We have received the following information of a swastika and anti-Islamic comments being placed on the walls of student accommodation attached to the University of Birmingham. The ‘Islam Must Die’ statement suggests that the individual was trying to bypass hate crime laws, though the graffiti may still be liable to a range of criminal laws.
The Director of TELL MAMA, Fiyaz Mughal, stated:
“This is appalling, where someone has the guts and chutzpah to place such a statement inferring that Islam must die on a university campus that has lots of Muslim students. If that is the case, one can easily infer that this person wants Muslims to be killed and was trying to put themselves outside of hate speech.”
“We suggest that CCTV and relevant resources be used to find this individual or set of individuals. Much has been made of Prevent being enforced and mainstreamed in Universities. Such a case should be looked at within the spectrum of Prevent given the inferences that can be made and given the nature of the crime which was targeted to cause maximum distress and fear to students, particularly Muslim students”
