorically denied their allegations. The accusations are similar, the...
The House of Commons Select Committee has published the interim report on the ‘fake news’ inquiry, an investigation that sought to explore, analyse and understand the extent and impact of the phenomenon of global disinformation. Having collected evidence from a plethora of individuals and...
In the latest of a history of racist and inappropriate comments, Boris Johnson MP has once again attracted controversy, having compared Muslim women who choose to wear the Burka to “letter boxes” and “bank robbers”. In his article in The Telegraph, Johnson rightfully criticises Denmark’s...
In September 2017, in the aftermath of the atrocities at Manchester Arena and a subsequent 500% rise in Islamophobic hate crimes, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham established the Greater Manchester Tackling Hateful Extremism and Promoting Social Cohesion Commission. On 30th July...
On August 1st 2018 IPSO announced a new “compulsory” element to its arbitration scheme. This is the third version of the scheme which still fails to meet the Leveson Report’s requirements on arbitration and has not been used by a single claimant. Commenting, Hacked Off Director Dr Evan Harris...
Last week, we reported that Steve Bannon, founder of Breitbart News and former advisor to Donald Trump, had explicitly expressed support for the “Free Tommy Robinson” campaign, a movement of right-wing activists who are demanding the release of the English Defence League founder from prison....
