Mark Neville, 65, admitted to a charge of attempted arson, being reckless as to endanger life, after using a petrol bomb to target the hotel on Dingley Road, Islington, in London, on 24 September 2025.

A horrifying still image from the petrol bomb attack on the hotel released by the Metropolitan Police. Credit: Metropolitan Police.

A fast-moving police investigation resulted in Neville’s arrest in under 48 hours.

The 65-year-old had disposed of a glove containing his DNA in a bin close to the hotel, which a forensic fire dog identified, and intelligence from the local community also contributed to his swift arrest.

The Metropolitan Police described him as driven by hate, and his internet history included searches for far-right agitators and asylum seekers. During a police interview, he disclosed how friends would send him articles concerning immigration, and how he had attended a protest outside of the hotel he would attempt to burn down.

He also sought to deny his involvement until the police presented further evidence, to which he admitted to being the man in the footage, before continuing with “no comment” in his interview.

Neville, also from the Islington area, was further charged with possession of a bladed article and the possession of a prohibited weapon (a stun gun) in a private place, to which he also pleaded guilty.

Following his conviction, the police released horrifying footage of the petrol bomb attack, showing Neville dressed in black and wearing a mask, lighting the petrol bomb before throwing it over the gate and walking away.

Following the verdict, Detective Chief Inspector Paul Ridley, whose team led the investigation, stated in a press release: “Neville fire-bombed a hotel in an attack that was designed to terrify residents and the local community. His actions could easily have caused horrific injuries,” adding that, “Officers immediately moved to identify him, track him down and arrest him, examining hundreds of hours of CCTV and gathering crucial evidence.”

DCI Ridley added: “After he was arrested he tried to deny his guilt, as officers uncovered overwhelming proof that he was motivated by hate.

“We remain resolute in our determination to protect Londoners and relentlessly pursue those who seek to cause fear and harm, bringing serious offenders to justice.”

The post Man convicted of petrol bomb attack on hotel housing migrants appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The jury convicted him by a majority of 10 to 2 on both charges (harassment causing fear of violence), having deliberated at Southwark Crown Court for 11 hours and twenty-five minutes.

Mr Justice Cavanagh will consider all options when Yaxley-Lennon returns for sentencing on 16 December, including a custodial sentence – be it in prison or suspended. Harassment causing fear of violence can carry a maximum custodial sentence of ten years in prison.

Yaxley-Lennon’s posts about Jacob Dirnhuber and Andrew Young gained millions of views on X (formerly Twitter) after the newspaper’s high-profile coverage in print and online included the headline “stoking riots from his sunbed”  following the far-right violence and rioting after the horrific murders and stabbings in Southport in August 2024.

One of the journalists who worked on identifying Yaxley-Lennon in Cyprus, Andrew Young, had described in court an “increasingly menacing” tone in their phone call, which the prosecution had argued sat within a wider pattern of “intimidatory tactics”. And that “Mr Young believes Mr Lennon said, ‘I’m coming to get you’.” Further describing publishing photographs and the address of his family.

Yaxley-Lennon had contacted Dirnhuber again over direct message on X, stating, “Okay got your address. We need to talk,” having made a public post on 5 August 2024. A day later, Yaxley-Lennon claimed, “Don’t worry I’ve already tracked each one of them”, in a post that gained over three million views on X and remained online throughout the trial. Hours later, he went further, sharing a photo of one of the journalists and then family members outside of their home.

A witness statement from Dirnhuber made clear: “I was concerned about the risk of being intercepted on my way to work, either by Robinson for a livestreamed interview or by an unpredictable supporter of his hoping to cause me or my partner physical harm.”

A third Daily Mail journalist, George Odling, detailed in his witness statement that he, his wife, and young child left their home, fearing that supporters of Yaxley-Lennon would follow them.

By 7 August 2024, Yaxley-Lennon had left a voicemail to the Daily Mail’s editor-in-chief, Ted Verity, informing him that he would “make you famous and your families”, as Verity passed to the police a voicemail that also included the claim: “I’ve already located every f****** one of you.”

During the trial, jurors heard that the newspaper had hired a close protection officer for  Young, as Dirnhuber moved house, fearing a vigilante-style attack.

Yaxley-Lennon had failed to convince the jury that the Daily Mail and MailOnline coverage had “endangered his family”.

Frank Ferguson, Head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, in a statement published following the verdict: “Stephen Lennon weaponised social media and subjected two journalists to a campaign of harassment which caused them serious fear of violence.

“The evidence in this case showed that he targeted the victims directly and indirectly through social media and by telephone. He also published images relating not only to them, but also their families.

“The jury heard from the victims and witnesses in this case, ultimately deciding that this behaviour crossed the line into criminality.

“Nobody should be made to fear violence because of the work they do. Journalists play an important role in a democratic society and should be able to carry out their professional duties without being subjected to harassment.

A statement from the Metropolitan Police detailed the timeline of the case, as a spokesperson said: “There are legitimate and established routes that can be pursued by people who have concerns or complaints about their treatment by the media.

“In this case, Lennon chose not to follow any of these and, instead, issued various threatening online posts in the knowledge that they would almost certainly lead to his followers to target and intimidate those journalists, which is exactly what happened. This left them fearing for their own safety and that of their families – so much so that they felt compelled to take significant safety precautions including leaving their homes and hiring private security personnel.

“This kind of intimidatory behaviour is not acceptable, and anyone behaving in such a way to intimidate, harass and threaten others either online or in the real world can expect to be investigated and brought before the courts as was the case here.”

The post Why Tommy Robinson could face prison after being found guilty of harassing journalists appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Tommy Robinson could face jail after a judge warned he would consider “all options” following the far-right activist’s conviction for harassing two journalists and causing them to fear violence.

The 43-year-old, who told his trial his full name is Stephen Lennon, was labelled a “bully” by prosecutors after freelance reporter Andrew Young and Daily Mail editor Jacob Dirnhuber felt forced to either leave their homes or employ extra security for fear of a “vigilante” attack.

Jurors at Southwark Crown Court took 11 hours and 25 minutes to find Robinson guilty by a majority of 10 jurors to two of both charges of harassment causing fear of violence.

The offence carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

Robinson’s trial heard how the anti-migrant activist “retaliated” after the Daily Mail and its sister publication the MailOnline published a story about him “stoking riots from his sunbed” during unrest in the UK in August 2024 following the murders of three girls in Southport.

Robinson made a series of posts on social media about the unfolding situation while on holiday in Cyprus, prompting the newspaper to send Mr Young and a photographer to the island.

After the MailOnline published its story about him, Robinson posted criticisms on his X account of Mr Young and Mr Dirnhuber because of their involvement in the article.

Robinson went on to hire private investigators to find the home addresses of his victims, as well as the editor-in-chief of the Daily Mail Ted Verity.

The jury panel accepted the prosecution’s case that the decision to hire detectives was designed to “intimidate” his victims, with photographs of Mr Dirnhuber outside his home and cropped images of Mr Young’s family posted online by Robinson.

As well as social media posts and direct messages to Mr Dirnhuber, the defendant also became “increasingly menacing” on a telephone call with Mr Young on August 5, 2024 – telling the freelance journalist: “I’m coming to get you.”

Jurors rejected claims from the activist that the Daily Mail had put his family in danger by publishing the story, with the defendant weeping in the witness box on Thursday as he spoke about the relationship he had with his children.

Prosecutor Ben Holt previously told the court Mr Young was given a close protection officer by the Daily Mail after photographs of his wife and children were posted on Robinson’s X account.

Mr Dirnhuber had to move house because of the harassment and Daily Mail correspondent George Odling also felt the need to leave his family home after becoming concerned with the publicity surrounding his colleagues.

Mr Verity also provided evidence to police of a voicemail he received from Robinson, who told him: “I’ve already located every f****** one of you.”

The activist posted on X before the trial began to thank Tesla owner Elon Musk for funding his legal fees.

Frank Ferguson, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s special crime and counter-terrorism division, said Robinson had “weaponised social media” in his campaign of harassment.

He said: “The evidence in this case showed that he targeted the victims directly and indirectly through social media and by telephone. He also published images relating not only to them, but also their families.

“The jury heard from the victims and witnesses in this case, ultimately deciding that this behaviour crossed the line into criminality.

“Nobody should be made to fear violence because of the work they do.

“Journalists play an important role in a democratic society and should be able to carry out their professional duties without being subjected to harassment.”

Robinson could face jail after a judge warned he would consider “all options” following the far-right activist’s conviction for harassing two journalists and causing them to fear violence.

The 43-year-old, who told his trial his full name is Stephen Lennon, was labelled a “bully” by prosecutors after freelance reporter Andrew Young and Daily Mail editor Jacob Dirnhuber felt forced to either leave their homes or employ extra security for fear of a “vigilante” attack.

Jurors at Southwark Crown Court took 11 hours and 25 minutes to find Robinson guilty by a majority of 10 jurors to two of both charges of harassment causing fear of violence.

The offence carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

Robinson’s trial heard how the anti-migrant activist “retaliated” after the Daily Mail and its sister publication the MailOnline published a story about him “stoking riots from his sunbed” during unrest in the UK in August 2024 following the murders of three girls in Southport.

Robinson made a series of posts on social media about the unfolding situation while on holiday in Cyprus, prompting the newspaper to send Mr Young and a photographer to the island.

After the MailOnline published its story about him, Robinson posted criticisms on his X account of Mr Young and Mr Dirnhuber because of their involvement in the article.

Robinson went on to hire private investigators to find the home addresses of his victims, as well as the editor-in-chief of the Daily Mail Ted Verity.

The jury panel accepted the prosecution’s case that the decision to hire detectives was designed to “intimidate” his victims, with photographs of Mr Dirnhuber outside his home and cropped images of Mr Young’s family posted online by Robinson.

As well as social media posts and direct messages to Mr Dirnhuber, the defendant also became “increasingly menacing” on a telephone call with Mr Young on August 5, 2024 – telling the freelance journalist: “I’m coming to get you.”

Jurors rejected claims from the activist that the Daily Mail had put his family in danger by publishing the story, with the defendant weeping in the witness box on Thursday as he spoke about the relationship he had with his children.

Prosecutor Ben Holt previously told the court Mr Young was given a close protection officer by the Daily Mail after photographs of his wife and children were posted on Robinson’s X account.

Mr Dirnhuber had to move house because of the harassment and Daily Mail correspondent George Odling also felt the need to leave his family home after becoming concerned with the publicity surrounding his colleagues.

Mr Verity also provided evidence to police of a voicemail he received from Robinson, who told him: “I’ve already located every f****** one of you.”

The activist posted on X before the trial began to thank Tesla owner Elon Musk for funding his legal fees.

Frank Ferguson, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s special crime and counter-terrorism division, said Robinson had “weaponised social media” in his campaign of harassment.

He said: “The evidence in this case showed that he targeted the victims directly and indirectly through social media and by telephone. He also published images relating not only to them, but also their families.

“The jury heard from the victims and witnesses in this case, ultimately deciding that this behaviour crossed the line into criminality.

“Nobody should be made to fear violence because of the work they do.

“Journalists play an important role in a democratic society and should be able to carry out their professional duties without being subjected to harassment.”

The post Tommy Robinson could face up to 10 years in jail for harassing journalists appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The 43-year-old, who told his trial his full name is Stephen Lennon, was labelled a “bully” by prosecutors after freelance reporter Andrew Young and Daily Mail editor Jacob Dirnhuber felt forced to either leave their homes or employ extra security for fear of a “vigilante” attack.

Jurors at Southwark Crown Court took 11 hours and 25 minutes to find Robinson guilty by a majority of 10 jurors to two of both charges of harassment causing fear of violence.

His trial heard how the anti-migrant activist “retaliated” after the Daily Mail and its sister publication the MailOnline published a story about him “stoking riots from his sunbed” during unrest in the UK in August 2024 following the murders of three girls in Southport.

Robinson made a series of posts on social media about the unfolding situation while on holiday in Cyprus, prompting the newspaper to send Mr Young and a photographer to the island.

After the MailOnline published its story about him, Robinson posted criticisms on his X account of Mr Young and Mr Dirnhuber because of their involvement in the article.

Robinson went on to hire private investigators to find the home addresses of his victims, as well as the editor-in-chief of the Daily Mail Ted Verity.

The jury panel accepted the prosecution’s case that the decision to hire detectives was designed to “intimidate” his victims, with photographs of Mr Dirnhuber outside his home and cropped images of Mr Young’s family posted online by Robinson.

As well as social media posts and direct messages to Mr Dirnhuber, the defendant also became “increasingly menacing” on a telephone call with Mr Young on August 5, 2024 – telling the freelance journalist: “I’m coming to get you.”

Jurors rejected claims from the activist that the Daily Mail had put his family in danger by publishing the story, with the defendant weeping in the witness box on Thursday as he spoke about the relationship he had with his children.

Prosecutor Ben Holt previously told the court Mr Young was given a close protection officer by the Daily Mail after photographs of his wife and children were posted on Robinson’s X account.

Mr Dirnhuber had to move house because of the harassment and Daily Mail correspondent George Odling also felt the need to leave his family home after becoming concerned with the publicity surrounding his colleagues.

Mr Verity also provided evidence to police of a voicemail he received from Robinson, who told him: “I’ve already located every f****** one of you.”

The activist posted on X before the trial began to thank Tesla owner Elon Musk for funding his legal fees.

He was granted bail ahead of his sentencing on December 16.

The post Tommy Robinson found guilty of harassing two Daily Mail journalists appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The 43-year-old, who gave his full name to Southwark Crown Court as Stephen Lennon, is alleged to have harassed freelance journalist Andrew Young and Daily Mail editor Jacob Dirnhuber in August 2024.

Robinson is alleged to have acted as a “bully” by hiring private investigators to find the addresses of the complainants, before posting pictures of Mr Dirnhuber outside his home and cropped images of Mr Young’s family members on his X account.

Prosecutor Ben Holt previously told the court the defendant “threatened” the journalists after what he perceived to be “an unnecessary intrusion into his holiday”.

He is accused of telling Mr Young “I’m coming to get you” during a phone call on August 5 2024, and sending a direct message to Mr Dirnhuber saying: “I’ll be knocking at your door.”

Jurors heard Mr Young was provided with a close protection officer by the Daily Mail, while Mr Dirnhuber had to move house because of the alleged harassment.

Speaking from the witness box during his trial, Robinson said he wanted to put “pressure” on the journalists but denied that hiring the detectives was designed to “intimidate” them.

Robinson, who founded the English Defence League, entered not guilty pleas in July last year to two charges of harassment causing fear of violence.

The post Jury retires to consider verdicts in Tommy Robinson harassment trial appeared first on TELL MAMA.

A 21-year-old man, Illia Bilyk, appeared at Stratford Magistrates’ Court yesterday (19 October). The District Judge decided the magistrates’ court’s sentencing powers were insufficient and committed the case to the Crown Court for sentence. Bilyk will be sentenced in due course.

Bilyk had pleaded guilty to five counts of racially or religiously aggravated criminal damage. The charges followed a wave of anti-Muslim graffiti targeting five Islamic premises across Leyton and Stratford in January 2025. Tell MAMA shared information with the Metropolitan Police during the investigation.

The five targeted premises were:

• the Stratford Islamic Association
• the Albirr Foundation
• Leyton Jamia Masjid
• Noor Ul Islam Primary School
• the Islamic Shariah Council

Varinder Hayre, District Crown Prosecutor and Hate Crime Lead for the London North Magistrates’ Court unit in CPS London North, told the court about the serious impact the vandalism had on local Muslim communities, particularly children and families at Noor Ul Islam Primary School. She read out the community impact statement submitted by Tell MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks). The statement described the fear the attacks caused locally and placed the offences in the context of record levels of anti-Muslim hate recorded by Tell MAMA nationally and in London. It also set out Tell MAMA’s research on the online network “Direct Action UK”. Ms Hayre described the offences as serious and asked the court to uplift the sentence to reflect the racial and religious aggravation.

Tell MAMA’s role and the “Direct Action UK” network

During its lengthy monitoring of “Direct Action UK”, Tell MAMA captured footage of an unknown man vandalising Noor Ul Islam Primary School with graffiti. He was later identified as Bilyk. Although his face was not visible, Tell MAMA identified a distinctive barbed-wire tattoo on his right wrist. It shared this with the police and counter-terrorism officers, together with a wider body of evidence it had collected on the channel, including the channel’s sharing of terrorist material. The Financial Times also referred to the unknown man with the wrist tattoo in its coverage.

“Direct Action UK” is a fake far-right Telegram channel run by a Russian-speaking handler known as “El Money”. As reported by the Financial Times, the same channel instructed Roman Lavrynovych, who was convicted earlier this year over the arson attacks linked to Sir Keir Starmer. During that trial he admitted vandalising two Islamic centres in south London.

In December 2025, Tell MAMA published a report on “Direct Action UK” and its possible links to pro-Kremlin hacktivist groups. Further articles are available here and here.

Iman Atta OBE, Director of Tell MAMA, said:

“We welcome the court’s decision today to send this case to the Crown Court, recognising the serious harm these attacks caused to families, worshippers and schoolchildren in east London. These five premises are places of faith, learning and sanctuary. When they are targeted, the whole community is affected.

“We are grateful to the affected institutions for their resilience, and to the Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecution Service for their handling of this case. Today’s decision sends a clear message that anti-Muslim hatred is taken seriously by the justice system.”

The post Sentencing of man behind graffiti of Islamic buildings and mosques moved to Crown Court after Tell MAMA highlighted community impact appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Sir Ken McCallum told journalists the recent increase in the terror threat to the UK was “driven in significant part” by right-wing extremists.

In a speech at Thames House on Tuesday, he said: “Over the last year, the most marked trend has been an increase in cases where extremist versions of anti-immigration and anti-Muslim grievance are tipping into terrorist intent; we’ve dealt, for example, with would-be terrorists aspiring to attack mosques and venues connected to immigration and asylum.

“Extreme right-wing terrorism also continues to skew (the) young, driven by the internet.

“A few months ago, MI5 was investigating a radicalised extreme right-wing 13-year-old here in the UK.

“Believe me, we wish we didn’t have to. But that investigation generated insight that enabled one of our international partners to prevent a lethal attack on their soil.”

He also mentioned the case of a 16-year-old from Inverclyde who was jailed for 10 years for plotting to attack an Islamic centre.

Official figures show that in 2025, 39 people aged 17 and under were arrested in connection with counter terrorism investigations, and 40 the previous year.

The post MI5 investigated 13-year-old over extreme right-wing beliefs appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Racist hate crimes rose by 9 per cent (98,890 the previous year), with religiously aggravated hate crimes up 13 per cent (11,419 offences).

Within religious hate crimes, Muslim communities experienced a 15 per cent rise in hate crimes and a 10 per cent rise in antisemitic hate crimes towards Jewish communities.

The Home Office analysis excludes data from the Metropolitan Police; however, due to methodological differences, the force implemented in 2024 is no longer comparable to previous years.

Even when excluding the Met, reports of racially and religiously aggravated hate crimes hit record levels of recording, with 8,214 religious hate crimes and 90,378 racist hate crimes recorded, respectively.

Rising hate crimes towards Muslim and Jewish communities accounted for a clear majority of religious hate crime offences, with Muslim communities facing 46 per cent (5,132 hate crimes) for the year ending March 2026. When controlling for religious hate crimes by population, antisemitic hate crimes stood at 117 per 10,000 population, while anti-Muslim hate crimes stood at 13 per 10,000 population.

Police forces recorded over 8,000 racial and religious hate crimes for five consecutive months between April and August last year, with 7,907 such offences recorded in May.

Consistent with previous years, the Home Office analysis revealed that just over half (53 per cent) of recorded hate crimes fell under the umbrella of public order offences, as 40 per cent accounted for violence against the person offences.

The Home Office acknowledged that “In the last 2 years, there has been a rise in hate crime offences that is not seen in the overall violent and public order offences trend. This may suggest there has been a genuine increase in hate crime offences over the last 2 years.”

In recent weeks, Tell MAMA has reported a persistent rise in reports of anti-Muslim and Islamophobic abuse, systemic discrimination and targeted harassment in the past two years. Alongside a rise in street-level cases that saw Muslim communities targeted by motorists or when trying to access public transport, including at bus stops.

Today’s Home Office release confirms what Tell MAMA has argued for years: animus towards Muslim communities has reached a sustained, escalating crisis driven by political scapegoating and street-level aggression. London alone has seen a sixfold rise in cases to our service since 2021. With 1,031 anti-Muslim cases reported to Tell MAMA in the capital in the first six months of this year, that figure has already eclipsed the whole of 2023.

To repeat what we said last year: “Communities deserve more than platitudes and gesture politics. They want to feel safe at their places of worship, on our streets, and in public. There is a failure of leadership and of a coherent strategy to address this growing scourge and improve community relations, whilst ensuring there is no place for racism and bigotry in political and public life.”

Tell MAMA repeats its calls for a response from government that goes beyond security funding for faith institutions to a cohesive, comprehensive action plan to tackle these alarming rises in religious and racial hate crimes. That includes updating and refreshing a hate crime action plan, tackling disinformation and misinformation on social media, improving digital literacy and critical thinking skills, and bringing communities together with an updated community cohesion plan that gives everyone a voice.

The post Record levels of racial and religious hate crimes in England and Wales show the need for a government action plan appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Ashley Oliver,  35, from the village of Bulford in Wiltshire and 35-year-old Alan Galloway, of East Reach in Taunton, were found guilty following the completion of the hate crime trial at Taunton Deane Magistrates’ Court last Friday (September 25).

Avon and Somerset Police launched a hate crime investigation in September last year following the smashing of several windows at Taunton Central Mosque and Islamic Centre, with one of the men surrendering to police days later.

At a previous hearing in February, both were remanded into custody, as Oliver, a month earlier, was deemed too drunk to enter a plea.

Both received fines of £180 and must cover related costs to the Crown Prosecution Service and pay a victim surcharge, alongside restraining orders that prevent them from going near the mosque for one year.

The post Two men guilty of vandalising mosque in Taunton appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Two separate incidents targeting mosques within days of each other have again put anti-Muslim hate at the centre of national attention, as fresh data confirms the trend is accelerating rather than easing. On 17 September, a Ukrainian national pleaded guilty to a graffiti campaign against five Muslim institutions in east London that investigators say was orchestrated by a Russian-linked network. That same week, Cornwall’s only mosque was rammed by a car and doused in oil in an attack now being investigated as racially aggravated criminal damage. Together, the two cases illustrate how anti-Muslim hate in the UK is being fuelled by both organised, externally-directed extremism and opportunistic local hostility.

Guilty Plea Reveals Russian-Linked Campaign of Anti-Muslim Hate

At Thames Magistrates’ Court, Illia Bilyk, 21, admitted five counts of racially and religiously aggravated criminal damage after spraying abusive graffiti across the Stratford Islamic Association, Al-Birr Mosque, Leyton Jamia Masjid, Noor Ul Islam Primary School and the Islamic Shariah Council over two nights in January 2025. According to BBC reporting, Bilyk was recruited and paid by a Russian-speaking handler on Telegram, and investigators have linked the case to the same network behind arson plots against properties connected to former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, for which two other Ukrainian nationals were previously jailed. British police have said they have no evidence the wider campaign was directly state-sponsored, and the Russian Embassy has denied involvement, but the case underlines how anti-Muslim hate can be deliberately manufactured and amplified by hostile actors seeking to sow division. Bilyk is due to be sentenced on 19 October. Met Police Chief Superintendent Rhona Hunt said the attacks “caused significant distress within Muslim communities” and stressed that “anti-Muslim hate crime and Islamophobia have absolutely no place in London.”

Cornwall Mosque Targeted in Racially Aggravated Attack

In an unrelated incident, the Islamic Community Centre in Carnon Downs, near Truro — Cornwall’s only mosque — was attacked late on 17 September when a vehicle repeatedly rammed its entrance gates before two people poured what is believed to be diesel across the grounds and exterior walls. Devon and Cornwall Police are investigating the incident as racially aggravated criminal damage and have appealed for witnesses, CCTV and dashcam footage; no arrests have yet been made. Volunteer imam Hasan Kilic said the community was “shocked and in horror” and urged vigilance, while stressing the attack would not divide the community. It was the centre’s first such incident in nearly two decades, and a local fundraiser for repairs and security improvements has already drawn strong public support.

Data Points to a Sustained Rise in Anti-Muslim Hate

Both incidents land against a backdrop of worsening figures. Tell MAMA data shows that reports of anti-Muslim hate in London during the first six months of 2026 (1,031) have already exceeded the entire 2023 total (1,028), while Metropolitan Police figures point to a 25% rise in faith hate crime and a 31% increase in recorded Islamophobic offences over the past year. Tell MAMA director Iman Atta OBE said the figures reflect “a sustained escalation of anti-Muslim hate” rather than a temporary spike, calling for “a sustained and uncompromising no-nonsense response from our public institutions.”

Anti-Muslim Hate Also Rising in NHS Settings

Tell MAMA’s own monitoring shows anti-Muslim hate extending well beyond the streets and places of worship. Verified incidents recorded within NHS settings — including GP surgeries, hospital wards and emergency departments — nearly doubled from 37 in 2024 to 71 in 2025, with a further 29 logged in the first half of 2026 alone. One NHS doctor described being called a “terrorist” while wearing a hijab on duty, adding that years of training and exhausting shifts “meant nothing” in that moment. Tell MAMA is calling on NHS trusts to take the data seriously, strengthen reporting pathways and improve staff training to protect both patients and healthcare workers from anti-Muslim hate.

Report Anti-Muslim Hate

If you have experienced or witnessed anti-Muslim hate — whether online, on the street, at a place of worship, in a school, or within a public institution such as the NHS — you can report it confidentially at tellmamauk.org. Accurate reporting helps Tell MAMA build a clear national picture of anti-Muslim hate, support victims, and press public bodies and police forces to respond effectively.

Read More: Police investigating anti-Muslim graffiti on Birmingham Mosque.

The post Anti-Muslim Hate Rises in UK as Mosque Vandal Pleads Guilty appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Ivan Jennings, a 46-year-old warehouse worker and former local councillor from Stafford, whom the judge described as possessing “deeply held abhorrent and racist views”, belonged to at least seven extremist far-right Telegram channels.

It was within these extremist racist channels that Jennings discussed procuring the “most poisonous” mushrooms to put in the food of Muslim and Jewish communities.

One possible target for a far-right terror attack was those celebrating Pakistan’s Independence Day in Manchester, the court heard.

Further targets included the racist murder of refugees and migrants arriving via boat, amid discussion of the use of Molotov cocktails. Online searches in August 2024 revealed that he had looked up motorboat chartering services at Dover and subsequent rental costs, as he suggested in one chat that individual members should aim to murder at “least 200 and stop the constant influx”.

Nor did Jennings express any reservations about murder and far-right terrorism, writing in one chat: “It’s not murder, because we are at war. If it’s subhumans, it’s justified and actually needed”.

He had admitted in May to encouraging terrorism online between 15 August and 14 November 2024.

Jennings admitted another terrorism offence, disseminating the terrorist publication authored by the white supremacist terrorist Anders Behring Breivik on 21 August 2024.

He pleaded not guilty to possession of the screed authored by the white supremacist terrorist who murdered 51 Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand, in May 2019, but this count will remain on file.

Jennings, however,  advocated for a copycat terror attack on Muslim communities, suggesting “we need a bigger impact”.

Upon leaving prison, the 46-year-old will face a further five years on extended licence.

The post Far-right extremist who wanted to murder migrants jailed for terror offences appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Tell MAMA has recorded a significant rise in anti-Muslim incidents within National Health Service (NHS) settings, with reported cases nearly doubling between 2024 and 2025.

Cases reported to Tell MAMA indicate this upward trajectory has shown no signs of easing throughout 2026, signaling a deeply concerning, normalised hostility within healthcare environments.

What  is Taking Place?

A direct breakdown of healthcare-specific incidents reported to Tell MAMA shows a compounding year-on-year increase:

• 2024: 37 verified incidents recorded.
• 2025: 71 verified incidents recorded (a 92% surge over the previous year).
• 2026 (Jan-Jun): 29 verified incidents recorded between January and June alone.

• Note: Mid-year data demonstrates that the elevated baseline established during the peak periods of 2025 is actively persisting into the current calendar year.

These figures encompass a broad spectrum of hostile behaviors, including targeted verbal abuse, systemic discrimination, and targeted harassment. The incidents occurred across diverse healthcare settings, ranging from local GP surgeries and outpatient clinics to acute hospital wards and emergency departments, and victimised Muslim patients, visiting families, and frontline NHS staff alike.

A Crisis in Places of Care

The following is a statement given to Tell MAMA by someone targeted by anti-Muslim hatred in an NHS setting:

“I chose medicine to protect and care for people when they need it most. When I called his name, my only thought was how to help him. Having my faith weaponised against me in front of a crowded room was deeply degrading. At that moment he pointed at my headscarf (hijab) and called me a ‘terrorist’ and the entire waiting area fell silent. Everyone stared.

“Suddenly, the years of studying and exhausting shifts meant nothing; I wasn’t seen as a doctor, but as a threat. The raw hatred in his voice, suggesting that my headscarf somehow made me dangerous to the very patients I am dedicated to serving, stripped away my sense of safety and professional identity in seconds.” – NHS Doctor and Employee – 2026

Tell MAMA’s Director, Iman Att OBE said:

“Hospitals and GP surgeries should be places of safety and care for everyone, regardless of faith. These figures show that anti-Muslim prejudice is following people into some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives, and that is unacceptable. We are calling on NHS trusts to take this data seriously and to strengthen reporting pathways and staff training so that both patients and healthcare workers are properly protected.”

Tell MAMA continues to collaborate closely with UK police forces, NHS leadership bodies, and localised community partners to support victims, demand accountability for perpetrators, and enforce structural changes across the public sector.

Read More: Greatest Rise in Reported Anti-Muslim Hate Cases to Tell MAMA Since October 7th.

The post Our Data Shows a Persistent Rise in Anti-Muslim Hate Across NHS Settings appeared first on TELL MAMA.

An associate of right-wing activist Tommy Robinson has appeared to claim credit for demonstrations which saw hundreds of masked protesters cause traffic chaos in Dover.

Daniel Thomas, known as Danny Tommo, shared footage from the anti-illegal migrant protest in a post on social media, saying: “This is our warning.”

The protests saw hundreds of demonstrators dressed all in black and with balaclavas block road access to the Kent port on Saturday morning.

A group was seen marching through the town and chanting “Whose streets? Our streets” and “Stop the boats” as dozens of police officers followed.

Campaign group Hope Not Hate linked the action to the Patriot Platform, which Tommo recently launched.

Sharing a video of protesters marching on Instagram, Tommo wrote: “It’s time! Protect our country! And more importantly our women and children! This is our warning!”

Another video shared by Tommo showed the words “blood is on your hands” spray-painted on the ground outside Western Jet Foil, a short-term holding facility for migrants arriving into the UK on small boats.

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, weighed in on the protests himself on social media, suggesting they were part of a co-ordinated plan.

He wrote on X: “Simultaneously at different locations across Dover patriots have mobilised to close down the port.”

Tommo and Robinson have frequently appeared together at political rallies and events, with Tommo described by some media outlets and Hope Not Hate as Robinson’s “right-hand-man”.

Tommo attended Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom rally in May, lauding it as an “incredible” achievement in a video on social media.

Hope Not Hate said the demonstrations show a growing trend of “anti-migrant vigilantism coming to a head in the public eye”.

The group wrote: “Today, we could see Patriot Platform for what it is: a far-right network of men happy to intimidate and inconvenience an entire town for what was effectively a publicity stunt.”

Tommo has described the Patriot Platform as “the resistance standing against the downfall of the United Kingdom”, with contingents across the country.

Saturday’s demonstrations brought traffic on roads leading to UK’s busiest international ferry and passenger port to a halt, delaying some ferry services and blocking major roads.

A Government spokesperson said it condemned protesters’ behaviour “and the travel disruption it has caused”.

Kent Police said no arrests were made during the “spontaneous protest”, adding demonstrators had dispersed by midday.

Read More: Neo-Nazi Alex Davies Guilty of Belonging to Banned Terror Group National Action.

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He appeared at Nottingham Justice Centre last week (28 August) and received a three-year youth rehabilitation order with electronic monitoring.

Counter-terror police arrested the boy in January 2026, following concerns that he carried a knife. Officers located the knife in his bedroom, resulting in a nine-month referral order for possession of that offensive weapon.

During the trial, it emerged that the TikTok video, downloaded to their phone, discussed how to create a bomb with household materials, a Section 58 offence under the Terrorism Act 2000.

The prosecution, citing an expert witness, outlined how the video did not provide “detailed instructions,” adding that officers found no chemicals at their home during their search, The Independent noted.

He targeted a neighbour with racist graffiti, daubing a Nazi swastika, a racial slur, and a reference to the Christchurch terrorist on their garden fence last year, which left the woman (who lives alone) scared and fearful. In her victim impact statement, read aloud in court, she said: “It felt like a personal attack on me, a woman of colour who lives alone.”

Tell MAMA continues to monitor and report on the disturbing, lingering influence of the Christchurch terrorist on social media and amongst individuals convicted of far-right terror offences after the fact, including young men.

The judge, however, believed the offending occurred from a desire to “fit in” and not from an ideological extremist mindset, the BBC reported.

Other factors the judge cited included the boy’s engagement with Prevent, whilst they considered his age, maturity, and the nature of the harmful content they consumed online, and the influence of others.

He told the boy: “I’m placing some trust in you – please repay it by staying out of trouble and doing as you are asked.”

Responding to the verdict, Detective Inspector Steve Shaw, who was Senior Investigating Officer in the case, said in a statement: “It is worrying to think a person of such a young age could display these concerning thoughts and behaviours.

“Going from owning weapons, to spray-painting graffiti, to downloading a bomb-making tutorial, shows how his behaviour was escalating, which is why we stepped in and charged him when we did.

“I’d encourage all parents to check they know what their child is doing online. Know what kind of things they are reading and watching, who they are talking to, and what sites they are visiting.”

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In particular, comments that are made by passing vehicles and against individuals waiting at bus stops, seem to come up again and again in cases of anti-Muslim hatred reported to Tell MAMA.

Since 2016, we have been aware from data that we have collected over years, that the levels of aggression and the types of threats and anger shown to British Muslims (or those perceived to be Muslims), has grown in its intensity and in the geographical spread of cases.

Many of the comments include are based on issues of migration and aggressive instructions to ‘go back to your country’, allied with comments about the Hijab, the Niqab (the face veil) as well as statements around paedophilia. The latter may well have some connection with the ‘grooming gang’ issues, or narratives that have developed about under-age marriage or comments pushed online that child-marriage is a part of Islam – which it clearly is not.

We would urge anyone who has been targeted by anti-Muslim hate or prejudice, to report into Tell MAMA, or to call 101, to ensure that you can access support.

Read More: Tell MAMA recorded 1,202 anti-Muslim cases in 55 days.

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21-year-old Gabriel Levy, of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, admitted making threats to kill during withheld calls to two mosques in the Manchester area days after the antisemitic terror attack targeting worshippers at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue on 2 October 2025.

Police had arrested Levy within hours of his menacing call to the Al-Sunnah Mosque in Cheetham Hill, Manchester on 4 October 2025 and, via a withheld number, had told those who answered: “I’m going to come to your mosque and kill you.”

The police investigation unearthed that Levy had made similar death threats to worshippers at the Iqra Mosque in Manchester, having called the mosque the same day and told a staff member who answered his call: “I am going to kill you, Muslim”.

Searches of Levy’s mobile phone revealed “Islamophobic and racist language, as well as hate speech,” according to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

A successful request for a Hate Crime uplift from the CPS increased Levy’s prison sentence by ten months.

Responding to Levy’s jailing today, the CPS’s Aamir Sajad made clear: “No one has the right to make other people feel like their life is at risk just for doing their job.

“Gabriel Levy gave no thought to who was at the other end of the phone when he recklessly called two mosques to make these terrifying threats. He claimed that he had no real intention of causing any harm – but this means nothing to those on the receiving end of these types of illegal and intimidating communications.

“Death threats in any form have a severe impact on those who receive them, and we are grateful to the victims in this case for coming forward.

“Today’s sentencing shows that threats to kill and Islamophobic hate crime will always be treated extremely seriously by the CPS and we will take swift and decisive action when seeking these convictions.”

Read More: How anti-Muslim Rhetoric and Conspiracies Still Permeate Social Media

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We are in no doubt that such actions are meant to intimidate and plastering such stickers in one of the most diverse boroughs in London is troubling. This is not so much about raising the profile of the far right group, as being about creating fear and anxiety in local communities in Hackney.

If you have come across such stickers, we would be grateful if you could let us know the location of where they are in Hackney, so that we can work with the local authority to ensure that they are removed.

Read More: Teenage Neo-Nazi Who Wanted to Kill Asian Friend Found Guilty of Terror Plot.

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Rowan Williams, who was the Church of England’s leading bishop for 10 years until 2012, also said he would like to ask “some awkward questions” of activist Tommy Robinson, who declares himself a Christian. In an interview for the New Humanist magazine, Mr Williams acknowledged there is an “inevitable scepticism these days about some claims to religious conviction”.

The former archbishop said: “I suspect really that (Nigel) Farage and others want to channel anti-Muslim feeling, and it helps to have ‘we’re a Christian society’ to fling back. It gives a sort of ballast.”

At Easter, Reform UK leader Mr Farage made a post online stating: “The Christian values on which our country is built are something to be proud of.” He had, in 2024, prompted criticism after suggesting there were “a growing number of young people in this country who do not subscribe to British values, in fact loathe much of what we stand for”, confirming when asked that he was referring to Muslims.

Earlier this year, Mr Farage criticised an Iftar in Trafalgar Square, saying the religious fast-breaking event in London was an “attempt to overtake, intimidate and dominate our way of life”.

In the magazine interview, published this week, Mr Williams was asked what he thought was driving Christian nationalism in the UK. He said: “There are lots of possible causes. Anxiety about migration; anti-Islamism.

“In France that anxiety has a secular aspect, but the St George’s Cross still means something in the English imagination, which still has a Christian aspect.

“The second thing is the globalising of all political discourse. The message given at international Christian conservative gatherings is that self-respecting nationalist movements need a bit of theology injected into them.

“Ironically, for someone like Nigel Farage, it’s about trying to find a presentational strategy that allows him to be taken seriously outside England. He’s often not here, after all.”

Last year, Reform UK announced the appointment of theologian James Orr – an academic who has influenced Donald Trump’s US administration – as a senior adviser to Mr Farage.

Mr Williams: “Although Nigel Farage thought it was worth getting a theologian on board for Reform UK, I don’t think he lies awake at night thinking about his soul.

“I may be doing the man an injustice, but I don’t believe he cares about profound theological questions.”

Reform UK has been contacted in relation to the comments.

Mr Williams also suggested that while he would be “very glad” if “Tommy Robinson is doing his best to lead a life of Christian discipleship”, he would want to pose “some awkward questions” to him. He said: “I would ask him how attempting to lead a life of Christian discipleship squares with public rhetoric designed to produce hostility and violence.”

Mr Robinson has spoken about doing Bible studies while in jail and has said he is now a Christian, having grown up Catholic but not practised.

In December he led a carol concert to “put the Christ back into Christmas” and his Unite the Kingdom march in London earlier this year saw some participants carry wooden crosses and chant “Christ is king”.

Read More: How misinformation and disinformation about the Southport stabbings went viral.

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Tell MAMA, the UK’s leading national monitoring service for anti-Muslim hate over the last 15 years, has revealed a sustained and dramatic rise in reports of anti-Muslim hatred in London over the past five years, with 2026 figures indicating the trend is continuing. This was covered in numerous press sources today including Sky News, the BBC and the Evening Standard, amongst others.

Whilst the capital remains one of the most diverse capitals in the world, this raises questions as to what is taking place in other cities in the U.K, where there have been demonstrations against migration and the perceived lack of integration of new migrant communities.

Statistics

Tell MAMA’s verified case data for London shows:

• 313 reports of anti-Muslim hate and prejudice in 2021,
• 818 reports in 2022,
• 1,028 reports in 2023,
• 1,819 reports in 2024,
• 1,909 reports in 2025 – the highest annual total on record
• 1,031 reports already recorded in the first six months of 2026 (01 Jan-30 June 2026)

The number of anti-Muslim reports in London has grown more than sixfold since 2021. Having risen sharply year-on-year through 2022 to 2024, reports have remained at a historically elevated level through 2025, and the first half of 2026 alone has already surpassed the total recorded across the whole of 2023.

Recent London Cases Strengthen a Growing Trend

This spike is part of a broader 19% national rise in police recorded anti-Muslim offences, with the borough of Westminster emerging as a major hotspot for these crimes. The reasons for this could be manyfold as the Borough is a convergence point for people as they travel to work, socialise and come into the City for leisure activities over the weekends.

These figures are reflected in a series of serious incidents affecting Muslim communities across London in recent months.

Tell MAMA has therefore recorded a spike and growing trend of street-based aggression, xenophobic rhetoric, and the targeting of Islamic institutions and centres. This volatile climate is reflected in troubling cases across London, including a foiled terror plot by a teenager targeting south London mosques, regular intimidation of worshippers during prayers, and aggressive public harassment that disproportionately impacts visibly Muslim women.

Tell MAMA is therefore calling on the following bodies to take action:

1. The Metropolitan Police and City of London Police to strengthen recording, investigation and prosecution of anti-Muslim hate crimes.
2. The Mayor of London and London boroughs to fund targeted community safety and outreach programmes in areas that are the most affected.
3. Social media platforms and public bodies to take stronger action using AI and their respective algorithms, against the online abuse that frequently precedes or accompanies offline incidents.
4. Tell MAMA continues to support victims of anti-Muslim hate across London, working with police, local authorities and community organisations to ensure incidents are recorded, investigated and addressed. It has a 15 year track record of the delivery of these services and has helped over 65,000 British Muslims since 2011.

Read More: Increased levels of aggression around anti-Muslim hate being reported in.

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The fact is that online discussions seem to have thrown up issues of race and identity on key platforms like ‘X’. Whether there is a link to the actual street based cases we are receiving is questionable, but the timing seems to dovetail and the increased aggression is being picked up over the last 8-10 weeks in Tell MAMA. Discussions on platforms like X around belonging, identity and citizenship have roughly been taking place around this timeline.

Social media commentators making suggestions that British Muslims are not ‘English’ or in fact ‘British’ are percolating across ‘X’ and these have impacts on comments and conversations that also take place on other social media platforms. What is deeply concerning though are cases like the one listed below which we have received.

Short Case Study

This involves a young man who was driving his elderly mother who was wearing a Hijab. A motorcyclist collided with the car and it seems that the collision was not life threatening and that the motorcyclist and both car passengers were not physically harmed.

The young Muslim male reported into Tell MAMA threats of harm and aggression which were made towards him as he went to check on the situation regarding his vehicle. He also suffered racial and anti-Muslim abuse and felt deeply threatened by the posture, the language and the anger that was directed towards him.

He also made clear that he believed that the abuse was linked to the Hijab that his mother was wearing in the vehicle and which the perpetrator had seen. He described his fear and the vulnerability that he felt particularly when he was with his elderly mother. He also felt that her personal safety was at risk.

These are not isolated cases as we have said and the language, rhetoric and anger directed at the young Muslim who was driving his elderly mother has left the individual shaken. He may well carry the view that being a Muslim is a risk factor for him and these kinds of feelings and perceptions have huge impacts around a ‘sense of self’, personal safety and belonging.

Tell MAMA continues to re-assure, seek justice for victims and ensure that perpetrators account for their actions and we do this by working in partnership with police forces.

Read More: Belfast Attack and Unrest is Having an Impact on Anti-Muslim Hate in England

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Tell MAMA received reports concerning various far-right content pushing anti-Muslim narratives, including an extremist who called for the burning of a local mosque in response. Another post of great concern also suggested setting fire to mosques in response.

X removed the content after we flagged it, which was written in response to another account holder listing the address of a Leicester mosque amidst a flurry of conspiracies falsely blaming Muslims for the fire. The police were made aware of its content.

Tell MAMA flagged these posts with the police.

Racist, anti-Sikh hatred appeared on TikTok and X (formerly Twitter) about the Lord Mayor of Leicester, Councillor Kulwinder Singh Johal, pushing disinformation that he had not made a statement about the fire, or, in some cases, used Islamophobic language.

In fact, Lord Mayor Johal posted a heartfelt statement on Facebook on 29 July. He wrote, “I am heartbroken to see the devastating fire at St Andrew’s Church on Jarrom Street. This tragedy feels deeply personal to me, as I lived on Jarrom Street as a young kid and know firsthand just how special this tight-knit community truly is,” before adding, “Seeing such a historic, cherished landmark engulfed in flames is profoundly painful for all of us who hold this area dear to our hearts.” He closed his statement with a message of support and solidarity: “We will get through this heartbreak together, and we will support the St Andrew’s family every single step of the way.”

Some of the most animated accounts pushing these falsehoods and anti-Muslim or anti-Sikh narratives appeared outside of the UK, including in Europe or the United States. Some UK-based far-right extremists or agitators who had since left the country had also done the same.

Other far-right content sought to push racialised conspiracies about demographics and of so-called Muslim “invasions” or how Leicester is “overrun” with Muslims had populated some of their online rhetoric.

Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service confirmed on 29 July that the “most probable cause of the incident is accidental” in response to potential misinformation and speculation about the cause of the fire on social media.

St Andrew’s parish priest, the Rev’d Canon Dr Johannes Arens, said they “take comfort from the confirmation that the most probable cause is accidental,” as the church posted a donation link to help with the cost of restoration and recovery work.

Locals also praised the bravery of firefighters in rescuing a coffin from the blaze.

The church was able to resume its services after the horrendous fire. The Reverend Richard Trethewey, Archdeacon of Leicester, said the church was “hoping things can find new life after this terrible event” and spoke of how much the wider community’s offers of support helped.

Read more: Bacon strips left on door handle of Dunfermline Central Mosque

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Content warning: some links refer to hateful or extremist material.

Over several dramatic days, the Spanish territory of Ceuta—situated on the North African coast beside Morocco—became the centre of an unprecedented migration and humanitarian crisis. Images of thousands of people crossing border fences, swimming around breakwaters and moving through the city spread rapidly across X, TikTok, Facebook and Telegram.

According to Reuters’ latest report, approximately 50,000 people entered Ceuta from Morocco from 30 July 2026. At least 67 people died, either by drowning or after being crushed during the chaotic crossings. Spain said that more than 48,000 people returned to Morocco within 48 hours.

The scale of the incident understandably raises serious questions about border security, organised smuggling, Morocco’s responsibilities and Spain’s migration policies. These are legitimate matters for democratic debate. However, social media has increasingly transformed a complex political and humanitarian crisis into a story about Muslims collectively “invading” Europe.

That shift—from discussing migration policy to treating Muslims as a civilisational enemy—is where political debate becomes anti-Muslim hate.

What caused the Ceuta crossings?

The complete picture is still emerging. Spanish authorities blamed people-smuggling networks for circulating misleading interpretations of a recent court judgment. Viral posts suggested that migrants reaching Ceuta by sea could remain in Spanish territory because they could not be summarily returned without due process.

An Associated Press fact-check found that claims about Spain simply opening its borders or offering automatic legal status were inaccurate. Spain’s residency programme applied only to people who could demonstrate that they had been living in the country before a specified date.

Economic desperation also matters. Many of those interviewed described unemployment, poverty and a lack of opportunity in Morocco. A quarter of Moroccans aged between 15 and 24 are reportedly outside education, employment or training. Several young people told journalists that social media footage convinced them that the border had become passable and that Europe offered their only realistic prospect of a better future.

This does not excuse unlawful border crossings or violence. It does, however, demonstrate why reducing every person present to a religiously defined threat is both inaccurate and dangerous.

How migration became an “Islamic invasion”

Within hours, social media accounts were attaching words such as “invasion”, “conquest”, “military-aged Muslims” and “Islamisation” to footage from Ceuta. One widely circulated post explicitly described the incident as an “Islamic invasion”, adding “No more Islam”. Another foregrounded the migrants’ assumed Muslim identity while presenting criminal allegations as collective behaviour.

The purpose of this framing is significant. “Migrants” describes a legal or social status. “Muslim invasion” turns a border incident into an existential struggle involving every Muslim, including millions of European Muslims who had nothing whatsoever to do with events in Ceuta.

The language then travelled into British political discourse. British-based voices described Europe as having been “invaded”, while another post claimed that what happened in Ceuta was already happening in the United Kingdom. A British MP similarly characterised Ceuta as an “invasion”.

The word “invasion” is not automatically anti-Muslim hate, particularly when describing a rapid and unlawful breach of a border. Context matters. But when such language is combined with references to Islam, collective criminality, demographic replacement or demands to remove Muslims, it becomes part of a recognisable anti-Muslim narrative.

Why this matters in Britain

Britain does not approach this latest online escalation from a neutral starting point. Recent polling found that 42% of respondents believed Muslims could not integrate into British society, despite 85% of British Muslims surveyed supporting integration.

Tell MAMA has also documented how foreign and domestic far-right networks use migration stories to encourage hostility towards British Muslims. Our investigation into the so-called Direct Action UK network showed how anti-migrant propaganda, conspiracy theories and AI-generated material were used to encourage the vandalism of British mosques. Cryptocurrency rewards were even offered to those willing to carry out attacks.

Other UK-based online extremists have shared and glorified footage of the Christchurch mosque terrorist attacks. Such examples demonstrate why online rhetoric cannot always be dismissed as mere provocation. A narrative may begin with a foreign border incident but end with a British mosque, Muslim woman or family being threatened.

Research highlighted by Tell MAMA, covering more than 125,000 posts, found that immigration and anti-Muslim narratives were among the most common forms of misinformation. The same material frequently portrayed Muslims and refugees as criminals, demographic threats or participants in a supposed “replacement” of European populations.

Platforms must act before hatred becomes harm

Social media companies must respond faster to content that collectively dehumanises Muslims, promotes violence or deliberately misrepresents footage. Political disagreement, criticism of Islam and debate about migration must remain protected. Threats, incitement and the deliberate portrayal of all Muslims as enemy invaders are something very different.

Users should preserve URLs and screenshots before reporting hateful material, as posts can be deleted or altered. Anyone experiencing anti-Muslim abuse can report it confidentially to Tell MAMA, call 0800 456 1226, or WhatsApp 07341 846086. Call 999 where there is an immediate danger.

Ceuta is a serious border and humanitarian crisis. It should not become an excuse to place millions of innocent Muslims—including British citizens—under collective suspicion. Facts, responsible language and rapid action against incitement are essential if online hostility is not to produce further fear and harm on Britain’s streets.

Read more: Read our Report by Tell MAMA entitled, ‘A decade of anti-Muslim hate‘
Read more: Supporting Victims of anti-Muslim hate and Monitoring It Nationally

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Mr Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, shared a video of an anti-immigration protest which took place in the city on Sunday.

It showed 43-year-old Quroum Beg being shouted at by protesters in the Gorbals area and being led away from a playpark by police.

Mr Robinson wrote on X: “Another invader hanging around a park filming children. Glasgow again too!”

Mr Beg, 43, had challenged the protesters and filmed his own video of the incident after taking his children away from the park.

He told the protesters: “I’m not afraid of you, keep on walking.”

Following Mr Robinson’s post, Mr Beg said he had been left “fearing for his life”.

However Mr Robinson, who has two million followers on X, made a further post on Tuesday saying he wished to correct the record.

It said: “In this instance I got it wrong, as did many others, so for that I apologise and I have deleted that post.

“However… That does not negate all the other many instances of freshie migrants taking over parks and filming children. It happens, It happens a lot.

“One incorrect example does not mean this issue should be ignored, in fact it should chased down relentlessly.

“People may need to be a little more careful about how they approach these situations from a factual point of view but we should never apologise for protecting children.”

Mr Beg had earlier told STV News he had been concerned for himself and his children at the protest.

He said: “I told them ‘we see you, we all see who you are and what you are doing’.

“They came to our doorstep, and I felt that I had to take a stand because I saw all my neighbours being fearful and leaving the park.

“I’m the fourth generation in this country, my children will be the fifth generation here.

“If I don’t make a stand, then who else is going to do that?”

Following Mr Robinson’s apology, Mr Beg said he is seeking legal advice.

He told STV: “I’ve been alerted that he’s apologised to his followers.

“Has he apologised to me? And the harm this caused to my reputation and my family?

“Being falsely accused of something like this, and the abuse that followed, has been deeply distressing.

“I am taking legal advice and considering my options.”

Read more: Syrian teenager suing Tommy Robinson ‘seeking at least £150,000 damages’

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The model was visible on top of the pyre in Moygashel on Thursday.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said one man has been arrested.

Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn has described the bonfire display a “sickening and cowardly act of intimidation”.

In a social media post, Mr Benn said: “The placement of a replica mosque on the Moygashel bonfire is a sickening and cowardly act of intimidation.

“This is not about tradition, and in no way does it represent the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland.

“We must stand united and completely reject such hatred.”

The Moygashel Bonfire Association has described the bonfire as an act of “political protest” against “uncontrolled illegal mass immigration”.

Signs saying “Secure our borders” and “End the threat of radical Islam” have also been placed on the pyre, which is made up of pallets and is due to be set alight on Friday night.

Amnesty International described it as a “vile display” and a “blatant attempt to stir up anti-Muslim hatred and intimidate local families”.

The same bonfire site has attracted controversy in previous years.

Last year there was condemnation after effigies of migrants in a boat were burned on the Moygashel fire.

Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland director, said: “This vile display is a blatant attempt to stir up anti-Muslim hatred and intimidate local families.

“It must be met with a decisive response by the police.

“The placing of an effigy of a mosque on top of a bonfire amounts to incitement to hatred directed at real people who live, work and raise families in Northern Ireland.

“It is a crime under Northern Ireland law to distribute materials that are intended or likely to stir up racial or religious hatred or arouse fear.

“The police must investigate this as a potential crime, identify and hold to account those responsible, and ensure this material is swiftly removed before it can be used to incite further hatred and violence.”

The Director of Tell MAMA, Iman Atta OBE said: “The placing of a replica mosque on top of a bonfire intended for destruction is a vile and calculated act of intimidation. This crosses the line from legitimate political expression into outright anti-Muslim hatred. Mosques are places of peace, worship, and community. Using their likeness as objects of public burning sends a chilling and dangerous message to Muslim communities in Northern Ireland and beyond that they are not safe.

“We have tracked an alarming rise in incidents targeting Islamic institutions across the United Kingdom. When far-right or anti-immigrant rhetoric is allowed to manifest through the public targeting of faith symbols, it severely damages social cohesion and stokes community fear. We welcome the swift intervention by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the arrest of a suspect under Article 9 of the Public Order (NI) Order . However, community leaders and local authorities must go further. This offensive material must be permanently removed before it can be used to incite real-world violence. We stand in solidarity with Muslim communities of Northern Ireland who deserve to live free from fear, harassment, and intimidation.

A spokesperson for the PSNI said: “Police are aware of the item placed on top of the bonfire in Moygashel.

“A 56-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of contravention of Article 9 of the Public Order (NI) Order 1987.

“He remains in custody at this time.”

Mr Benn said: “The placement of a replica mosque on the Moygashel bonfire is a sickening and cowardly act of intimidation.

“This is not about tradition, and in no way does it represent the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland.

“We must stand united and completely reject such hatred.”

In a statement on social media, the Moygashel Bonfire Association said it had “noted the predicable fury in respect of the act of political protest at our bonfire site this year”.

The statement said: “This year we have focused on an issue of significant public interest.

“Our display may well shock, offend or outrage others, but nonetheless it is an exercise in our rights under Article 10 of the ECHR and we note with some irony that it is the ECHR which has so often paved the way for mass illegal immigration and a failure to deport foreign criminals who have come here unlawfully, that also now protects our right to protest in robust terms against that.

“If there was no uncontrolled illegal mass immigration, we would have no need to protest on this issue.”

It added: “Our display expressly does NOT target any individual. We make that very clear.

“Our opposition is not to people, but rather to ideology and Government policy.

“Once this is appreciated, then it is very clear this is no more and no less than an act of protest, which is lawful protected expression.”

Fermanagh and South Tyrone Sinn Féin MLA Colm Gildernew described the display on the bonfire as “deplorable”.

He said: “The signage and effigy on the Moygashel bonfire is a clear hate crime.

“This is fuelled by hate and those that seek to bring division to our communities.

“There is no place in our society for racism, and it is the responsibility of all political representatives and community leaders to stand against it.

“The PSNI must investigate this as a matter of urgency to remove this disgraceful display.”

Alliance Party councillor Eddie Roofe described the bonfire as “hateful and deeply offensive”.

He said: “The placing of this model on top of the bonfire is utterly abhorrent.

“Those responsible seek only to instil fear and spread hatred towards a specific group of people who call Northern Ireland their home, and it must be removed immediately.

“There is no place for this behaviour in our society.

“People should be free to live without fear of themselves or their families being targeted or subjected to discrimination.

“It is unacceptable that year after year, we continue to witness these hateful and deeply offensive displays.”

SDLP councillor Carl Whyte described the display on the bonfire as “absolutely disgusting”.

He told the BBC Good Morning Ulster programme: “The singling out of an entire religion, an entire faith, is just shameful.”

Eleventh night bonfires will be lit across Northern Ireland on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings ahead of the Orange Order’s July 12 parades on Monday.

While most of the bonfires pass off without incident, several have become the focus of contention due to the placing of flags, effigies and election posters on the structures before they are ignited.

Last month in Moygashel, police removed a banner from a children’s playpark, saying it was being treated as a hate crime.

Read More: Belfast Attack and unrest is having an impact on anti-Muslim hate in England.

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One such organisation is The Base, an international neo-Nazi accelerationist network that has attracted the attention of counter-terrorism agencies across Europe and North America. Although its membership remains relatively small, its ideology promotes violence, racial hatred and the deliberate destabilisation of democratic societies. For British Muslims, Jewish communities and many other minority groups, understanding organisations such as The Base is essential in recognising how extremist narratives continue to evolve. The sad reality is that this organisation may have impacts on young minds here in the United Kingdom in the future.

What is The Base?

The Base is a transnational white supremacist and neo-Nazi organisation founded in 2018. Its name is believed to be a direct translation of the Arabic word al-Qaeda (“the base”), reflecting its aspiration to build an international extremist movement that mirrors the decentralised structure adopted by some jihadist organisations.

Unlike traditional far-right political groups that seek influence through elections or public campaigning, The Base openly embraces the concept of accelerationism. This ideology argues that society should be pushed towards instability and conflict through acts of violence, intimidation and terrorism, ultimately leading to the collapse of democratic government and the establishment of a white ethno-state. Given the political polarisation that we are seeing in the United Kingdom, there is a chance that this organisation could attract young minds to its nihilism.

Its ideology combines elements of neo-Nazism, racial supremacy, antisemitism and anti-government extremism. Members have been linked to paramilitary training, weapons offences and plots to target infrastructure and minority communities. As a result, the organisation has been designated as a terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom and several other countries.

Why does this matter to us?

We all know that the United Kingdom is experiencing a changing threat landscape in recent years. Counter-terrorism policing has repeatedly highlighted that extreme right-wing terrorism now represents a significant proportion of domestic terrorism investigations.

Although organisations rise and fall, the underlying ideologies often survive. Online platforms enable extremist groups to share propaganda, recruit vulnerable individuals and create transnational networks that transcend national borders. Young people are being exposed to violent material through gaming platforms, encrypted messaging applications and social media algorithms that increasingly recommend increasingly extreme content.

For organisations such as The Base, physical membership is often less important than ideological influence. Individuals who consume and internalise violent propaganda may never formally join an organisation yet still commit acts of violence inspired by its worldview. There is therefore a very real chance that we will see cases of people disseminating material from ‘the Base’ in the United Kingdom.

British Muslims remain a primary target

For British Muslims, organisations such as The Base represent more than an abstract security concern. Their ideology explicitly portrays Muslims as enemies who threaten the racial and cultural identity of Western societies. These narratives often recycle longstanding conspiracy theories surrounding immigration, demographic change and so-called “replacement” myths that have inspired numerous acts of terrorist violence internationally.

Tell MAMA has consistently documented how periods of heightened political tension, international conflict or inflammatory public discourse can coincide with increases in anti-Muslim hatred. While most prejudice never develops into terrorism, violent extremist organisations actively seek to exploit existing social divisions by encouraging supporters to move beyond hateful rhetoric into acts of intimidation or violence.

Muslim women, particularly those who wear visible Islamic dress, continue to experience disproportionately high levels of anti-Muslim abuse. Mosques, Islamic schools and community centres also remain symbolic targets for those seeking to intimidate entire communities.

The online environment

The internet has fundamentally transformed how extremist movements operate. The Base and similar organisations have relied heavily upon encrypted communications, decentralised online communities and digital propaganda. Rather than maintaining large formal memberships, they encourage loosely connected supporters to consume ideological material, develop operational security and prepare independently for future violence.

Tell MAMA has long argued that tackling online hatred cannot simply focus on removing illegal content. It must also include education, digital resilience and early intervention to prevent vulnerable individuals from becoming immersed in extremist ecosystems.

Avoiding unnecessary fear

It is important to maintain perspective. The overwhelming majority of people exposed to extremist propaganda never become involved in terrorism. Likewise, violent organisations such as The Base remain relatively small compared with wider society.

However, history demonstrates that even small extremist networks can have devastating consequences when individuals become radicalised towards violence. Maintaining awareness should therefore not create panic but encourage vigilance, informed discussion and confidence in reporting concerning behaviour through appropriate channels.

Tell MAMA continues to monitor incidents of anti-Muslim hatred across England and works closely with victims, statutory agencies and community organisations.

At Tell MAMA, we remain committed to documenting anti-Muslim hate, supporting victims and promoting evidence-based responses that strengthen community cohesion. Extremist organisations flourish where fear and division take hold. They are weakened when communities stand together, reject hatred and continue to uphold the values of democracy, mutual respect and equal citizenship.

Read More: How Christchurch Inspired the Terror Shootings at the Islamic Centre of San Diego

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A social account linked to an infamous fake far-right Telegram channel that offered cryptocurrency in exchange for vandalising mosques in the UK had seemingly connected to X (formerly Twitter) in Russia, a Tell MAMA investigation can reveal.

One of the purchased accounts those behind Direct Action UK used to promote themselves on X (formerly Twitter) mysteriously attempted to remove all references to it when accessing the platform via the Russian Federation Android App.

At some point between Tell MAMA publishing its report on Direct Action UK in December 2025 and the trial and subsequent convictions of Roman Lavrynovych and Stanislav Carpiuc in June 2026, an X account we identified in that report removed biographical information and deleted various posts about the extremist far-right channel, accessing the platform via the “Russian Federation Android App” and using a VPN to show a location in France, information gleaned after X rolled out a location transparency feature in late 2025, which is not without flaws nor controversies, however.

The individual(s) responsible have since removed Direct Action from its profile name, banner, and removed a link to the defunct Telegram channel. Its profile name now reads “Direct”, not “Direct Action”. It also mass-deleted various far-right, anti-migrant, anti-Muslim and Islamophobic materials cross-posted from the defunct Telegram channel. A notable deletion wrote, “#summer #riots Can we do it again?” made in January 2025 at a time when it was offering money to those who would vandalise mosques, accompanied by a picture of the prime minister depicted as a clown.

The account was one of several we identified as purchased X accounts used to create a false sense of authenticity of Direct Action, which began in September 2024, offering financial incentives (paid via cryptocurrency) to encourage attacks on police officers in hopes of encouraging far-right violence and disorder seen following the tragic murders and stabbings in Southport.

It launched its Telegram channel on 3 September 2024 before going private in mid-to-late February 2025, but not before using a similar tactic: offering financial rewards (via cryptocurrency) to vandalise mosques with far-right slogans in January.

Tell MAMA monitored their online activities in late January, providing the police and counter-terrorism with regular updates.

Direct Action UK, however, did not exist in the UK, but it worked hard to reach those who were.

Enter Roman Lavrynovych

Roman Lavrynovych, 22, was found guilty of conspiracy to damage property by fire and convicted of two counts of damaging property by fire (recklessness to whether it would endanger life), alongside Stanislav Carpiuc, over three arson attacks linked to properties and a car of the prime minister, Sir Kier Starmer, and faces sentencing on 19 June.

During the trial, it emerged that Roman Lavrynovych, under instruction from a Russian-speaking handler named “El Money”, printed and displayed Direct Action posters across part of London on the promise of financial payment. Whilst there is no evidence that Lavrynovych accessed the Telegram channel, the photographs of the poster (all using the same brand of tape) appeared in the main Direct Action UK Telegram channel. Evidence of this connection appeared in the Starmer arson trials, but was not developed further, despite police finding such evidence on his mobile phone.

The Financial Times published a wide-ranging article this week that revealed that “El Money” was based in Russia with close ties to a pro-Kremlin hacktivist network named NoName057(16), described by the Department of Justice in the United States as a “state-sponsored cyber criminal hacking group,” as the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre has mentioned NoName with regards to DDoS attacks on UK and international websites.

Our research report into Direct Action, published in December 2025, suggested links between it and other pro-Russian hacktivist groups, including “Юность Диверсанта” – The youth of the saboteur, suggesting more of a clandestine, not state-backed operation.

Taken from Tell MAMA’s report: The Risk of Foreign Influence on the UK Far-Right and Anti-Muslim Hate (December 2025).

Through heavy usage of AI-generated content (visual and text) alongside real-world footage of rioting post-Southport, it used TikTok, YouTube and X in tandem with Lavrynovych to put up posters (often containing a QR code and the URL of its short-lived TikTok account) across London (some of which claimed Manchester also) in mid to late 2024, to cultivate the idea of authenticity for far-right extremists seeking an alternative group post-Southport.

Our analysis found many textual inconsistencies and basic errors, suggesting a reliance on AI-generated content to appeal to an English-speaking audience. And on occasion, they would slip up, including leaving Cyrillic characters in English-language posts.

Examples of the errors detected in the Direct Action UK propaganda on social media.

An early Direct Action video included the text “Want? Make money and fight? Write to us!”

As Tell MAMA’s research report details at length, those within the Direct Action UK channels shared various terror manuals alongside guides to build Molotov cocktails, improvised explosive devices and instructions to commit terror attacks with bladed objects or vehicles. We observed discussions between members about how to target mosques, including one individual in the Cheshire area who stole discarded papers from a mosque and uploaded himself burning them. Encouraged by other members, he escalated his behaviour, including burning a copy of the Quran. In another example, a Manchester-based neo-Nazi received encouragement from those behind Direct Action to target a mosque in his area. A channel admin replied, “Looks like it, bro, here’s our graffiti stencil. Manchester needs graffiti too. You’ve got a chance to take home the prize for the coolest graffiti.”

Tell MAMA’s monitoring of the far-right extremism in two Direct Action UK Telegram channels, showed the admin trying to convince a Manchester-based neo-Nazi to vandalise a local mosque.

Other forms of AI-generated content sought to push racist violence fuelled by ideological grievance politics and other forms of extremist violence, notably towards the police, across their social media. With the latter forming a critical part of the group’s origins, which sought to exploit lingering tensions post-Southport in hopes of encouraging physical violence and the burning of police cars, offering sums of money (paid in cryptocurrency) up to £4,000. The scripted posts read “The government doesn’t notice your dissent? Let them feel it. Realise your protest. Fire + Police car = 4.000£ for you.”

The vandalism campaign against mosques gave more indication of the foreign element to the channel, writing, “For this direct action, you’ll need a can graffiti spray ~2-5£ and an hour of your time in the evening” People who create the most beautiful graffiti on mosques will receive a gift from our movement – 100£ in any cryptocurrency.” In other posts, they offered £200 in any cryptocurrency (again, written incorrectly with the £ symbol displayed in reverse).

Across various platforms, including YouTube and X, we misspelt hashtags like “#Glassgow” and the “#UnitedKingdoom” on numerous posts. The YouTube account was listed as “Direct Actions UK”, which only ever boasted one subscriber, had lain dormant in some form since its creation in 2022.

As the report stressed, we identified various individuals within the UK – from London, Manchester, Southampton, and other cities keen to involve themselves in extreme far-right direct action, demonstrating an appetite to cause harm and violence.

Further examples of in-group dynamics encouraging one member to go further and burn a copy of the Quran, after he stole rubbish from a local mosque to burn at home. It was one of many examples that Tell MAMA raised with the police.

During our monitoring of the Telegram channels, we alerted police to an individual who had stolen materials from the bin of a mosque to burn at home, boasting about it in the smaller, more extremist channel. When pushed by others, he would later post a video of himself burning a copy of the Quran.

With the police investigations into the graffiti on several mosques, Islamic centres and an Islamic school, and news of a third unknown suspect, there remain many questions for the Metropolitan Police and counter-terrorism with regards to Direct Action UK and the targeting of Muslim communities.

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The anti-Muslim graffiti, which included racist slogans, is still under investigation more than a year later, despite Roman Lavrynovych, the Ukrainian construction worker who was found guilty of arson attacks linked to properties and a car of the prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, admitting in court to vandalising two mosques under the instruction of his Russian-speaking handler, “El Money”.

The Financial Times’ wide-ranging report into a fake far-right Telegram channel called Direct Action UK disclosed that a third unknown person, identifiable by a distinctive barbed wire tattoo on their wrist, filmed themselves vandalising an Islamic primary school in east London in January 2025, a report that also drew from our research into the group.

Following guilty verdicts against Roman Lavrynovych and Stanislav Carpiuc on 15 June 2026, the BBC published a lengthy investigation into the men and the fake group Direct Action UK, including a quote from our director, Iman Atta, that stressed our concerns that the Metropolitan Police was still not treating the graffiti of mosques nor the extremist content of the fake group with the seriousness expected.

Following a concerning spate of graffiti cases targeting mosques, Islamic centres, and a school across London, we began a sustained investigation into this Telegram channel (and related social media channels), documenting at length their racist and extremist ideologies and the dangerous and inflammatory content they produced, and crucially, that its murky origins existed outside of the UK.

By the end of January 2025, Tell MAMA had provided the police and counter-terrorism with intelligence updates about the Telegram activities of Direct Action UK (and its smaller sub-channel) had demonstrated a fixed, clear threat to Muslim and other minority communities, raising the risk of real-world racist violence or terrorism, as they shared dozens of illegal terrorist materials and video guides – for building explosives and Molotov cocktails, to murder methods and how to construct firearms.

Direct Action UK would soon vanish from Telegram weeks later, going private in mid-February, months before the arson attacks on the properties and car linked to the prime minister occurred in May 2025.

We, however, did not stop looking into them.

As detailed further in our report “The Risk of Foreign Influence on the UK Far-Right and Anti-Muslim Hate” about Direct Action UK, which we published in December 2025 (when its connection to Lavrynovych was not public knowledge or a known factor), the individual(s) behind it purchased various accounts on X (formerly Twitter) shortly after the far-right violence and riots in the summer of 2024 following the tragic murders and stabbings in Southport, in hopes of initially offering cryptocurrency in exchange for attacks on the police. We linked it at the time to a clandestine network of pro-Russian hacktivists.

More than a year later, all Muslim communities know is that the Met’s investigation is ongoing, but with no clear answers or updates, they deserve better. Tell MAMA will continue to push for action on the case.

Tell MAMA’s Director Iman Atta, made clear that: “Significant questions remain unanswered regarding the response of the justice system to a deeply disturbing and coordinated campaign of intimidation. The institutional reaction from both the police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has fallen profoundly short of what Muslim communities, and indeed any community facing a targeted, terrorism-adjacent hate campaign, rightfully deserve.

“In an unrelated high-profile criminal trial about the Starmer arsons, one man admitted carrying out some of the anti-Muslim and Islamophobic graffiti on mosques in London. That admission was on the record. And yet there appears to have been no serious effort to secure a conviction specifically in relation to the Direct Action network and the wider campaign of targeted intimidation it orchestrated. That is simply not good enough.

Muslim communities deserve to see the law applied with the same rigour and urgency that would be brought to bear if any other community had been subjected to a coordinated campaign of this nature, one that included not just hate crime, but the active promotion of terrorism, the distribution of bomb-making materials, and the offer of cryptocurrency payments for attacks on places of worship. The evidence was there. The question that has not been satisfactorily answered is why it was not treated as the priority it so clearly should have been.”

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The debating society sparked controversy when it announced it would be hosting a debate entitled The West Is Right To Be Suspicious Of Islam, featuring Robinson – whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – alongside former actor Laurence Fox.

Protesters took to New Inn Hall Street and Cornmarket Street on Wednesday night, occupying either side of St Michael Street where the event is taking place.

Chanting slogans such as “Oxford Union, shame, shame”, they far outnumber the handful of counter-protesters, carrying Union flags, who gathered on Cornmarket Street in support of Robinson.

The two groups were separated by a police cordon, and numerous officers were present across the area to monitor the protest.

A minor incident took place on Cornmarket Street in which protesters booed police officers, and a couple of demonstrators appeared to throw water at them.

Oxford City Council previously said St Michael Street would be closed while the event is ongoing.

“St Michael’s Street will be closed to vehicles and pedestrians between 4pm and 11pm on Wednesday June 17 due to an event at the Oxford Union,” the council said.

“A small number of bus routes will operate slight diversions, but no bus stops are affected.

“No other road closures are planned.”

Shops and some pubs in the area have also reportedly closed early because of the event and protests.

Thames Valley Police said in a statement on Wednesday night: “We work closely with a range of partners through well-established, safety advisory structures to ensure events take place safely and smoothly, while minimising disruption to our communities.

“We support freedom of speech and are working with the Oxford Union and other local stakeholders to facilitate this event and any associated peaceful protest.”

Participants in the debate who will oppose Robinson include former Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg and activist Abdullah al Andalusi.

Rees-Mogg released a YouTube video on Wednesday afternoon explaining why he believes the union is “right” to host Robinson for a debate.

He said: “I think the best way to answer him is to debate with him. You see, if I just ignore him he won’t go away, he won’t lose his following and people will just say people like me are scared.”

He added that the Oxford Union would be a “pointless society” without free speech and that it “exists to argue”.

It was reported last month that the debate had been delayed after significant outcry about Yaxley-Lennon’s attendance.

The most significant opposition came from faith leaders including the Bishop of Oxford, Steven Croft, and founder of the Oxford Foundation, Imam Monawar Hussain, who said they were “disturbed and saddened” when he was invited to speak.

Ian McKendrick, vice chairman of Oxford Stand Up To Racism, has previously accused Yaxley-Lennon of inciting “violent race riots” in Southampton, Belfast and Glasgow over the past weeks.

Read More; Belfast Attack & Unrest is Having an Impact on Anti-Muslim Hate in England

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In particular, of concern to us are physical threats and forms of assault that are being reported in by visible Muslims – mainly women. These women wear the Hijab and the Niqab and with the latter repeating that they endure a higher frequency of threats and assaults and ongoing anti-Muslim hate incidents.

This is of particular concern to us given the social context of what is taking place in the United Kingdom. Far right rallies and demonstrations, incendiary language online through social media platforms and polarising political discourse may well be having impacts and effects at a street level on how British Muslims are being targeted.

Which is why reporting in anti-Muslim hate is so important. We within Tell MAMA provide the following services to victims of anti-Muslim hate; (i) casework support and advocacy for clients with police forces (ii) evidence collection where possible (iii) form filling and administration services for clients (iv) providing advice, information and signposting (v) support and help with attendance at court (vi) mental health counselling and emotional support. These services are provided in line with our organisational values and which are person centred and experiential based.

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Tell MAMA has received an uptick in reports over the last 48 hours from British Muslims living in England and Northern Ireland and we have repeatedly said that what happens internationally is usually felt within 24-48 hours in the United Kingdom. We have measured the same reactions on numerous occasions and we recognise the pattern of upticks and the rises in anti-Muslim hate that are reported to us because of local, regional, national or international events.

We are highlighting this as our teams continue to receive reports and with anti-Muslim comments made to victims that link back to ‘Ireland’ or to ‘Belfast’ or to ‘killers’ and other such terms. The context of these reports are extremely important and we continue to monitor the situation and to work with relevant police forces on an ongoing basis.

Read More: Intimidation in Northern Ireland Towards Muslims is Deeply Worrying

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Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has long been a supporter of Mr Robinson, with both men calling for people to take to the streets in response to the knife attack in Belfast.

Mr Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, shared a list of places where protests were said to be taking place at 7pm on Tuesday following the Belfast attack, saying: “The whole of the United Kingdom is hitting the streets tonight at 7pm following yet another invader attack on our people. ”

Mr Robinson posted a video of himself and Errol Musk, apparently filmed in a Moscow hotel, on Monday in which he says: “We are going to go and cause some trouble.”

Errol Musk reportedly attended the annual Kremlin-backed economic forum last week.

Asked by the Guardian why he had travelled to Moscow, Mr Robinson said: “I’ve come to see how this country got itself so well on to the straight and narrow and see the beauty of a civilised society here.”

He added: “Russia is not the enemy of Britain. That narrative has long since died a natural death.

“There are those who benefit from pushing Russia as an enemy but everyone laughs at those people now.”

Last week, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer accused Mr Musk of “interfering in our politics” and “trying to whip up division” in the wake of the sentencing of the murderer of Henry Nowak.

Read More: Tommy Robinson ordered to pay £100,000 to Syrian schoolboy after libel case loss.

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Researchers from the think tank, the Social Media Foundation (SMF), found that misinformation flourished (nearly three times as likely) in geographic areas with no recognised local media, in contrast to areas with strong local media, which had fewer cases of misinformation in the study.

Across the study, involving over 125,000 social media posts across the platforms X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Nextdoor, “immigration and Islamophobia” proved the most “common” forms of misinformation on X and Facebook (32 per cent), respectively.

The researchers noted that, beyond misinformation about immigration or Islamophobic sentiments, the next biggest topic on X for misinformation related to health (13 per cent), with totalising, criminalising narratives that grouped migrants and asylum seekers as threats to women and children.

Just over one-fifth of flagged content (23 per cent) of anti-migrant and anti-Muslim content flagged on Facebook (and just over one-third on X), pushed conspiracies of so-called demographic ‘replacement’, linked Muslims and migrants broadly to criminality, and pushed ideas of ‘double standards’ in the justice system, which they added, included the dangerous role of AI-generated content (with some audiences unaware that it was fake). One noteworthy meme in the report showed how anti-Muslim and Islamophobic conspiracies included racialised tropes placing Muslims as a menacing foreign ‘threat’ (often as refugees) who would seek to violently take over.

Beyond financial scams in local Facebook groups, the report explored the sheer prevalence of ‘anti-vax’ conspiracies on X. The overarching commonality across the social media platforms stemmed from misinformation content that came from other content creators, not a direct creation of the user, the report noted, drawing upon examples found on X, where “posts flagged as fake news in this project was reshared from elsewhere, such as videos from Instagram or X influencers.” Regarding anti-migrant misinformation on Facebook, the authors added that far-right groups had reshared it on the platform.

Tell MAMA has published various research and news articles about the threat of racialised and criminalising misinformation and disinformation about Muslim communities on social media, and how AI-generated content is fuelling it further.

Last year, in our wide-ranging annual report, we warned how “examples flagged with Tell MAMA make full use of the technology to push racialised, stigmatising, and criminalising tropes about Muslims – externalising Muslim men and women as distinct cultural, demographic threats to mythologised, monocultural themes of national identity.”

Our research also highlighted the ongoing threat of far-right extremism and terrorism permeating platforms like Telegram to pro-terror content on TikTok glorifying the Christchurch terrorist.

Similar to the findings in the SMF report, Tell MAMA found that dehumanising, racialised and violent AI-generated content towards migrants, refugees, and Muslim political figures (and ordinary Muslims more broadly), cross-pollinated from TikTok to Facebook, more so on self-styled “comedy” pages that celebrated AI-generated forms of murder towards migrants and refugees.

We continue to urge the government to develop strategies for combatting disinformation and misinformation online and publish guides on improving social media literacy skills that serve communities of all ages and backgrounds.

Read More: Arrest Made After Arson Attack on Islamic Centre in Maida Vale.

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Dabinderjit Singh of the U.K. Sikh Federation has claimed the Sikh community had seen a “huge increase in hate crime” since the trial and criticism of legal allowances for the Kirpan have also come from the owner of ‘X’ – Elon Musk.

No doubt such calls will lead to Sikh communities demanding better recording of Sikh hate crimes and we support calls for this. Sikh communities have been targeted on the basis that they are assumed to be Muslim, and also because they are Sikhs. Attacks have usually come from perpetrators espousing racism, anti-Muslim hate and anti-Sikh sentiment which may have been generated because of political issues in India.

Under current legislation, Section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act (1998) says that there is a plausible defence for a person charged with having an article with a blade in a public place, as long as they can prove that they had the article with them for religious reasons. This dispensation allows initiated Sikhs to carry the Kirpan which is usually covered by their clothing. However, if the Kirpan is used in an offensive action, then it can be deemed to be an offensive weapon and the law is therefore clear that it cannot be drawn with the aim of harming anyone or anything.

After the Digwa verdict last week, the Sikh Federation said that the blade that was used by Digwa, “was not the normal Kirpan worn by fully practising Sikhs”. There was also ample evidence in the trial that Digwa was fixated on weapons and that his comments during the attack on Nowak, demonstrated him to be a man who was highly aggressive. For example, the prosecution barrister – Nicholas Lobbenberg KC said that Digwa was “a man who likes weapons” and who had been “training with weapons since he was 12”. He had also made numerous searches for them online.

We believe that calls for the Kirpan to be outlawed do not take into account the clear boundaries and limitations that are placed on the use of the Kirpan in the United Kingdom. Currently, it can only be carried for symbolic purposes and the vast and overwhelming majority of Sikhs have never drawn on the Kirpan. Indeed, cases such as that of Digwa involving Sikh men rarely have come up.

Acknowledging the Life of Henry Nowak

We acknowledge the pain that the family of Henry Nowak are feeling and the immense loss that they are enduring. A young man with so much to live for has lost his life and his future. The loss of young lives is even more impactful since the future of our society rests on their shoulders.

The sad reality is that so many young men are losing their lives to knife crimes and in this instance, Henry Nowak had the misfortune to come across a violent and troubled man who had a fixation on weapons. Remembering his life and his name are important; he mattered.

What also matters is that Sikhs should be allowed to carry the Kirpan and practise their faith. Much of Sikhism is based on honour, pride and selflessness and Sikhism must always have a place in Britain’s cultural identity. It is a part of the country and we should acknowledge and celebrate it. This means continuing to allow Sikhs to have a core element of their faith identity, whilst recognising the responsibility that goes with it.

Read More: Rapist admits anti-Muslim attack on Sikh female stranger he targeted on a bus.

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The lengthy screed, which surfaced online, contained a plethora of racist, misogynistic, anti-LGBT slurs and ramblings alongside entrenched incel beliefs, the glorification of terrorists and mass murderers, and the promotion of racist conspiracies, including Holocaust denial and the so-called “Great Replacement”. Other sections rambled on about their political enemies on the left, right, and centre.

Extracts seen by Tell MAMA further detailed how they called for the “extermination” of Muslims and used dehumanising language, comparing them to “parasites”.

They also considered Jewish people and women the most ‘evil’ groups in society, respectively.

The FBI confirmed that both met online, as searches of two properties recovered thirty firearms and a crossbow.

Racist comments about Muslims appeared alongside anti-Muslim and Islamophobic tropes linking Muslims collectively to rape, terrorism, and as “invaders”, with Islam itself portrayed as an existential threat to Christianity.

The screed also advocated for accelerationist forms of white supremacist terrorism, citing proscribed groups like Atomwaffen Division, The Base, and the notorious works of James Mason, and other key white supremacist texts like The Turner Diaries.

It also singled out praise for Adolf Hitler, Elliot Roger, Omar Mateen, Robert Bowers and the Columbine school shooters.

Anti-Black racism in the screed ranged from the use of the N-word to racist pseudoscience and eugenics.

Clips of the terror shared online also demonstrated their desire to replicate Christchurch, including in the choice of body armour and inscribing their weapons as the Christchurch terrorist did.

Screenshots of now-removed posts from a notorious incel messageboard suggested that one of them described themselves as “definitely more racist for specific races”, but their hatred for “all women” would sometimes supersede it.

More broadly, Tell MAMA has also highlighted on social media platforms the continued normalisation and gamification of the Christchurch terror attacks, including the ongoing sanctification of the terrorist himself. As of writing, we have flagged content on TikTok that glorifies the terror in San Diego.

An example of a user glorifying the murders in San Diego on TikTok, which we flagged with the platform.

Our research continues to document how Christchurch has influenced those convicted of far-right terror offences in the UK.

The names of those murdered included the security guard Amin Abdullah, Mansour Kaziha, and Nadir Awad. Tributes speak of their devotion, heroism, and care for others, as they died protecting around 140 children who were inside.

Scott Wahl, San Diego’s Police Chief, made clear that “All three of our victims did not die in vain,” as their heroism saved lives. “Without distracting the attention, without delaying the actions of these two individuals, without question, there would have been many more fatalities yesterday,” he added.

Nor did the terror and murders emerge in a vacuum. The Islamic Centre had improved its security after receiving threats and broader anti-Muslim and Islamophobic messages, including installing bulletproof windows and holding routine active shooter drills at its school, CNN reported.

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Stuart Adams, 49, pleaded guilty to a racially aggravated public order offence after shouting racially abusive remarks at Metropolitan Police officer Harjot Sehmi, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard on Monday.

Adams, who attended the protest in central London on Saturday, hurled “you’re a c***”, “f*** Keir Starmer” and “let’s have a fight” at police officers standing around a cordon outside Downing Street on Saturday, the court heard.

He then looked at Mr Sehmi and shouted “what are you looking at”, “p****” and “go back to your homeland”, the court was told.

Suleman Hussain, prosecuting, said the police officer told him Adams’ s face was “contorted in anger” and he kept “agitating” his arms as he shouted at him.

Mr Hussain added the police officer felt “upset” and “sad” when he heard Adams, and did not want to continue policing the rally, which was organised by far-right activist Tommy Robinson.

Adams appeared in court on Monday wearing a grey sweatshirt and blue jeans, and spoke to confirm his identity and indicate his plea.

Fadi Daoud, defending, said Adams, who was arrested and taken to a police station after making the remarks, “regrets totally his actions”.

Mr Daoud said: “He regrets totally his actions. He regrets and apologised. He apologised at the police station.

“He understands he shouldn’t have done it. He won’t do it again.”

Adams, of Aberconway Road, Merton, south London, will next appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 16.

Some 43 arrests were made during protests in central London at the weekend, including 20 linked to the Unite the Kingdom rally, the Metropolitan Police said.

About 60,000 people are estimated to have joined Tommy Robinson’s march on Saturday, the force added.

Another person was charged following a pro-Palestine Nakba Day demonstration, which was also in central London but kept separate by police from Tommy Robinson’s rally.

Dara Harbison, 26, from Brighton, East Sussex, was charged with assaulting an emergency worker, criminal damage and possession of cannabis, and will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on July 6.

Read more: Neo-Nazi student sentenced for terrorism and hate offences

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The disturbing racist graffiti read, “P***s go home. This is my country. Trump style coming,” appeared sometime last week (around 5 May), and the local council have since removed it.

After a Muslim service user contacted us to report it, our casework team made a police report.

Members of the public can report graffiti in public areas anonymously – be it on bins, benches, and public buildings – to their local council, online or otherwise. Councils aim to remove racist or any other forms of offensive graffiti within 24 hours (or less) when notified.

Last week, Tell MAMA reported on disturbing anti-Muslim graffiti inside a toilet cubicle at Liverpool Street station, which is also the subject of a police investigation.

In recent months, other disturbing examples of racist and anti-Muslim graffiti targeting mosques and Islamic centres in Exeter, Birmingham and Greenwich.

You can get free, confidential advice on 0800 456 1226. Report through our online form. Or contact us via WhatsApp on 0734 184 6086.

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The 17-year-old, from Norfolk, is accused of 16 offences including allegations of making explosives, having a firearm, possessing and distributing terror manuals, and stirring up racial hatred.

The youth defendant, who cannot be identified, is also alleged to have “catfished” men online in order to blackmail them over sexual images, and produced deep-fake sexual images of six teenage girls.

He was arrested at home in south Norfolk on April 10 last year and charged following an investigation by Counter Terrorism Policing London.

The boy, who is on conditional bail, appeared at the Old Bailey for a preliminary hearing before Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb on Friday.

The judge set a plea hearing at Leicester Crown Court on September 25 with a provisional trial in April next year.

The defendant’s barrister indicated he would deny the 16 charges at present.

They are: possession of a record containing information useful to terrorism; two counts of distributing a terrorist publication; four charges of making an explosive substance and one of having an explosive substance; possession of a firearm; two charges of distributing written material to stir up racial hatred; criminal damage; racially or religiously aggravated criminal damage; two counts of blackmail; and making six indecent pseudo-photographs of children.

Read More: Man facing jail after admitting planning bomb attack on South London mosque

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Alina Burns, 19, attacked Mohammed Mahmoodi, 27, with the weapon as he stood outside the shop in Bedminster, Bristol, in August last year.

Bristol Crown Court heard Burns had been motivated by neo-Nazi extremism and had been in contact with far-right groups.

She had told a man on a dating app to “kill all Jews and Muslims”, and had searched for information online about Jihad, the Southport stabbings, Jewish supremacy and Nazi Germany.

Serena Gates KC, prosecuting, told the court: “The prosecution case is that the defendant had an extreme right-wing mindset and wanted Jews and Muslims to be killed, and non-whites to flee or be expelled from the UK.

“The day before the attack the defendant was watching videos of SS marches and sent an email called ‘The dawn of civil war’.”

The incident happened on the afternoon of August 2 when Burns approached Mr Mahmoodi from behind and swung the axe – that she had bought for the attack – at his neck, causing a small wound.

Mr Mahmoodi, who was much bigger than the 5ft 2in Burns, was able to wrestle the axe away from her before she could strike him again.

A nearby police officer heard the commotion and went to the scene in East Street and arrested Burns.

Asked why she had attacked the Kurdish-Iranian man, Burns told the officer: “Because I wanted to cut his neck.

“I would do it again, but to succeed.”

She later told a Mental Health Act assessor she knew Mr Mahmoodi worked in the barbers, which was involved “in money laundering”.

“I know of him, he works in the Turkish barbers, I think they are money laundering and the police aren’t doing anything about it,” she said.

“So, if I done this, then maybe the police would investigate the shop.”

Miss Gates told the court: “She further asked if it had been on the news yet. She said she wanted to influence people to do the same thing, but be successful.

“She stated she would do it again, but to succeed.”

After Burns was arrested, police discovered her links to far-right groups and extremism.

Five months before the attack she had used an online dating app to speak with a man who she told: “I am the embodiment of hell and desire to amplify everything I bear witness too.

“I don’t want to end my life any more. I plan on bringing change to the UK through means I can’t detail.”

She later told him to “kill all the Jews and Muslims in Britain please”.

The man, who was not identified in court, reported the exchange to the police, the court was told.

Detectives found at her home handwritten notes about the “spread of Islam”, how to use fertiliser to manufacture explosives, and nuclear weapons.

There were also notes about German SS units serving in the Second World War, Adolf Hitler’s book Mein Kampf and the nationalist novel The Turner Diaries.

On her notebook computer was a copy of a terrorist handbook with information about chemicals and IEDs.

Burns had also used the Telegram messaging app to contact a representative of the British far-right group Patriotic Alternative.

At a previous hearing, Burns, of Lynton Road, Bristol, pleaded guilty to attempted murder and three charges of having an article with a blade or point – specifically an axe, a scalpel and two darts.

She had denied a charge of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts, contrary to the Terrorism Act, which was ordered to lie on file.

The Crown argued that despite accepting the plea, there remained a terrorist motivation to the attack, which was accepted by the judge, Mrs Justice Lambert.

The sentencing hearing continues.

Read More: Neo-Nazi Fanatic Contemplated Making ‘Muslims into Mincemeat’

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The torching of the incident happened at 2:30 am on Monday the 11th  of May and CCTV pictures point to a group of males possibly being involved in the attack. Two masked men can be seen on the CCTV footage, and they are then seen running away from the scene.

The Muslim prayer area at the front of the building was targeted and the incendiary item was thrown through the glass, leading to damage to the walls and to all of the prayer mats.

The suspected arson attack comes at a time of heightened concern within British Muslim communities about levels of anti-Muslim hate that are rising and which Tell MAMA has systematically documented over the last 13 years.

The Raha Cafe was opened last summer and was also named as one of the finalists in a Best Coffee Shop Competition that was organised by the Lancashire Telegraph.

Tell MAMA received this information from Lancashire Police:

“We are aware of this incident, and there is an investigation being led by detectives into the incident. This is currently being treated as arson, and enquiries are ongoing. We have not received any indication that this incident is motivated by race or religion, and our enquiries have not revealed anything to suggest that this incident was motivated by race or religion. We would ask that if anyone in the community has any further information around this incident, no matter how small, they contact us either online or on 101 quoting the reference LC-20260511-0096.”

Note: Credit to Lancashire Telegraph for the attached picture.

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A Muslim woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, got in touch over the bank holiday weekend and consented to us writing about this story and raising awareness.

The language of the graffiti recycled broader anti-Muslim and Islamophobic tropes, including conspiratorial language of Muslims seeking to “take over” the country, linking Muslims generally to terrorism, and dehumanising language about Muslims and hygiene.

Examples of the anti-Muslim graffiti that read “Muslims are taught to attack as one and take over” and “Muslims are trying to take over the UK”.

Examples included “Muslims are the terrorist,” “Muslims are taught to attack as one and take over,” “Muslims are trying to take over the UK,” and “Muslims stink!”

In conversation with our Casework Team, they spoke of their desire to report it, mindful that Muslim communities would use the public toilets, as would children. Nor could she find any station near the toilets to report it either, but we have since made Transport for London aware.

Tell MAMA submitted an online report to the BTP via their online portal.

Members of the public can make the TfL aware of such graffiti or other forms of anti-social behaviour online, which includes racist (and other forms of hate crime) graffiti, which can redirect individuals to the BTP website.

Read more: How a misleading photo of signage at Whitechapel station went viral on X.

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The Ashby case is extremely troubling given the racism, sexual aggression and anti-Muslim hate that was evident in this case. Also evident have been the deep impacts on the Sikh female and her partner who have suffered from panic attacks, bouts of feeling emotionally ‘overwhelmed’, shame and psychological trauma that have affected them in many ways. Listening to the Victim Impact Statement which was read out to the court on behalf of the victim, makes for a deeply painful and moving reading. The victim was subjected to 24 minutes of sexual assaults that have left a deep psychological impact on her.

Rav Dhillon of the Crown Prosecution Service said it was a “deeply disturbing attack driven by religious hatred” and carried out “against an innocent woman in her own home, where she would expect to feel safest”.

Ashby followed the victim to her house, and she described how he barged into her bathroom after entering her house. She stated that he had a stick in his hand and she questioned who he was and started screaming. Ashby then switched off the light and said, “I just want fun with you”. During the sexual assault and rape, he also made references to the victim being Muslim, though she stated that at various points she made clear that she was Sikh as a means of trying to stop the attack against her.

After the attack Ashby demanded money from the victim and when she mentioned that she had no cash, he went onto take jewellery items. The taking of these items, the victim said, also added to the impact of the rape and sexual assault since Ashby had also violated her cherished memories by taking these items of significance to her. During the hearing it became clear that Ashby only left the premises because he became spooked by noises outside that he had heard.

Ashby also appeared to inhale drugs during the attack, and when he was arrested, he also tested positive for cocaine. During the proceedings, it was disclosed that Ashby had previous convictions that included two for violence, and one for possession of an offensive weapon. Seven others were property convictions.

In the final stages of the summation of presenting arguments, the judge also told the jury that there had been a previous incident where Ashby had grabbed a passer by on the street and said that he was ‘sexually frustrated’. The judge said that he was entitled to take this event into account when sentencing.

Mental Make Up of John Ashby

During the course of the trial, the Walsall based British Sikh female victim has had to endure a number of traumas and memories of the sexual violence that have deeply affected both her and her partner. Furthermore, during the case, it transpired that Ashby had Hepatitis C and that the victim had to be tested for this, further adding to the trauma and deep distress and pain that she was feeling.

During this morning’s summation in the trial of Ashby, a picture of an impulsive, dangerous and violent man began to emerge, even before he attacked the victim in this case. The case also highlighted his potential danger to women even before he attacked the victim in question and the case has also highlighted a man who sought to meet his immediate needs with no care or regard to the safety or needs of others. In other words, Ashby was a man who was well on his way to conduct further criminal actions, judging by the profile that became clear through the case.

Ashby’s defence did not seek to base mitigation on his mental health issues. Their mitigating argument was that he did not plan and seek to target the Sikh female in question, inferring that the situation was one where the victim simply came into the sight of Ashby.

Ashby has accepted all of the charges of rape, robbery, intentional strangulation and religiously aggravated assault. The sad reality is that a young Sikh female, her partner and their relatives have been traumatised by what they have endured and it will take many years for them to heal. Yet, the victim has shown remarkable bravery and courage in stating to the court this morning, that she will carry on, heal and move on with her life and live it to the full.

Sentencing

During sentencing Justice Pepperall said that “she (the victim) opened the door and screamed for help (in her house), but you (Ashby) pulled her back”.  Justice Pepperall went onto say that the Victim Impact Statement showed that Ashby’s actions had affected “every aspect of her life” and that the victim was “constantly in a state of fear and avoids going to the bathroom”.

The Judge also noted a “number of disturbing notes in the medical records” of Ashby and that he was “allowed drugs” whilst on leave and was noted as being “violent” and “racist”; he was also discharged without any proper aftercare being provided.  Furthermore a psychiatrist report highlighted that drug use was a significant aggravating factor in Ashby’s mental health. This included the use of crack cocaine and synthetic cannabinoids.

Judge Pepperall went onto state that Ashby was a “deeply unpleasant racist and Islamophobe” and said there was some planning involved in Ashby’s offending as he “picked her out on the bus” and followed her home.

In summation, the judge said, “I have no doubt that you are a very dangerous man” and that you carry “an extreme level of danger to the public – in particular women”.

Ashby was sentenced to a life sentence with a minimum of 21 years in jail.

Comment from Iman Atta OBE – Director of Tell MAMA

“This British Sikh woman has demonstrated enormous resilience, bravery and courage in holding Josh Ashby to account for his sexual hate crimes. He was driven by racism, anti-Muslim and gender hate and he randomly followed a South Asian female to her home and subjected her to trauma that is unfathomable. The victim deserves all the respect, admiration, care and honour that we can give her since she is a true inspiration to many women in holding this monster to account.”

“We stand with our Sikh communities during this difficult trial. We see your fear and recognise that anti-Sikh sentiment is a unique danger that must be met with dedicated resources and stronger safeguards.”

“It is also clear that gender violence continues to be a significant factor and cancer in our society. We also understand the strong links between racism, religious hate crimes and the impacts on female members of diverse communities. This case demonstrates that link.”

READ MORE: Rapist admits anti-Muslim attack on Sikh stranger he targeted on a bus

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Officers attended the mosque at around 7 pm on 22 April, and a 58-year-old man was arrested nearby on three counts of racially aggravated public order offences and two counts of using threatening words to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

In a statement, the force noted that those targeted understandably felt distressed.

Reassurance patrols will increase locally in response, the force confirmed.

Tell MAMA is liaising further with Merseyside Police.

Liverpool Neighbourhood Chief Inspector Andy Fielding made clear in a statement that: “This would have been extremely distressing for those who witnessed the incident and heard his appalling abuse.

“A suspect was arrested a matter of minutes after the incident was reported and I hope this shows our communities how seriously we take all reports of hate crimes.

“There will be high visibility patrols in the area this morning and the coming days to offer reassurance to the community. If you have any concerns, please speak to one of our officers.

“Threatening or racially abusing someone simply because of their ethnicity or religion is truly abhorrent and has absolutely no place in Merseyside.”

To repeat: the security of mosques and the safety of worshippers, like at any place of worship, is paramount. We remain very concerned about the shocking racist abuse and death threats against worshippers yesterday evening. There has also been condemnation locally following news of a mosque in Newham vandalised with paint. Tell MAMA is also liaising with the Metropolitan Police further on this matter.

Got information?  Call 101 quoting log number 855 of 22 April. Tell MAMA can do this for you, or do it anonymously.

The post Man arrested after racist abuse and death threats target worshippers at Liverpool mosque appeared first on TELL MAMA.

John Ashby admitted charges of rape, robbery, intentional strangulation and religiously aggravated assault on Tuesday at Birmingham Crown Court.

The 32-year-old, of no fixed abode, asked to see his barrister and changed his pleas around an hour after being sworn at and told to “sort your shit out” by a member of public who approached the dock.

The outburst, which the judge described as an “ugly incident”, happened after Ashby started mumbling during the Crown’s evidence.

His victim, a Sikh woman who was hit with a stick, had been due to enter the witness box to give evidence against Ashby later on Tuesday.

Opening the case for the Crown on Monday, prosecution KC Phil Bradley said Ashby “targeted” the woman when he spotted her on a bus and followed her to her home in Walsall on foot last October.

Adjourning the case for sentence on Friday, Mr Justice Pepperall warned Ashby that he was considering the imposition of a life sentence.

Extracts from “harrowing” body-worn police footage showing the young woman, who was in court to see Ashby change his pleas, had been played to a jury of six men and six women, during which she was comforted by a female officer and said her attacker had called her a “bloody Muslim bitch”.

The woman told police she had been raped in a bathroom by the intruder, who claimed to be a “British master”.

In a video interview played to the trial, the complainant told police: “He had a stick in his hand. I said ‘who are you’ and I started screaming.

“He switched off the light. He said ‘I just want fun with you’. He said ‘you are a f****** Muslim bitch’, I said ‘I am not a Muslim, I am a Sikh’.”

Read more: Neo-Nazi fanatic fanatic contemplated making Muslims into mincemeat.

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Birmingham Crown Court was told the woman was attacked in Walsall, West Midlands, after John Ashby followed her on foot and entered her property, barging his way into her bathroom.

Ashby, 32, of no fixed abode, denies rape, intentional strangulation, robbery and religiously aggravated assault.

Opening the case against Ashby on Monday, prosecutor Phil Bradley KC said the woman was followed off a bus in October last year.

Mr Bradley said of the defendant: “A complete stranger to her, John Ashby was nevertheless interested in her and had already targeted her.

“We know that because within seconds of her getting off the bus… to begin the short walk home, he began following her.

“She had no idea he was doing so and continued along normally.”

After the woman entered her property and went into the bathroom, the court heard, Ashby picked up a stick outside and also went into the address.

Having heard a noise, the victim attempted to lock the bathroom door but the defendant barged his way in, Mr Bradley said, adding: “Once inside the bathroom he turned the light off, telling her that he was ‘here to have fun’.”

The prosecutor told the jury of six men and six women: “Despite her screams, he told her to take her clothes off, he struck her with the stick, and he put his hands around her neck to strangle her and demanded that she climb into the bathtub.

“Throughout the attack he racially and religiously abused her,” the prosecutor said.

Ashby, the court heard, is alleged to have asked the woman which toothbrush was hers because he wanted to clean his teeth, before exposing himself and performing a sex act on himself.

Mr Bradley added: “He turned on the hot water tap and began pouring water over her, telling her to say ‘hallelujah’ as he did so.”

Ashby allegedly told the woman his name was John and demanded she “repeated his mantra that he was the ‘master’ and she was a ‘bitch’.”

After raping the woman (who was Sikh), the court heard, Ashby instructed her to go into the bedroom and lie on the bed, saying he was there “to have fun” while referring to his private parts as being white British.

He then demanded to carry out another attack on the woman, who tried to escape through the front door in a desperate attempt to raise the alarm, Mr Bradley said.

Ashby, the prosecution allege, dragged the woman, who he believed was a Muslim, back into the property.

The woman’s ordeal only came to an end, Mr Bradley said, because the defendant was “evidently spooked by a noise outside” and ran away, taking the victim’s jewellery and a mobile phone.

The woman then raised the alarm with the police, who arrived within minutes, the court heard.

Mr Bradley said there “can be no doubt” that Ashby was the man who attacked the woman, citing DNA evidence, fingerprints found on a vape left at the scene and a toothbrush found in the bathroom.

The woman also picked Ashby out as her attacker at an identity parade three days later.

Ashby was arrested in the Perry Barr area of Birmingham two days after the attack and when he was booked into custody told police “you never see any Englishmen in Perry Barr anymore.”

He otherwise answered no comment to all police questions except when he was shown a photograph of the woman, when he asked why she wasn’t wearing a hijab and said: “I don’t know who that woman is, as far as I’m aware.”

Mr Bradley said the Crown understood the issue in the case to be consent.

The trial continues.

Read More: Man to appear in court over alleged threats to kill outside Newcastle mosque.

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Tell MAMA became aware of a UK-based neo-Nazi account on X (formerly Twitter) that shared footage of the terror attacks, re-purposed to appear like a popular video game (which we are declining to mention, given the ease of its availability online), in 2025 and 2026, respectively, in posts that advocated racist violence towards individual Muslims and encouraging terror attacks on mosques.

For our investigation, however, we looked into the origins of the video, which appears to originate from a TikTok account in Brazil, which took real-world acts of terrorism, gore and murder and re-purposed them in animated forms.

In late 2025, the Christchurch terror clip reappeared as violent video game content, before TikTok removed it. As of writing, however, other acts of real-world violence repackaged through animation remain on the account.

On X, the aforementioned white supremacist account had shared that Christchurch terror footage five times (four of which occurred in 2026, with one post appearing in October 2025), with the clip bearing the watermark of the Brazilian TikToker.

After submitting several reports via X’s reporting form, which pertains to the Online Safety Act, the initial automated responses made clear that the “content will not be withheld under the legal grounds.”

A follow-up email, however, from X’s support team reversed the initial decision, adding that, “In accordance with applicable law, X is now withholding the reported content in the United Kingdom, specifically for the following legal grounds: Harassment, stalking, threats, and abuse offences, including hate offences.”

Our investigation also revealed a disturbing ease with which the memefication of the terrorism in Christchurch and the sanctification of the terrorist himself appeared on TikTok. Whilst the platform has worked to restrict certain hashtags, others have found workarounds with different hashtags (which we have flagged with the platform).

In the last week alone, we found accounts glorifying and gamifying the Christchurch terrorism with mods for another mainstream video game and providing instructions on where to download it (nor will we disclose the game in question). Other videos included graphic video game depictions of terrorism, including dehumanising the Muslim victims by portraying them as pigs.

Those accounts also glorified other mass shootings (including school shootings in the United States), further desensitising themselves and their audiences to murder, terrorism and other forms of extremist violence.

Academic research into the gamification of far-right terrorism and violent extremism (whilst not a new topic in recent decades) paid close attention to Christchurch. In the above examples, the gamification follows a “bottom-up” pattern, emerging organically online from small interconnected groups or individuals.

Some content flagged with TikTok initially received geoblocking after we flagged it under illegal content for being terrorism-related, as the platform informed us, “based on your report, we have restricted access to the reported content in the United Kingdom,” before account removal.

We reported the UK-based neo-Nazi account to the police and counter-terrorism. Tell MAMA sent its dossier on Christchurch terrorism content on TikTok to the platform.

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A member of Tell MAMA’s outreach team attended the mosque to provide our ongoing support and photographed the graffiti, which included statements like “Islamic w*nkers”, “scum” and “terrorist scum bags” which happened on 31 March.

Credit: Tell MAMA

We continue to liaise with West Midlands Police and will endeavour to provide further updates where possible, as we provide support and assistance to those impacted.

To repeat calls we made in recent months: the security of mosques and the safety of worshippers, like at any place of worship, is paramount. Despite a governmental pledge to increase funding for faith institutions, we need a more cohesive strategy from the government, as in recent months, mosques have faced racist graffiti and other forms of targeting.

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Two people escaped uninjured from inside the mosque in Peacehaven on October 4 last year, when it was reported a fire was started outside the place of worship in Phyllis Avenue.

On Tuesday, counter-terror police arrested a 36-year-old man from Eastbourne on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson and a 38-year-old man from Brighton on suspicion of malicious communication and criminal damage.

A third man, a 42-year-old from Saltdean was arrested on suspicion of malicious communications and encouraging or assisting a crime.

The trio have been released on bail until June 23.

Sussex Police superintendent Rachel Swinney said: “We are continuing to work closely with our colleagues in Counter Terrorism Policing South East as they use specialist resources to investigate the arson at the mosque in Peacehaven.

“The incident caused understandable concern within the local community since it took place in October.

“These recent arrests form part of a pre-planned operation and there is no threat to those in the community however people may notice search activity taking place at residential properties while enquiries continue.”

A fundraiser on GoFundMe to help repair the mosque and replace what was damaged has raised more than £55,000.

It comes as two men, Ricky Ryder, 38, and Jack Slowey, 34, have already appeared in court in November last year over the incident, charged with arson with intent to endanger life and two further charges of arson relating to the vehicles.

They are next due to appear at the Old Bailey in London for a plea hearing on Friday.

Meanwhile a 70-year-old man from Newhaven arrested on October 31 on suspicion of encouraging an offence is also released on bail until April 30.

Read more: Arrest made after arson attack on Islamic Centre in Maida Vale

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So let us look at the facts. The Iftar and end of Ramadan event in Trafalgar Square was pre-planned, lawful and in line with other events that were held to celebrate religious celebrations like Diwali and Vaisakhi. Whilst the form of celebration may have been different and involved prayer, nonetheless, the celebrations were generally in line with previous religious events around different faiths and cultures. The political furore over this event was over the call to prayer or ‘Adhan’ and people collectively praying.

In light of this, it is important to explain what the Adhan is.  The Adhan or call to prayer is not a symbol of domination over other cultures. In the context of the Trafalgar Square event, it was simply to mark the prayer time for the celebrants in the square and this was followed by a mass prayer event. Some Muslims pray five times a day and these are marked by specific times in the day and the Adhan is a reminder that the time for prayer has come.

Prayer in Islam is seen as a communal act, an act of togetherness and where mass prayer is seen as a common activity rather than being associated with promoting a sense of domination over others. To suggest that those praying were seeking to push forward a dominance of Islam over others is to misread the context of this specific event and to project a view on all those who attended that simply does not reflect the reality of people simply wanting to pray together.

Furthermore, we are not naive to the fact that some Muslims seek to interpret and live a form of Islam that is far more brittle and non-accepting of other faiths. There are numerous examples of this and we will always challenge and stand against those who seek to divide and spread intolerance, irrespective of whatever faith they are from. In the context of the Trafalgar Square event, there was no evidence of any group being involved and this is important to stress. We within Tell MAMA are always led by the evidence and there was no evidence to indicate that such groups were involved.

Finally, this statement from Iman Atta OBE, the Director of Tell MAMA summarises our position on the furore around the Ramadan and Trafalgar Square event:

“We are deeply concerned at the political language and furore that has been whipped up against people simply praying in Trafalgar Square. The prayer was spontaneous and there were people simply celebrating the end of Ramadan. The Words have consequences and the dehumanising of Muslims simply praying is sickening. It needs to stop and be called out.”

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We are concerned though, by what we are seeing within the cases being reported to us. This means a greater level of aggression towards British Muslims in cases and we are receiving more discrimination cases.

Tell MAMA has documented year on year rises in anti-Muslim hatred that can be found here. We have also noted the rise of aggression in street based anti-Muslim hate cases through our reports.

We remained committed in seeking justice for victims of anti-Muslim hate and in ensuring that policies can reflect this growing problem going forward.

If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please do not hesitate to contact us and you can also report in through this link.

The post Rise in Anti-Muslim Hate Continues to be an Ongoing Social Issue appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Hammad Khan spoke after the arrest of a white man in his 50s, who had gone into Manchester Central Mosque wearing hi-vis and had with him an axe, knife and hammer.

Greater Manchester Police say they have not declared it a terrorist incident but are working with Counter Terrorism Police to investigate.

The suspect is being held on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon and class B drugs.

A second man, a black male, who is believed to have been with the suspect but left before officers arrived, is now being hunted by police.

Mr Khan said volunteers kept the suspect talking until police arrived and arrested him, where he shouted, “I’m not a terrorist!” according to one man who was present as he was taken away.

Mr Khan said the suspect was “very calm” and had been spotted visiting the mosque, in the Victoria Park area of south Manchester, before last night.

However, after entering the mosque around 8.30pm on Tuesday, where around 1,500 people were saying Ramadan prayers, an axe was spotted in his bag and he was ushered into an office by volunteers and police called.

He had a knife and a hammer on him, along with “other materials” relating to the Second World War and some newspaper cuttings.

Mr Khan added: “His demeanour was very calm.

“He wasn’t under the influence of anything at all. I also understand he was also carrying some other materials with him relating to World War Two, also some newspaper cuttings, which the police have.

“The volunteers obviously kept the conversation going in very amenable way to ensure the situation did not escalate in any way.”

Mr Khan said he had asked police for an increased police presence around all the local mosques after an increase in hate mail and threats.

He added: “I was disappointed that we didn’t have visible presence.

“I stressed prior to the month of Ramadan we needed police presence because prayers go on to late at night.”

Sir Keir Starmer said: “I am concerned to hear of the incident at Manchester Central Mosque last night.

“I know this will be worrying for Muslim communities, especially during Ramadan, a time of peace and reflection.

“My thanks go to the volunteers and emergency services for their quick response.

“We have provided up to £40 million funding for additional security at mosques, Muslim schools and community centres, and will continue to act to ensure communities are able to live without fear.”

In a statement, the mosque said a “serious security incident” had occurred during prayers and the Muslim community more generally had experienced a rise in threats and hostility in recent years.

Assistant Chief Constable John Webster, from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said: “We were called at around 8.40pm to concern from security staff at the mosque about a white man in a high-vis jacket carrying a bag with an axe inside.

“The man had reportedly claimed to be in the mosque to do work on the building, but staff had no knowledge of this.

“They rightly acted on their suspicions and called police.

“There was no suggestion that he made any threats or confronted members of the congregation.

“However, we understand the concern that this suspicious and concerning behaviour caused.

“We quickly responded to the scene where we searched the suspect, arrested him and seized weapons, including an axe, a knife and class B drugs.

“The suspect, a white man in his 50s, is under arrest on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon and class B drugs.

“At this time, it is not clear what the circumstances or intent, if any, was around this incident.

“I know this uncertainty can cause concern, but it is key that we have the time to question the suspect and speak to as many witnesses as possible to understand the nature of this incident.

“To ensure we are appropriately exploring every line of inquiry, we are working with detectives from Counter Terrorism Policing North West, but it has not been declared a terrorist incident.

“We are taking this very seriously and have increased patrols around mosques at what we know is a really important time for Muslim communities as they come together during Ramadan.

“We’re reviewing all available CCTV and body-worn video to identify a second man, a black man, who was reported as acting suspiciously in the mosque at the same time as the suspect.

“He is described as approximately in his late 40s, with an athletic build and short stubbled facial hair.

“He was wearing a grey hoody with the hood up, a navy blue jacket with that hood also up (double hood), blue tracksuit bottoms, and white trainers.”

Anyone with information is urged to contact GMP on 101 or through the LiveChat function on the force’s website. They can also contact Tell MAMA on 0800 456 1226.

Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Read More: Leeds Crossbow Attacker Praised Christchurch Terrorist Online, Planned Massacre.

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The Prime Minister said he understood the incident would be worrying for Muslim communities.

The suspect, a white man in his 40s, was with another man, a black male, who entered Manchester Central Mosque in the Victoria Park area of south Manchester at around 8.40pm on Tuesday.

The first suspect was subsequently arrested by police on suspicion of carrying an offensive weapon and possession of class B drugs.

He remains in custody for questioning.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said they are not treating the incident as terror-related.

Sir Keir said: “I am concerned to hear of the incident at Manchester Central Mosque last night. I know this will be worrying for Muslim communities, especially during Ramadan, a time of peace and reflection.

“My thanks go to the volunteers and emergency services for their quick response.

“We have provided up to £40 million funding for additional security at mosques, Muslim schools and community centres, and will continue to act to ensure communities are able to live without fear.”

In a statement, the mosque said a “serious security incident” had occurred during prayers.

The statement added: “A white male entered the mosque wearing a hi-vis jacket carrying a large bag.

“He was accompanied by a black male, both entering the mosque at the same time.

“The mosque volunteers spotted the suspicious bag containing an axe, which was placed into the main hall of the mosque by the assailant.

“The white male was escorted to a separate room by volunteers and was found to have been carrying multiple weapons including a hammer and a knife. He was eventually arrested by the police.

“The black male left the mosque shortly before police arrived, after it became apparent that the situation had been contained. To our knowledge, he has not yet been arrested by Greater Manchester Police.

“All relevant information and CCTV footage has been passed on to the police who are continuing their investigation.

“The Muslim community in the UK has experienced a notable rise in threats and hostility over recent years. The increase in Islamophobic incidents is a serious concern, and greater resources are urgently needed to address this growing and real risk.

“We will continue to co-operate fully with the police and urge all mosque attendees to remain vigilant.

“Congregants are advised to travel in groups where possible and to ensure that children are not left unattended.

“The swift and responsible actions of our volunteers played a crucial role in containing the situation. Without their intervention, the consequences could have been far more serious.”

Superintendent Simon Nasim of GMP said: “Yesterday evening officers attended a local mosque after it was reported that two men were acting suspiciously and carrying an offensive weapon while people were worshipping during the holy month of Ramadan.

“We have swiftly arrested one individual and officers are working to locate the second man. No threats were made and thankfully, no-one was injured.

“You may notice an increased presence of patrols in the area while our inquiries continue. Please feel free to chat with our officers and let them know your concerns.

“There’s no place for weapons on our streets and we are committed to ensure all our communities feel safe to worship in peace and go about their daily lives without fear.

“Anyone committing such offences will be dealt with in accordance with the law.”

Officers are appealing for witnesses to help with inquiries.

Anyone with information is urged to contact GMP on 101 or through the LiveChat function on the force’s website. Alternatively, contact Tell MAMA on 0800 456 1226 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Read More: Racist Graffiti Outside the Greenwich Islamic Centre

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In a press release, the force confirmed that a religiously aggravated hate crime investigation is ongoing, adding that it occurred around 2:15 pm on 20 February.

Officers took CCTV footage and statements, and increased reassurance near the mosque in Cheltenham Road, Montpelier, whilst liaising with impacted Muslim communities and other mosques.

The man is described as bald, wearing high-visibility trousers and a dark jacket, the press release added.

Responding to the hate crime investigation, Serena Serjeant of Avon and Somerset Police made clear that: “This was a deliberate act which has caused significant concern to the community during a period of heightened religious observance and we will not tolerate hate in our communities,” adding that officers were quick to attend, speak with mosque leaders, and provide further reassurance throughout Ramadan.

Tell MAMA urges mosques to download our free mosque safety tips from our website, tailored for Ramadan.

Racist graffiti recently appeared on a mosque in Exeter and an Islamic centre in Greenwich, London, earlier this month.

We remain deeply concerned about the targeting of mosques in recent months. The security of mosques, like any place of worship, is paramount, and we will reach out to those impacted and the police to offer support and assistance.

The government announced additional funding last week for the security of faith institutions, and Tell MAMA will continue to assist those with any funding applications.

Anyone with information is urged to call 101, quoting 5226049136 or by using their online appeals form. We can do this on your behalf or anonymously.

Read More: Arrest made after arson attack on Islamic Centre in Maida Vale.

The post CCTV appeal after bacon left on Bristol mosque during Ramadan prayers appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Thomas McKenna, 60, sent messages on TikTok telling friends and associates to “get yourself ready” and anticipated the weapons he had gathered would be used to kill or shoot Muslims.

Prosecutor Emily Dummett previously told Kingston Crown Court that McKenna wrote messages about plans to “kill”, “shoot”, “unalive” and “neutralise” Muslims and immigrants “before they are too many”.

“Bro, that’s why I believe our only course for survival freedom is strike now while we have the numbers and hard unalive the f****** lot of them,” he wrote in one message, the court heard.

He is thought to have been self-taught, running his makeshift gun conversion unit, with a lathe and a drill, from one of three caravans he had in Buckles Lane, South Ockendon, Essex.

Police found six reactivated blank-firing guns linked to McKenna, but officers believe he created more, and say since his arrest there has been “a significant reduction in the number of converted blank firearms involved in shootings across London”.

Scotland Yard detectives say McKenna’s enterprise played an important role in the supply of guns in the capital.

The lorry driver and his partner, Tina Smith, 55, pleaded guilty to a number of offences including collecting terrorist information and possessing banned guns.

McKenna also made improvised explosives containing black powder, nails and fishing hooks. He and his partner, a bus driver, are thought to have slept in the caravan that housed the weapons.

The couple and eight others have been convicted of involvement in the firearms conspiracy that distributed guns to gangs across London, with the 60-year-old sentenced to 16 years in custody with five years on extended licence at Kingston Crown Court on Thursday, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

One member of the criminal network was Faisal Razzaq, the getaway driver in the fatal shooting of Pc Sharon Beshenivsky during a raid at family-run Universal Express travel agents in Bradford, West Yorkshire, in November 2005.

When he was released from prison in 2017, Razzaq lived in Edgware, north London, and began running a luxury car hire business, but he spent most of his time obtaining guns and selling them to criminal customers.

One of Razzaq’s associates was stopped by armed police in Harrow as he drove to Notting Hill Carnival on August 26 2024, and officers found a bag in the car with a loaded firearm which was traced back to McKenna through fingerprint and DNA analysis.

Other weapons recovered from McKenna’s caravans included a 22-inch shotgun disguised as a torch, a hunting knife, throwing axes and a non-firing AK47.

Evidence from his online messages showed he was researching how to make the AK47 able to shoot ammunition again.

Police also found military clothing and a helmet.

Armed officers raided the three caravans in November 2024, and counter-terrorism police were called in to assist when they found homemade explosives and munitions guidebooks.

Police said evidence Tina Smith’s phone showed she had sent McKenna videos of her attempts to make black powder, followed by scathing replies from McKenna at her lack of expertise.

She was sentenced to seven years, with six to be served in custody, the CPS said.

Buyers of McKenna’s converted guns included Allan Crosby, 44, of Etfield Grove, Sidcup, south-east London, and Ryan Smith, 44, of Morants Court Road, Dunton Green, Kent, who were convicted of possession of firearms and modified ammunition.

Crosby was also convicted of possessing class A substances with intent to supply and was jailed for 10 years, while Ryan Smith was sentenced to seven and a half years.

McKenna’s friend Ricky Dorey, 43, who lived on the same static caravan site, helped him find customers to buy the guns.

He and his brother Robert Dorey, 44, of Tilbury, Essex, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to sell or transfer prohibited firearms.

Robert Dorey had been released from prison on licence in May 2023 after serving a 16-year sentence for attempted murder.

Abdul Saleh, 32, of Edgware, helped Razzaq sell the guns, and Patrick Loughnane, 59, acted as a communication link between Ricky Dorey and McKenna.

Detectives found evidence that Razzaq, the Dorey brothers and Saleh were involved in the sale of 10 firearms, the Metropolitan Police said.

Saleh, the Dorey brothers and Loughnane, of Hayes, west London, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to sell prohibited firearms.

Razzaq admitted the same charge, and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, possession of ammunition with intent to endanger life and two counts of possessing a firearm and ammunition when banned.

Loughnane’s partner Tammy Rigg agreed to store a converted firearm for him at her home in South Ockendon.

She pleaded guilty to possession of a prohibited firearm and possession of ammunition without a certificate.

Razzaq, Saleh, the Dorey brothers, Loughnane and Rigg will be sentenced on February 26.

Detective Chief Inspector James Tipple said: “One of the clearest examples of the impacts of this case in reducing gun crime in London is since McKenna’s arrest, we’ve seen significant reduction in the number of converted blank firearms involved in shootings across London.

“This demonstrates the importance of McKenna in the illegal supply of firearms and why it was so crucial this criminal network was dismantled.

“I’m pleased to say that as a result of the excellent police investigation some of the most dangerous members of our society will be off the streets of London for a very long time.”

Bethan David, head of counter terrorism at the CPS, said: “Both McKenna and Smith held extremist anti-Muslim views. Their stockpiling of weapons and explosives was not simply criminal opportunism — it was fuelled by a belief in the inevitability of violent conflict.

“Today’s sentences reflect both the seriousness of their actions and the extremist motivations behind them.”

Read More: How Police Stopped a Far Right Terror Attack on a Scottish Mosque

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The post highlights the issue of anti-Muslim and racist graffiti that sometimes become interchangeable and therefore we would encourage anyone who knows about this incident to report in through the Greenwich local authority link below. You can also contact us here in Tell MAMA on 0800 456 1226 and we will endeavour to work with the local authority in getting this information through to them and to the relevant police authorities.

Greenwich local authority said:

“We strongly condemn the racist graffiti recently sprayed outside Greenwich Islamic Centre. Hate and intolerance have no place in our borough.

“As we approach Ramadan, a time of celebration and community, this is an intolerable act. Thank you to our Caretaking Team for removing it swiftly.

“We are working closely with police and community leaders to ensure those responsible are held accountable, and our Community Safety Enforcement Team have increased patrols in the area. The Royal Borough of Greenwich stands united against racism and Islamophobia.

We strongly encourage residents to report any incidences of hate crime HERE“.

Photo: From Greenwich Local Authority

Read More: How Police Stopped a Far Right Terror Attack on a Scottish Mosque

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A post on a local Facebook group detailed the deeply upsetting attack, whilst thanking locals who assisted with removing the graffiti, which included the racist P-word slur and Christian crosses.

The post described an “outpouring of immediate kindness and solidarity” across Pinhoe and Exeter, from the local church to those who cried with them, stood with them and helped paint over the graffiti, alongside their dedicated volunteers from the mosque and local community.

The mosque also thanked police for their reassuring presence and assistance.

“The strong support we witnessed clearly shows that standing against goodness and kindness will never find a place or acceptance in British society,” the statement added.

Devon and Cornwall Police described how the racist graffiti appeared overnight between 30 and 31 January at the mosque on Main Road in Pinhoe.

“We want to be clear that there is no place for racism in Exeter and we will continue to work to identify the person responsible,” the force made clear in its statement.

Tell MAMA will further liaise with officers, and we hope to provide further updates where possible. We remain deeply concerned about the targeting of mosques in recent months. The security of mosques, like any place of worship, is paramount.

Mosques can find tailored safety advice on our website.

Got information? Call 101, and quote the reference 50260025852. Tell MAMA can do this on your behalf or anonymously.

The post Police launch appeal after mosque in Exeter daubed with racist graffiti appeared first on TELL MAMA.

In a statement, officers attended the scene alongside the London Fire Brigade following reports of a fire at 00:15 on 3 February 2026.

The police confirmed no injuries or damage to the Islamic centre, as the fires went out before responders arrived, but at this stage, it is believed that two flammable objects were thrown into the grounds, causing damage to a cabin and a parked vehicle.

The suspect then left the scene in a car, the statement added.

Within twelve hours, officers announced the arrest of a 47-year-old man on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life.

He remains in custody.

A spokesperson for the force urged calm and stated: “The Islamic Centre has previously been the site of protest and altercations between groups who support and are opposed to the regime in Iran.

“Tensions between those groups were already heightened given events in Iran in recent weeks, and we understand that this incident will be the cause of further community concern.

“We would urge everyone to remain calm, to allow officers to do their job through the investigation, and to avoid any sort of escalation.”

Tell MAMA is liaising with the Metropolitan Police further and will attempt provide further updates, as the public is urged to avoid speculation to maintain the integrity of the ongoing police investigation.

More generally, we are deeply concerned about the targeting of mosques in recent months. The security of mosques, like any place of worship, is paramount.

Anybody with information is urged to call 101, quoting crime reference 0069/03FEB.

The post Arrest made after arson attack on Islamic Centre in Maida Vale appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Harry Whittaker, 33, manufactured a homemade bomb and stored chemicals in a makeshift laboratory in the garden of the home he shared with his mother in the Bedfordshire village of Caddington, near Luton.

Police uncovered his stash of explosives after Whittaker suffered a life-threatening allergic reaction and called 999 for medical help on April 18 2024.

Following his arrest, police uncovered a stream of racist chat on WhatsApp in which Whittaker directed hate towards a mosque in Luton.

In one message, he wrote: “We need a tank covered in machine guns and flame throwers, drive it into that mosque on Friday afternoon and turn them into mincemeat.”

Following an Old Bailey trial, Whittaker was found guilty of charges of possessing and making explosives on or before May 6 2024.

Whittaker had admitted a charge under the Poisons Act and having ammunition without a licence.

During the trial, Whittaker cast himself as a “nerdy” science geek and jurors were not told about the extent of his extreme right-wing beliefs.

At his sentencing on Wednesday, prosecutor Emily Dummett set out further evidence of his racist views and interest in neo-Nazi ideology.

He had a picture of Adolf Hitler, a flag associated with Nazi Germany, swastikas and antisemitic notes in his bedroom.

Whittaker downloaded extreme right-wing material and had expressed a desire for Tommy Robinson to lead a “civil war” and “kick out” people of Asian heritage in a message to his brother in 2022.

In another message, he wrote about putting ricin poison into the water supply at Bury Park, near Luton.

He had continued to express extreme beliefs and failed to recognise that what he had done was wrong since his conviction, Ms Dummett said.

Mitigating, Polly Dyer maintained Whittaker had the explosives for “scientific interest and endeavour”.

She said: “They were low-level explosives. He had the majority of the items for years without seeking to use them intending to harm others and the property of others.

“There are of course items and messages put before the court that on any view are racist and offensive but there is no correlation between the items he was convicted on and other evidence referenced by the Crown.

“His experimentation was not motivated by any racial hostility to certain groups of individuals.”

She accepted he had “abhorrent” views and an interest in Nazism but insisted he did not pose a “significant risk”.

Whittaker had been on bail ahead of his trial but that was revoked after he failed to attend court and was found in a distressed state on two London bridges.

Ms Dyer said: “He has certain vulnerabilities. He has been very scared of custody in the run-up to his trial. He found the court proceedings extremely hard.”

Since he had been in jail, Whittaker had used his time productively and developed an interest in art.

Ms Dyer held up a drawing he had made of the composer Ludwig van Beethoven which he hoped to submit to a competition.

After conferring with the defendant in the dock, she added: “Mr Whittaker contests and disputes the fact he has the desire to cause harm to any groups based on race or religion.”

Sentencing, Judge Simon Mayo KC told Whittaker: “I am sure your conduct in making and possessing explosives gave rise to risk of harm to others.

“Whilst I cannot be sure you had formed any separate intent to use the explosives or chemicals for a violent purpose you spoke about it and to a certain extent contemplated it.”

The judge said Whittaker was “highly intelligent” and his responsibility was not diminished by his mental health issues or autism spectrum disorder.

He noted a previous conviction for driving off and injuring his neighbour, and his disorganised lifestyle, as he found Whittaker was a dangerous offender and posed a risk to members of the public in the future.

Previously, the court heard how paramedics had gone to the defendant’s home after being alerted to a possible anaphylactic shock.

Whittaker told them that he had been conducting experiments with chemicals in his laboratory and showed them his shed.

He said a window had broken on the shed after an experiment resulted in an explosion, the court was told.

The medics relayed their concerns to the police, who came to search the address on May 6 2024.

They found black powder, blanks and a round of live ammunition, chemicals, lethal poisons and suspected improvised explosive devices.

Officers also discovered radioactive materials and white phosphorus, a substance which can spontaneously ignite in air and is so dangerous that it had to be destroyed by controlled explosion by the military.

When he was detained by police, Whittaker was found in possession of a wrap of heroin.

In police interviews, Whittaker said: “I’m just a nerdy kid who likes doing science.”

The defendant said that he marked bottles with a skull and crossbones because it looked cool.

Whittaker thanked Judge Mayo as he was sent down from the Old Bailey dock on Wednesday.

Chief Superintendent Jaki Whittred, from Bedfordshire Police, said: “The upset and disruption within the local community following the findings at Mr Whittaker’s address was considerable.

“Once again, I pass on my thanks and admiration to residents across Caddington for their support and understanding during what would have been a deeply concerning time.

Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “By making improvised explosive devices and collecting such a toxic array of chemicals his shed, Whittaker’s actions were incredibly reckless and put his whole neighbourhood at risk.

“Whittaker claimed he just had a curiosity with science and that he meant no harm, but in reality he put himself, his family and all of his neighbours in great peril.”

The post Neo-Nazi fanatic contemplated making ‘Muslims into mincemeat’ appeared first on TELL MAMA.

A previous map had revealed 22 reports of incidents towards mosques and Islamic centres across the UK from June to 5 October.

From June until September, Tell MAMA documented 17 such reports against mosques and Islamic centres.

The examples include reports of attacks, vandalism or threatening behaviour towards mosques and Islamic centres.

As with the previous map, this excludes any online reports, as they are disaggregated from offline reports.

Like all Tell MAMA cases, the figures are subject to further revision and analysis.

We continue to liaise with various police forces to ensure reports are followed up promptly, that Muslim communities feel supported, and what areas that would benefit from reassurance patrols and community engagement.

Tell MAMA encourages mosques and Islamic centres to keep reporting cases, no matter how small, and in confidence, via info@tellmamauk.org or by messaging us on WhatsApp on 0734 184 6086.

The post Thirty reports of mosques targeted across the UK between June and 30 October appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Transport for London installed the Bengali signage following a campaign from various local politicians and its former mayor.

In a letter to Mayor Sadiq Khan in September 2021, the then mayor of Tower Hamlets, John Biggs, wrote that: “Bilingual signs have been installed at Southall and replicating this at Whitechapel would be welcomed to mark the culture of British Bangladeshis and reflect the rich heritage and diversity.”

Nasrin Khan, a policy officer, told East London Lines after the successful campaign of its importance locally: “In Tower Hamlets, Bengalis make up more than 33% of its population. So, it’s quite vital that their community recognises their interests,” adding, “As a British Bangladeshi, I am thankful to everyone who worked behind this achievement.”

Many other posts on X (formerly Twitter) called out the misleading content, showing uncropped images of the station with the English signage and highlighting other bilingual signage across London.

Other posts drew attention to the problem of homelessness and the economic disparities in London, and why much of the commentary in response to the photo made little mention of it.

Polarising language from some political figures drew criticism online amid accusations of fuelling ‘misinformation’, as Sadiq Khan, the London Mayor, praised the city’s diversity and his intention to keep celebrating it. Earlier this year, polarising and misleading rhetoric and debates around the signage even got the attention of X’s owner, Elon Musk.

Some members of the public flagged racist speech and racialised conspiracies about London in response to the X post or those disseminating similar imagery, echoing reports to our service last year and into the early part of this year.

Tell MAMA highlighted this issue in our previous major report, that, “In a verified case reported on 25 January [2024], a far-right account holder called for the forced deportation of individuals in Whitechapel in East London in reply to a post from a popular right-wing page that sought to spread misinformation and culture war talking points about national identity over bilingual signage at the station.”

Google Street View has displayed the bilingual signage since 2022. Credit: Google Street View.

The bilingual signage at Whitechapel Station has been ever-present on Google Street View since July 2022.

The bilingual train signage in Southall (of English and Punjabi) has existed since the mid-nineties (including a temporary removal in 2007). Similar examples have also appeared over the decades, including the “Welcome to the Underground / Bienvenue dans le Métro” at Waterloo Station in the early 2000s.

Examples outside London over the years included, in 2011, a tiny town in the Cotswolds installing bilingual signage at its train station to help Japanese tourists. There is signage in multiple languages at the station near Bicester Village, which is extremely popular for Chinese tourists and many others.

In a wide-ranging piece for Historic England about the long history of Chinese communities across England and the various Chinatowns, Steph Chan highlighted bilingual signage in cities like Newcastle. Photographs of bilingual street signs in London’s Chinatown have appeared in photos uploaded online for decades.

On X, other examples of misinformation were couched in the language of racialised conspiracies of “conquest” by using a photograph of a bilingual sign at Leicester train station, taken in 1994, welcoming communities in English and Hindi (and removed in 1999), according to the website Railway Codes. Nor did the account mention that during the 1990s, Leicester City Council had sponsored other bilingual signage at the station, including in Spanish.

Railway Codes has documented numerous examples of bilingual and multilingual signage and posters at various railway stations over the years.

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That investigation began after a member of the public flagged an AI-generated video of a white man in a Union Jack t-shirt punching London Mayor Sadiq Khan in the face at a restaurant. It accrued 12,000 likes before its removal. One of the most popular comments read: “One day this will come true”, gained hundreds of likes.

The AI-generated violence in this video depicted a white male in a Union Jack t-shirt violently assaulting Sadiq Khan, gaining thousands of likes and comments wishing for real-world racist violence.

TikTok did not initially remove the content, only doing so after we flagged various concerns about the harmful content across the channel.

The TikTok channel boasted over 17,000 followers and posted a dizzying amount of AI-generated content that reinforced racist tropes about refugees and migrants (linking them broadly to criminality) alongside demographic conspiracies about Muslims, with despicable content linking Muslim men to bestiality, and broadly, to terrorism or as violent cultural threats.

The individual behind the account had links to an earlier banned account that used AI to generate AI materials that depicted the murder of refugees and migrants, including the sinking of dinghies or boats. That channel had created another infamous video of machinery destroying such a boat and leaving those aboard at risk of drowning. In Tell MAMA’s previous report, we drew attention to this example, which appeared on a self-styled “comedy” page, with the video gaining over one million views, which the platform declined to remove. That report also found how AI-generated materials reinforced racist tropes about Black and South Asian men, linking them to rape and violence and directly as a threat to white women and children.

Both pages shared another violent AI-generated video of an assault rifle indiscriminately murdering refugees and migrants, in an article we published last month about how such AI-generated materials normalise, reinforce and perpetuate dehumanising, racialised ideas about Muslims, migrants, refugees and other minorities, whilst normalising violence towards them.

In a wide-ranging report, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism detailed the growing problem of AI-generated videos fuelling racism on TikTok, with some accounts monetising their accounts to sell products.

A Guardian news report revealed earlier this month that OpenAI’s new Sora 2 platform had, within hours, become riddled with content that “depicted copyrighted characters in compromising situations as well as graphic scenes of violence and racism.” 404 Media also raised concerns about Sora 2’s misuse of copyrighted content.

Returning to our investigation, we detailed to TikTok how the user used different AI-generative content platforms to depict violence towards various politicians, notably Muslim politicians like Sadiq Khan and Shabana Mahmood.

The individual behind the account used the software to depict far-right violence towards the prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, including Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson) violently punching him.

Other violent examples depicted Nigel Farage punching Starmer in the face and assaulting him with a pint glass.

Other political violence had overt misogyny and racialised misogyny, including one video that depicted a homeless male assaulting a female Labour MP with a wine bottle.

The post TikTok removes channel full of AI-generated violence towards politicians and migrants appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Harry Whittaker, 33, from Coddington near Luton, attempted to obscure his crimes and extremist views under a cloak of respectability, being a “nerdy kid” with a fondness for science and harboured no racist views, when the police interviewed him.

The prosecution detailed how Whittaker made various racist statements over WhatsApp messages, revealing his disturbing desire to murder Muslims who prayed at a local mosque in Luton with a tank equipped with machine guns and flamethrowers, desiring to turn Muslims into “mincemeat”. The full quote read: “We need a tank covered in machine guns and flame throwers, drive it into that mosque on Friday afternoon and turn them into mincemeat.”

Officers unearthed burned-out remains of a device labelled “for use on Jews only” and “throw at swarm of Jews” and a container labelled “Zyklon-B”, used in the gas chambers of the Nazi extermination camps, including Auschwitz. He kept a sample of the deadly poison potassium cyanide in that jar because it made him ‘happy’, it emerged during the trial.

The Telegraph reported that officers found a handwritten note from Whittaker that included racist, homophobic and discriminatory statements like “worship Hitler”, “avoid gays”, and “discriminate against other people of other religions and race”.

He admitted in court that his statements about Muslims were indeed racist, but he insisted that he would only use racist language at home.

Bedfordshire police confirmed that Whittaker had “labelled some of the chemicals using antisemitic or Islamophobic language or references.”

The police added that despite his “interest in some extreme right-wing ideologies”, they found ‘no evidence’ of plans to use the devices or chemicals to target others.

Following the guilty verdicts, various newspaper headlines included “‘Nerdy’ man guilty of making explosives in his shed”, “Self-styled ‘science nerd’ convicted after homemade explosives found in garden shed” and “‘Nerdy’ science buff convicted of making explosives in garden shed”.

The Telegraph’s headline was “‘Mad scientist’ suggested driving tank into mosque” and in the sub-heading, identified him as a “Hitler fan”.

It does raise questions as to why various headlines focused on his self-identified “nerdy” identity, not his racist, dangerous worldview. Whilst he did not target any groups directly, he still posed a threat to Muslim and Jewish communities, given what he stockpiled and sought to build and what dangerous views he openly espoused.

The explosive substances recovered from Whittaker’s bedroom and shed include black powder, a blank and a live round of ammunition, chemicals, lethal poisons and suspected improvised explosive devices.

Police unearthed radioactive materials and white phosphorus – a substance so dangerous that it required a military intervention to destroy it safely. It took two weeks for the crime scene to clear.

Whittaker came to the attention of the police after paramedics attended his home address (which he shares with his mother) after receiving a report about him going into anaphylactic shock, before disclosing his use of chemicals (some deadly) in his makeshift laboratory in the garden shed.

It emerged during the trial that Whittaker had collected various chemicals for twenty-six years, and when questioned, maintained that all purchases from websites like eBay, including buying sulphuric acid aged twelve, were made without any age checks. Other chemicals he procured from an engineering company where he worked and from a chemistry set a relative had given them.

Whittaker sought to downplay his extremist, racist views as a product of his autism and a lack of a “filter”.

A jury found Whittaker guilty of three counts of making an explosive substance (a section 4(1) offence under the Explosive Substances Act 1883) and of one count of possessing an explosive substance (a section 4(1) offence under the Explosive Substances Act 1883).

Whittaker will appear in court for sentencing on 9 January and was remanded into custody.

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Of the 7,164 religious hate offences (up 3 per cent from 6,973 offences recorded in the previous year), almost half (45 per cent) targeted Muslim communities (4,478 offences), but the data excludes the Metropolitan Police (due to changes to their recording systems).

The Home Office briefing made clear that a “clear spike in these offences in August 2024, which coincides with the Southport murders on the 29 July and the subsequent disorder across several English towns and cities”.

Following the swathes of far-right violence, disorder and rioting, police forces recorded 10,097 racially or religiously aggravated offences in August 2024, the highest monthly total ever recorded. Again, however, the data excludes the Metropolitan Police.

A further breakdown of the data from the 35 police forces revealed 624 anti-Muslim hate crimes in August 2024 alone, up 122.85 per cent from the previous month, before returning to reporting levels seen before the Southport murders.

Racist hate crimes rose 6 per cent, with 82,490 hate crimes (as of March 2025), accounting for 71 per cent of all offences. Public order offences rose by 7 per cent (2,736 offences) as racist and religiously aggravated harassment rose by over one-fifth (21 per cent, 1,497 offences), and violence without injury rose by 10 per cent (771 offences).

Almost one-fifth of anti-Muslim hate crimes involved assault with or without injury (18 per cent), which echoes a worrying trend Tell MAMA detailed in our previous report, as we recorded a 73 per cent rise in assault cases in 2024, verifying 171 cases.

As with previous statistical bulletins, Muslim and Jewish communities are disproportionately impacted by religious hate crimes, with the latest figures showing the rate of Religious hate crimes rate per 10,000 population is 12 for Muslims and 106 for Jewish communities, respectively (2,873 antisemitic hate crimes).

Despite the lack of Met police data in this bulletin, the force had specified that Jewish communities faced 40 per cent of all religious hate crimes in the past year.

Tell MAMA Director Iman called for a meaningful government response to rising hate crimes and racism and bigotry more generally in society, beyond gesture politics. In a statement, she said: “The latest Home Office hate crime figures showed a staggering 19% rise in hate crimes (4,478 hate crimes) against Muslims (excluding data from the Met police), a key driver was the spike in far-right violence and rioting after the Southport murders.

Our data at Tell MAMA has shown record levels of reporting of anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobia in 2024 and into 2025.

The sharp rise in religious hate crimes again shows the continued disproportionate impacts on Muslim and Jewish communities, yet many other faith groups face rising hate, too. Racist hate crimes rose by 6% (82,490 hate crimes). Communities deserve more than platitudes and gesture politics. They want to feel safe at their places of worship, on our streets, and in public. There is a failure of leadership and of a coherent strategy to address this growing scourge and improve community relations, whilst ensuring there is no place for racism and bigotry in political and public life.”

Read More: Muslim and Jewish communities targeted in 65% of religious hate crimes in 2021/2022

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Between June to September 2025, we have noted that there have been 17 cases reported to Tell MAMA that have involved attacks on mosques or Islamic institutions. This makes on average, 4 institutions that have been targeted each month over 4 months. The graphic listed above, shows the scale of the issue that we are dealing with, whilst this Government tinkers round the edges,  and generally is clueless and politically driven in who it works with. This Government has been in place for more than 15 months now and there has been a political vacuum, where there should be have been a clear plan to tackle levels of hate and specifically, anti-Muslim hate. Discussions about a ‘definition of anti-Muslim hate’ have wasted time, resources and generated more mistrust in this work, when the laws are clear and when better enforcement should have been the strategy. Whilst Government has been talking about a ‘definition of Islamophobia’ – it has led to a greater belief in some communities of a two-tier set of principles in relation to different communities and has not helped the work of countering anti-Muslim hate in any way.

Details and Statistics of Cases

Since June to September 2025, we have recorded the following in Tell MAMA:

• 913 cases that have targeted Muslims in the United Kingdom for anti-Muslim hate with many of those being people who were not born in the country and who are visibly different to the majority population.
• 17 mosques and Islamic institutions have been targeted which we have mapped out in the previous graphic. This is deeply alarming since attacks on mosques and Islamic institutions send a much wider message to those who use the mosque, that they are not safe. It creates greater fears within communities who use the faith institutions.
• Victims of anti-Muslim have reported to us comments that have included, “Leave the U.K” and ‘go back to your country“. These comments are very similar to ones that were targeted at British Muslims and African Caribbean and African communities post the Brexit vote. This points to some association with the political discourse around migration and whilst these are topics of national debate, we are flagging the fact that they are having real-world impacts on the lives of people going about their daily activities. This targeting of individuals because of their perceived faith or their race, or around perceptions as to whether they ‘could be a migrant or asylum seeker’ is toxic to community relations, local trust and social cohesion going forward.

Commenting on the release of this data, the Director of Tell MAMA said:

“It is shocking to see the volume and the high numbers of cases that we are receiving into Tell MAMA. We have diligently documented, over the last 13 years, year on year rises in anti-Muslim hate and this year, we may well have the highest numbers surpassing the 2023-2024 figures of over 6,000 cases reported to Tell MAMA. This comes at a time when real political leadership is missing.”

Read more: “I was terrified”: Islamophobic Incidents up by 600% in U.K. since the Hams attack.

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The London School of Economics study analysed 622 posts from notable far-right sources, detailing how visualisations of racist conspiracies gained more amplification (around 30 per cent) than other content.

That academic submission appeared online in response to a House of Commons Home Affairs Committee that is investigating new forms of extremism, and it also drew attention to forms of racialised dehumanisation and algorithmic bias.

That submission contrasted how the GenAI-generated images depicted Muslim men as dirty and of carrying weapons in contrast to ‘heroic’ white men and ‘vulnerable’ white women threatened by racialised migrants, imagery informed by algorithmic bias.

They attributed the mobilisation of far-right violence after the murders and stabbings in Southport to a mixture of extremist content, fake news and conspiracy content circulating online.

Earlier this year, Tell MAMA closely monitored the social media accounts of far-right foreign agitators abroad (and a possible Russian connection) who first sought to exploit the far-right violence and disorder by taking footage of violence and using AI-generated materials to call for violence towards Muslims, migrant communities, and the police, using paid-for X accounts to add a veneer of legitimacy. One such AI-generated image we captured and used for this story had a racialised depiction of a Muslim man carrying a knife and a religious text. SightEngine detected with 99 per cent certainty that GenAI had generated it.

It was, however, on Telegram that the extremism flourished, with terrorist documents uploaded and encouragement from those who operated the channel to encourage individuals within the UK to vandalise mosques, with or without financial incentives. Sky News reported in late January 2025 that seven buildings, including mosques, community centres and a primary school in London, faced such vandalism with anti-Muslim and calls for their forced removal, triggering subsequent hate crime investigations. Tell MAMA worked closely with various police forces and counter-terrorism to pass on our evidence about the far-right group.

One recommendation called for Ofcom to develop a specialised unit to monitor AI extremism and combat any disinformation it spreads. Other submissions, however, including from The Alan Turing Institute, highlighted how AI could also help counter extremism. Recent research has also raised concerns that automated detection tools on social media are inconsistent in classifying hate speech.

Tell MAMA’s report, ‘The New Norm of anti-Muslim Hate,’ published earlier this year, detailed the harms of AI-generated materials on social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook. The report warned that “examples flagged with Tell MAMA make full use of the technology to push racialised, stigmatising, and criminalising tropes about Muslims – externalising Muslim men and women as distinct cultural, demographic threats to mythologised, monocultural themes of national identity.” Moreover, verified cases included racist, anti-Black tropes about white women and rape targeting Black Muslim communities, with similar examples of South Asian Muslim men targeting a white woman in Union Jack clothing.

Regarding Facebook, a member of the public alerted us to a self-styled “comedy” page in December 2024, which had re-uploaded a disturbing AI-generated video (originally uploaded to TikTok) of refugees having their boat stolen by machinery and left to drown, captioned “Splish splash” with hashtags such as “#comedy”.  The platform, however, did not remove it, and as of writing, it boasts 1.8 million views.

A screenshot of the AI-generated video depicting the murder of refugees on a boat had gained 129k views on Facebook from a self-styled “comedy page”. Credit: Facebook.

A follow-up investigation into that same page months later revealed equally disturbing AI-generated videos, including one of an assault rifle firing upon and indiscriminately murdering refugees in a dinghy boat, with a caption about border “deterrence.” It received around 129k views, around a thousand thumbs up and 110 heart emoji responses, respectively.

In examples of cases flagged with Tell MAMA for the first half of 2025, some AI-generated materials linked Muslims to bestiality or promoted racist conspiracies concerning demographics. Another example repurposed old racialised memes – including one of a white male “sweeping” away Black and South Asian Muslim men and women from Europe.

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The Inverclyde Muslim Centre in Greenock, Scotland, spoke to Sky News about the terror plot and the sense of betrayal that the teenage perpetrator, who pleaded guilty under the Terrorism Act, sought to gain their trust by pretending to convert to Islam.

Hamid Akhtar told Sky News of the “frightening” feeling that someone could prove “so nice and so conning” about wanting to convert and gaining their help and support.

The mosque has since added more security cameras.

Adeel Naeen expressed his support for the police for stopping the plot, and that the community remains strong, nor has the plot stopped them from attending the mosque.

Staff at the mosque also described the overwhelming amount of support they received from the wider community, and that the imam wants to show mercy towards the perpetrator and his family, according to the Greenock Telegraph, in an article about the visit of local MP Martin McCluskey and his message of unity.

News of the guilty verdict made headlines last month, as it emerged that the 17-year-old idolised neo-Nazi terrorists like Anders Breivik and embraced the fascism of Hitler, Mussolini and that of Eion O’Duffy.

The teen, who was sixteen at the time of his arrest (and cannot be named for legal reasons due to their age), had sought to bomb his school before deciding to target the mosque. According to Telegram chat logs, he also considered an antisemitic terror attack on a synagogue via ‘infiltration’ to begin with.

He also wrote a vile screed and sought to target the mosque at its fullest capacity.

When officers searched their address, they found a copy of the banned text The Anarchist’s Cookbook, Mein Kampf, knives, airsoft weapons and ingredients related to explosive substances.

The threats to mosques across Britain in recent weeks ranged from hate crimes to terrorism-related cases in 2025, including a man accused of throwing a pipe bomb inside an Islamic centre in Belfast as worshippers prayed inside in June. In May, three neo-Nazis who stockpiled an arsenal of over 200 weapons were found guilty of a terror plot against a Leeds mosque.

66-year-old Edmund Fowler pleaded guilty last month to four charges of racially aggravated harassment after releasing rats on separate occasions into the grounds of the Grand Mosque in Sheffield, and shouting racist abuse at worshippers entering the mosque.

Fowler received an eight-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, which included a ban on going near mosques for the same length of time. Responding to the verdict, Tell MAMA’s director, Iman Atta, spoke of its dehumanising nature to ITV News, stressing that, “It’s highly stressful and distressing for communities. It’s not just a targeting of an institution – it’s the impact it has on the congregation” adding that “this is intentional harassment that they’re going through on an ongoing basis.”

Meanwhile, in Aberdeen, the courts jailed an 18-year-old  who vandalised a mosque with paint and smashed a window, receiving a six-month prison sentence. The chairman of the mosque, Naveed Mohammed, expressed his gratitude to the local community for joining in the clean-up and for their messages of support and solidarity.

More broadly, ITV News added that Tell MAMA had received 20 incidents towards mosques and Islamic centres in the previous six months.

A joint survey between ITV News and Tell MAMA about mosque safety in 2023 revealed that of the 117 mosques surveyed, almost 90 per cent experienced anti-Muslim hate crimes in the previous 12 months.

We continue to work nationally with various police forces and mosques, providing security advice and liaising between both parties.

Tell MAMA also continues to assist faith institutions with advice when submitting applications for the Protective Security for Mosques Scheme, and we encourage those interested to ask any questions via our info@tellmamauk.org

Mosques and Islamic centres are encouraged to familiarise themselves with our tailored safety tips, which are freely available from our website.

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Now, Muslim women interviewed are pushing back against the idea that they did not choose to wear the headscarf.

“My hijab is completely my own choice. My religion, the way I practice it, is completely my own choice,” university student Unaizah Ahmad, 25, told the press as she urged understanding and dialogue “instead of giving in to preconceived biases.”

The YouGov poll, commissioned by the Ahmadiyya Muslim community ahead of their Jalsa Salana (annual convention), surveyed 2,130 adults in Britain between 16 and 17 July.

The first question asked: ‘Do you think the following groups of immigrants to the UK generally have a positive or negative impact on the country?’ broken down by religion – Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Jewish.

Whilst the total negative impact of Muslim migrants in the polling understandably made headlines, totalling 41 per cent, the figures also revealed that Reform voters, above all other parties, proved far more likely to agree that Muslim immigrants had a “fairly negative impact” (34 per cent) and a “very negative impact” (54 per cent), respectively. And yet, across those voters from the other major parties in the 2024 General Election, 52 per cent of Conservative voters, 29 per cent of Labour voters, 19 per cent of Liberal Democrat voters, and 22 per cent of Green voters took a net negative view.

Conversely, just over one in ten Conservative voters (13 per cent), 35 per cent of Labour voters, 36 per cent of Liberal Democrat voters and 42 per cent of Green voters held a net positive view (when combining answers for a “very positive impact” and “fairly positive impact”, respectively). Just three per cent of Reform voters polled agreed that Muslim immigrants provided positives.

Whilst some news analysis did highlight the greater levels of negativity towards Muslim immigrants than other faith groups, there are two caveats to consider: those who answered “don’t know” and “Neither positive nor negative impact”. Across each faith group, just over one in ten polled answered “don’t know”. And while Muslims scored slightly lower than other faith groups, with the latter example, almost one quarter of those surveyed (24 per cent) agreed with the “Neither positive nor negative impact” answer (a figure that rises to more than one-third with the other faith groups).

When asked, “Generally speaking, do you think Islam is or is not compatible with British values?” 93 per cent of Reform voters said no, compared to 69 per cent of Conservative voters, 41 per cent of Labour voters, 35 per cent of Lib Dem voters, and 22 per cent of Green voters. In comparison, one-quarter of voters polled agreed that it proved compatible with British values, as just over one in five (22 per cent) answered “Don’t know”.

The next question saw bigger splits between voters and perhaps reflects more on how the question was framed, as it asked, “From what you know, do you think Islam encourages or discourages Muslims to carry out acts of violence against non-Muslims, or does it neither encourage nor discourage this?” Just over one-third (31 per cent) agreed that it did, as almost an equal number of voters disagreed that it did (27 per cent), with almost one-fifth agreeing that Islam neither “encourages nor discourages this” as 24 per cent answered, “Don’t know”. Again, Reform voters (70 per cent) agreed that it did, compared to 40 per cent of Conservative voters, 18 per cent of Labour voters, 17 per cent of Lib Dem voters and nine per cent of Green voters.

The final question asked, “Thinking about the reasons why British Muslim women might decide to wear a hijab, which of the following comes closest to your view?” Labour and Liberal Democrat voters showed a clear split on the choices of personal choice (36 per cent) or family/community pressure (39 per cent), as Conservative voters (65 per cent) and Reform voters (74 per cent) agreed with the second choice (pressured to do so). It is worth noting also that just over one-fifth (21 per cent) selected “Don’t know”.

Reacting to the poll findings, Farooq Aftab, a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, called for wider societal change and improving community cohesion, making clear that: “We recognise that concerns about integration and social change exist in society — but these cannot be allowed to turn into hostility or alienation. We call on leaders, institutions, and communities across the country to work together in strengthening cohesion, promoting dialogue, and standing against division.”

At a time of rising anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobic sentiment, there is a great need across government to improve social cohesion, encourage and foster improved dialogue between communities, whilst ensuring that those who are targeted for their faith or belief can get the support they need. That Muslim communities can have their voices heard in meaningful ways across society more generally, beyond discussions on hate crime, but on everyday matters, of structural biases and allow for misconceptions and stereotypes (whether in sections of the media or politics) to be challenged in a manner that upholds the fundamental rights of all.

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Original story below.

South Yorkshire Police confirmed the arrest of a 66-year-old man following the release of three rats near a mosque in Sheffield.

Police attended the Sheffield Grand Mosque on Grimesthorpe Road in Burngreave on Monday (23 June) at around 8:15 pm.

Officers from South Yorkshire Police arrested the 66-year-old on suspicion of a racially or religiously aggravated public order offence after he allegedly released three rats from the boot of their car.

In a press release, Inspector Alec Gibbons, from the North East Neighbourhood Policing Team, provided reassurance and clear that: “We understand this reported incident has caused concern locally and I’d like to reassure you that we are working hard to understand the full circumstances of what took place.”

CCTV footage also appeared online.

Tell MAMA is liaising with officers further, and we endeavour to provide further updates where possible.

Anyone with information is urged to call 101, quoting 874 of 23 June 2025, or do so online. Tell MAMA can pass information forward on your behalf or anonymously.

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34-year-old Jonathan Robert Bell, from the Chester Manor area of Belfast, was arrested by counter-terrorism police on Friday evening (June 20).

A viable explosive device, identified as a pipe bomb, was thrown through a window during evening prayers as up to thirty worshippers prayed inside.

Bell is accused of attempting to cause an explosion and attempted arson, which could endanger life, and charges related to the building of a pipe bomb (between January and June 2025), and of criminal damage to a window at the Islamic centre.

He was remanded into custody and will appear again in court on 8 July, as the judge called an application for a psychiatric assessment “premature”.

Police in Northern Ireland also hope to trace the upstander who bravely intervened in helping to apprehend the suspect, with a press release identifying him as a young man possibly in his twenties.

Tell MAMA urges staff and worshippers at mosques and Islamic centres to re-familiarise themselves with our safety and security advice.

We continue to liaise with police in Northern Ireland to provide additional support.

In a statement, Detective Chief Inspector McCallum said: “Detectives from the Serious Crime Branch continue to work to establish a motive for this attack and are exploring a number of potential motivating factors including the possibility that this is a hate crime.

“At this time, no other persons are being sought in connection.”

Any witnesses (including those with any possible CCTV) can call 101, quoting reference number 1808 20/06/25. Tell MAMA can pass any information forward on your behalf or anonymously.

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It speaks about the topical issue around the Israel and Iranian conflict and around the missiles that Iran has fired towards Israel.

No-one can be in any doubt that the Iranian regime, which is highlighted in this cartoon, is anything but a repressive, violent and coercive regime that has long blighted the Middle East and the hopes and aspirations of many Iranians. Indeed, many young people were abused, tortured and traumatised in the recent ‘Women, Life and Freedom’ revolt sparked by the killing of young Mahsa Amini in 2022. So, the regime has much to answer for.

However, Brookes’ cartoon does not rely on any evidence of the regime firing missiles from mosques or that mosques have been a front for the launch of such weapons in this conflict. The cartoon is reminiscent of the Swiss People Party’s successful 2009 referendum campaign against minarets which led to far right groups channeling anxieties about demographic change in the country into leaflets that associated mosque minarets to missile launches.

We are clear that those leaflets were an example of anti-Muslim prejudice and tropes being played out and virtually comparable to the Brookes cartoon. Whilst we acknowledge that Brookes was trying to associate missile launches to the Iranian regime, associating them with mosques played on anti-Muslim tropes and prejudice that has been seen, documented and highlighted before by others, as well as us within Tell MAMA.

Brookes could have made the point in another way. He chose to take this path and the cartoon re-enforces anti-Muslim bigotry. It really is as simple as that.

Mosques and minarets are not missile launchers, nor are they places of danger. They are legitimate religious spaces where worshippers deserve to pray in peace. Neither, should we say, has any evidence emerged that Iran, which is a predominantly Muslim country, launched rockets from mosques.

We therefore hope that the Times swiftly removes the cartoon which promotes anti-Muslim tropes. The Times has a long tradition of fair and accurate journalism and whilst cartoons are meant to lampoon and caricature, this cartoon does none of the above. It simply re-enforces prejudice.

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Tell MAMA has previously highlighted how some far right groups have used the child grooming scandals to whip up collective anti-Muslim hate, though this cannot and should not take away from honest and frank discussions as Casey mentions. The child grooming scandals are widespread and have shown inaction and complicity, whether this be through previously elected councillors or local authority officers willing to blame the victimised young children rather than the monstrous middle-aged perpetrators.

Which brings us onto the following. There is nothing anti-Muslim about discussing issues around child sexual exploitation and the ethnicity of perpetrators. Blaming all Muslims as being potential child rapists is one thing, and we previously highlighted such anti-Muslim rhetoric promoted online by far right groups. Speaking about the link that Casey highlighted in areas such as Greater Manchester, West and South Yorkshire and where the majority of group related child grooming activities were undertaken by Asian men of Pakistani heritage, is another thing altogether. The former is anti-Muslim bigotry and the latter, legitimate public debate and discourse which needs to take place.

This is an important distinction and should not stifle legitimate public debate, The lives of many women have been deeply affected by what they endured at the hands of men who preyed on their vulnerabilities. These courageous women deserve to be heard and made the focus for real change so that children are no longer blamed as perpetrators, and the perpetrators let off in the interests of social cohesion.

Commenting on the Casey review, the Director of Tell MAMA, Iman Atta OBE said:

“Evidence alone should determine the basis of challenging prejudice and bigotry where we come across it. Knee-jerk reactionism in the misguided belief of protecting social cohesion and couched as campaigning against anti-Muslim prejudice and bigotry should be given no quarter by any legitimate organisation carrying out this line of work. Calling legitimate discourse on tackling child sexual exploitation ‘anti-Muslim’ bigotry by virtue of the ethnicity of the majority of perpetrators in areas like Greater Manchester does a disservice to the female victims of it and to public confidence in this area of work”.

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Hamit Coskun, 50, shouted “f*** Islam”, “Islam is religion of terrorism” and “Koran is burning” as he held the flaming Islamic text aloft in Rutland Gardens, Knightsbridge, on February 13, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard last week.

District Judge John McGarva delivered his verdict at the same court on Monday.

Coskun was found guilty of a religiously aggravated public order offence of using disorderly behaviour “within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress”, motivated by “hostility towards members of a religious group, namely followers of Islam”, contrary to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986.

District Judge McGarva said Coskun’s conduct was “provocative and taunting”.

Addressing Coskun, the judge said: “After considering the evidence, I find you have a deep-seated hatred of Islam and its followers.

“That’s based on your experiences in Turkey and the experiences of your family. It’s not possible to separate your views about the religion to your views about the followers.

“Your actions in burning the Koran where you did were highly provocative, and your actions were accompanied by bad language in some cases directed toward the religion and were motivated at least in part by hatred of followers of the religion.

“Your evidence was that your criticism is of Islam in general, not its followers; I don’t accept that. You believe Islam is an ideology that encourages its followers to violence, paedophilia and disregard for the rights of non-believers, you don’t distinguish between the two.”

The judge added: “Standing holding a burning Koran and saying loudly: ‘Koran is burning’ is clearly aimed at provoking others.

“I do accept that the choice of location was in part that you wanted to protest what you see as the Islamification of Turkey. But you were also motivated by the hatred of Muslims and knew some would be at the location.”

District Judge McGarva said the prosecution was not “an attempt to bring back and expand blasphemy law”, adding “it is clearly not an offence to criticise a religion”.

He added: “Burning a religious book, although offensive to some, is not necessarily disorderly.

“What made his conduct disorderly was the timing and location of the conduct and that all this was accompanied by abusive language.”

Coskun was fined £240, with a statutory surcharge of £96.

The National Secular Society (NSS) branded the verdict a “significant blow to freedom of expression” which “signals a concerning capitulation to Islamic blasphemy codes”.

Turkey-born Coskun, who is half Kurdish and half Armenian, travelled from his home in the Midlands and set fire to the Koran at around 2pm, the court heard.

In footage captured on a mobile phone by a passerby that was shown to the court, a man approached and asked Coskun why he was burning a copy of the Koran.

Coskun can be heard making a reference to “terrorist” and the man called the defendant “a f****** idiot”.

The man approached him allegedly holding a knife or bladed article and appeared to slash out at him, the court heard.

The footage appeared to show Coskun back away and use the burning Koran to deflect the attacker, who is alleged to have slashed out at him again.

The man chased Coskun, and the defendant stumbled forward and fell to the ground, dropping the Koran, the footage showed.

Coskun was spat at and kicked by the man, the court heard.

The man said: “Burning the Koran? It’s my religion, you don’t burn the Koran.”

Coskun had posted on social media that he was protesting against the “Islamist government” of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who the defendant allegedly said “has made Turkey a base for radical Islamists and is trying to establish a Sharia regime”, prosecutors said.

The defendant, who is an atheist, believes that he protested peacefully and burning the Koran amounted to freedom of expression, the court heard.

His legal fees are being paid for by the NSS and the Free Speech Union (FSU), which said they intend to appeal against the verdict “and keep on appealing it until it’s overturned”.

An FSU spokesperson said: “If that means taking it all the way to the European Court of Human Rights, we will do so.

“Religious tolerance is an important British value, but it doesn’t require non-believers to respect the blasphemy codes of believers. On the contrary, it requires people of faith to tolerate those who criticise and protest against their religion, just as their values and beliefs are tolerated.”

NSS chief executive Stephen Evans said: “The court’s acceptance of the prosecution’s assertion that Mr Coskun’s actions stemmed from hostility towards Muslims raises serious concerns. It is essential to differentiate between prejudice or hatred aimed at individuals and hostility towards the ideologies of Islam or Islamism.

“The conviction of Mr Coskun on the grounds that his actions were ‘likely’ to cause harassment, alarm, or distress suggests a troubling repurposing of public order laws as a proxy for blasphemy laws. This jeopardises freedom of expression by establishing a ‘heckler’s veto’ that incentivises violent responses to suppress views deemed offensive.

“Such an erosion of free speech is detrimental to community relations. Social cohesion is best achieved not by restricting rights but by fostering their free exercise.”

Read More: Amazon Removes Tommy Robinson’s Book for Sale on Islam

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The group never met in person, but shared their racist, homophobic and violent ideologies online, discussing possible targets for terror attacks – including synagogues, mosques, and buildings housing refugees.

25-year-old Brogan Stewart, from West Yorkshire, fashioned himself as their leader and “Fuhrer”, telling Cannock-based Christopher Ringrose, 34 and Derby-based Marco Pitzettu, 25, to dress in Nazi-style clothing.

Stewart named them “Eitzen 14” – a reference to the notorious Nazi death squads. The Einsatzgruppen had murdered over one million Jewish people in mass shootings following the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.

Counter-terrorism police revealed that the group planned for a “race war” and sourced body armour, riot gear, rations and over 200 weapons divided across their home addresses. Weapons recovered included machetes, hunting knives, swords, and crossbows.

Ringrose had been building a 3-D assault rifle, with instructions found online and required just a firing pin, bolt and barrel to become active and deadly. He also shared a photograph of his one-year-old child with a skull mask on the Telegram channel, captioned “choose violence”, the Guardian reported.

Tell MAMA identified a TikTok channel potentially linked to Ringrose, which we can now disclose following the guilty verdicts.

The TikTok account potentially linked to Christopher Ringrose contained extremist content from 2022 and followed far-right pages.

The account had uploaded a video in late May 2022, captioned “one mans terrorist another mans freedom fighter”, which stylised a photo of armed members of the IRA taken in Belfast in 1987 during the Troubles. Another meme featured an armed man with the caption, “You think the government cares about you?”.

Of the various pages followed by the account, we saw overt neo-Nazi pages containing totemkampf death skull avatars or 14/88 name variants amongst other ultranationalist pages from Europe and anti-Muslim materials invoking the Knights Templar.

During a group call on 5 February 2024, Stewart detailed plans to seek out “human targets” near an Islamic education centre. Counter-terrorism police made their arrests sixteen days later after an undercover officer had infiltrated their group. When the trial began, the prosecution outlined how the “imminent threat of an attack” resulted in their arrests.

A photograph of Brogan Stewart’s room in the house he shared with his mother included a Nazi flag and a poster for the neo-Nazi group the British Movement amongst various weapons.

Other racist statements from Stewart in the chat included calling the former prime minister Rishi Sunak the P-word.

During the trial, the prosecution outlined how Mr Stewart told an undercover officer of his desire to replicate the Nazi death squad and of his homemade “information extraction kit” that included pliers, gaffer tape, a blowtorch and how a “syringe filled with bleach” would get people talking. He also spoke of a desire to torture local imams.

Marco Pitzettu had obtained an illegal stun gun, in breach of the Firearms Act 1968, an offence which he pleaded guilty to prior to trial. Pitzettu also shared footage of the Christchurch terror attacks that resulted in the murder of 51 Muslims in New Zealand in 2019, highlighting the lingering influence of such white supremacist terror over those convicted of far-right terror offences across the UK.

Detective Chief Superintendent James Dunkerley, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, made clear in a statement that: “Stewart, Pitzettu, and Ringrose have today been rightfully convicted of multiple terrorism offences.” Adding, “They were a group that espoused vile racist views and advocated for violence, all to support their extreme right-wing mindset.

“Some of their defence in court was that it was all fantasy or just part of harmless chat, however all three took real world steps to plan and prepare for carrying out an attack on innocent citizens.”

The trio faces sentencing on 17 July.

The post Neo-Nazi trio guilty of planning terror attack on Leeds mosque appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Police had detained 38-year-old Owen Lawrence after two women, aged 19 and 31, suffered serious injuries following a crossbow attack on Otley Road in Headingley on Saturday.

Counter-terror police had assumed the lead in the investigation, concluding that Lawrence had written a screed on Facebook indicating a list of targets and citing the Christchurch terrorist as inspiration.

The two women received hospital treatment, one of whom faced life-threatening injuries but now remains in stable condition, as staff discharged the other woman.

Various Facebook posts from two accounts linked to Owen Lawrence paint a disturbing image of a man driven by misogyny and far-right views, who also displayed a deep fascination and admiration for mass murderers, including the Columbine and Saugus High School shooters. Lawrence declared his admiration for other mass shooters, including Pekka-Eric Auvinen, a Finnish school shooter who praised Hitler and murdered six fellow pupils, the principal and the school nurse in 2007.

Over several years, Owen Lawrence praised or drew attention to various far-right terrorists, including Anders Breivik in 2021, Stephan Balliet (in 2021 and 2023, respectively), and the Christchurch terrorist (2025).

In different posts, across various years, he discussed the far-right conspiracy of the so-called “Great Replacement” and how the Christchurch terrorist’s 74-page white supremacist screed shaped his extremist worldview.

He also admitted to enjoying “flirting with far right ideas.”

Lawrence openly praised other mass shooters, including Randy Stair, adding that he “identified with him a lot.”

In November 2023, Lawrence changed his Facebook cover photo to an image of himself performing a Nazi salute. Months earlier, he admitted watching Balliet’s synagogue terror attack in Germany on a now-defunct gore website, which we are declining to name as a mirrored and active version of the website still exists.

Around that time in early November 2023, he alluded to a possible arrest over an alleged assault, suggesting that his recent beard growth related to him appearing in a police lineup, as he ranted about “defending himself”. It is unclear, however, if such an arrest did occur or how much West Yorkshire Police knew about Lawrence before the crossbow attack.

On April 22, 2024, he shared a Vice News video about the terrifying phenomena of the far-right conspiracy of the so-called “Great Replacement”, which inspired various acts of terrorism and mass violence with the caption, “thinking about making a change.”

Credit: Facebook

In 2022, he ranted against the “rats” undermining society, and evoked antisemitic conspiracies with references to so-called “cultural Marxism.”

Lawrence called feminism a “cancer” and wrote openly about his hatred of gender equality and all forms of feminism and his hatred of bisexual relationships, celebrities and society. His Facebook screed listed his attack plan as “spree killings, mass murder, terrorism, and misogynistic rage.”

In a statement, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, Detective Chief Superintendent James Dunkerley said: “Officers will continue to conduct enquiries and we ask that if anyone has information that may assist, to pass this to police.

“We understand there are concerns around the incident and questions about how and why this has happened. Our teams are committed to carrying out an in-depth investigation to provide answers to those affected.

“We continue to work closely with West Yorkshire Police to support the local community and thank residents for their support and understanding over the weekend.

“Our thoughts are with the victims, their families, and all those affected by this incident.”

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One of three “Nazis” accused of planning terrorist attacks discussed torturing a Muslim leader using his “information extraction kit” with an undercover officer, a jury had been told.

The post ‘Nazi’ accused of planning terror attacks discussed torturing imam, jury told appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Officers responded to the widespread desecration of graves and plaques, many belonging to babies and children, at Carpenders Park Lawn Cemetery in Hertfordshire – in an area reserved for Muslim burial on April 13.

Police revised the figures, initially thought to total 85, during the public meeting the Bushey Islamic Circle organised yesterday (April 16). Those in attendance included police, faith leaders, and the families impacted.

The thorough investigation has not yet identified suspects, nor have witnesses come forward. Still, officers are carrying out forensic work, stepped-up patrols around the cemetery, and increased visibility of officers around other local areas.

Funeral planner Hussain Sadiq, who attended the meeting, said: “One of the worst parts of this tragedy is the majority of the damage has been to graves of babies and children,” the BBC reported.

The chairman of Bushey United Synagogue also attended the public meeting in a show of support and solidarity.

A member of Tell MAMA’s outreach team attended the meeting to speak with those impacted, police officers, council officers, and others in attendance and offer our support.

In a statement, Councillor Muhammed Butt, who leads Brent Council, which owns the Watford-based cemetery, made clear: “We will reinstate the damaged name plaques and return Carpenders Park Lawn cemetery to a peaceful, quiet place of remembrance as quickly as possible, once the Police have finished their investigation.”

He condemned the desecration and said, “This is a very serious incident, and we continue to work closely with Hertfordshire Police to inform family members and bring the perpetrators to justice.”

Harrow Council Leader Cllr Paul Osborn said in a statement: “This affects our Muslim community here in Harrow who have loved ones buried at this site. My thoughts are with all those affected by this horrendous act of vandalism which Hertfordshire Police have confirmed as an Islamophobic hate crime.”

Days earlier, in a statement via her funeral provider, Alicia Hussain, the damage to her daughter’s grave raised “disturbing questions” and how it proved “cruel, cold, and deeply violating,” which left her “shattered”, the Watford Observer reported.

Fozie, another local resident, who recently buried her husband, told the local press, “Thankfully my husband’s grave was unaffected but to see the destruction of children’s graves was callous and pure evil. How are these people allowed to get away with this? It’s incomprehensible.”

Chief Superintendent Jon Simpson, who heads Hertfordshire’s Local Policing Command, sought to reassure Muslim communities, stating, “We would like to reassure those affected, and the wider Muslim community, that we are continuing to treat this crime extremely seriously.”

We will continue to liaise directly with the police and Brent Council and endeavour to provide further updates where possible. We are also extending our offer of emotional support and access to our free counselling service.

Some impacted families reached out to Tell MAMA for support, and given the immense emotional pain the families are experiencing, we want to ensure everyone feels supported.

On social media, we received a small number of reports detailing horrendous language, dehumanising anti-Muslim tropes, and calls for more vandalism, as many others stood in solidarity and condemned the heinous, cowardly acts.

More broadly, Tell MAMA’s most recent report documented a sharp rise in vandalism cases to our service, including the abhorrent vandalism of Muslim graves in Burnley following the horrific Southport stabbings and murders amid far-right violence and rioting.

We urge anyone with information to call 101, quoting Op Lunate. Tell MAMA can pass information forward on your behalf or anonymously.

Read More: Tell MAMA Records a Six Fold Increase in Anti-Muslim Cases Between October 7th and October 19th 2023. 

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Tell MAMA was notified that direct grant funding was coming to an end on the 31st March 2025, meaning that we would not be able to continue supporting victims of anti-Muslim hate and mapping and monitoring these incidents. This was truly disappointing news, given that Tell MAMA has stood at the forefront of this important work over the last 13 years, supporting over 50,000 British Muslims and consistently demonstrating that anti-Muslim hate and Islamophobia is a growing problem that needs addressing. Our work has also been crucial for law enforcement agencies, with police only recently saying that information provided by Tell MAMA is “invaluable” in their work tackling anti-Muslim hate and Islamophobia.

We are proud of the systems that we have set up and utilised to support victims of anti-Muslim hate and Islamophobia and the measures and statistics that we have produced.

Yesterday, we were formally notified by the MHCLG that direct funding will be offered to Tell MAMA for 2025/2026, reflecting the Government’s continued trust and confidence in our work. We wanted to extend our thanks to Lord Khan of Burnley, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the MHCLG, for his time and collaborative efforts in working with us to address this matter. Lord Khan has stated the following:

“Tell MAMA is a key partner in the Government’s work to tackle anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobia. It has developed important initiatives to capture, monitor and report instances of anti-Muslim hatred that have helped to inform Government policy and has worked in communities and organisations to provide training for those who support victims.”

“We are choosing to move away from direct funding awards to an open grant process to provide transparency and value for money, in line with standard grant functional standards across government.

This is not a reflection on Tell MAMA’s performance. Tell Mama have worked with government for over 10 years and have delivered an important service in that time.”

We are pleased that the Government has shown continued trust and confidence in our work by approving further funding and we look forward to continuing our important work serving Muslim communities in the UK.

The post Tell MAMA is a Key Partner With Government on Tackling Anti-Muslim Hatred appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Aberdeen Mosque and Islamic Centre has condemned incidents which happened on Saturday evening.

In the first incident, paint was allegedly thrown at the door and pavement area on Spital and a few hours later a rock came through a window of the mosque.

Police are treating the incident as a hate crime and said a 17-year-old boy has been charged.

Nobody was hurt but those in the building were left shaken.

A mosque spokesperson told the PA news agency: “The rock went through the window and (it) shattered. Everybody was fine but people are a bit shaken.

“It happened at around 9pm while prayers were going on.”

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Following an investigation into reports of vandalism at a mosque in Spital, Aberdeen, officers have arrested and charged a 17-year-old male. The incident occurred on Saturday 15 March.

“Police are treating the incident as a hate crime.

“The male has been released on an undertaking and will appear at court at a later date.”

In a joint statement on social media, the Mosque and Islamic Centre thanked those who offered support in the aftermath and praised “kind neighbours and worshippers” who united to help clean up the mess.

They said: “We are very grateful to our neighbours and well-wishers in these difficult times.”

They added: “The mosques in Aberdeen would like to assure all members of the community that, in light of these incidents, all the mosques are taking additional security measures as well as being assured of support from the police.

“The police will be performing additional patrols around the mosques during prayer and other busy times.

“We would ask all attendees and worshippers to please be alert and remain vigilant, however, do not be alarmed and continue with your efforts and prayers to gain maximum benefits from this blessed month of Ramadan.”

The post Teenager charged after rock smashes mosque window while worshippers inside appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Lee Harper, 47, made four calls from his own phone number to the north London mosque’s office between 3.30pm and 5pm on January 21.

During the calls, he said “I’m a butcher, I will come around with the boys”, “go back to your Middle East country” and referenced the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court heard on Monday.

The calls left the man who answered the phone, named as Mr Hussein, “extremely frightened and fearful”, according to his impact statement summarised by the prosecution.

District Crown Prosecutor Varinder Hayre OBE said Mr Hussein was “fearful of the mosque being attacked as he was the caretaker” and that this was heightened because worshippers including women and children were around the site at the time.

Harper, of Highgate High Street, Hornsey, was sentenced to 10 weeks’ imprisonment suspended for 18 months.

District Judge Hina Rai said the calls, three of which were recorded, were “vile, abusive and extremely threatening” and raised the suspended sentence from eight weeks because of Harper’s “racial language”.

Prior to the ruling, Harper’s defence barrister told the court “he’s packed his bags, he’s made arrangements, because he knows full well” a custodial sentence “is a very realistic outcome”.

Judge Rai said Harper, who wore a pale-blue shirt in the dock, embarked on the “clearly targeted” campaign after watching a programme on the Southport killings.

The day after watching it, he drank alcohol at work and left the butcher’s to call the mosque, his defence barrister Daniel Cavaglieri said.

Each call was picked up by Mr Hussein and expletive-filled transcripts were read to the court.

Harper referred to the Mayor of London in one call, saying: “I’m going to come there tonight, arm yourselves because you’ve got no idea what’s coming, because I’ve got nothing to lose, and tell Mr Sadiq Khan f****** hell, he was coming a mile off.”

The butcher said his “mate” was unable to “claim even a little bit” of benefits “because all your brothers have got it”.

“But I will make an example of you, and you will read about me in the paper”, he said.

Harper repeatedly asked the victim for his name before questioning if he was called “Mohammed” or “Hamza”, referring to radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza who Harper claimed he used to see by the mosque.

Hamza led the Finsbury Park Mosque in the 1990s and is serving a life sentence in the US for terrorism offences.

Mr Hussein responded that he had no name and Harper told him he should kill his parents for that.

Police officers attended the butcher’s shop on January 24 and Harper nodded as the allegations were read to him, the court heard.

He was arrested and admitted making the calls but said he “doesn’t adhere to any racist ideologies”, it was told.

His defence barrister said Harper had intermittently struggled with alcohol for several years.

This manifested as “binge drinking when moments get a bit too much for him”, Mr Cavaglieri said.

The lawyer said Harper had shown “genuine remorse” and accepted his calls were “entirely vile”.

District Crown Prosecutor Varinder Hayre OBE read out a Tell MAMA community impact statement in the court about how anti-Muslim hate aimed at people in institutions can exacerbate wider fears for those who use the mosque in question. The judge also referenced Tell MAMA data on the numbers of anti-Muslim hate cases on an annual basis and Tell MAMA’s work was highlighted by the judge in the sentencing remarks.

Harper, of previous good character, pleaded guilty to one count of sending a message via telephone call that conveyed a threat of serious harm, namely “coming down to a mosque with references to butchering”.

He also admitted two counts of making menacing telephone calls to the Finsbury Park Mosque’s office.

Sentencing him, Judge Rai said the comments “consisted of racist language, derogatory comments and threatened harm”.

She warned of the online “misinformation” after the Southport killings.

False information about the identity of the attacker sparked riots in the UK this summer.

She added: “Finsbury Park Mosque has previously been attacked and this is well known, which will have added to (Mr Hussein’s) fear of reprisals.”

Darren Osborne ploughed a hired van into worshippers gathered near the place of worship in an Islamophobic terror attack on June 19 2017.

Harper was ordered to attend an alcohol treatment programme for three months and told he must carry out five days of rehabilitative activity, as well as 200 hours of unpaid work.

He was also handed a five-year restraining order barring him from contacting or attempting to contact Mr Hussein directly or indirectly, from contacting the mosque, or going within 200 metres of it.

The court was told that anti-Islamophobia reporting service Tell Mama recorded the highest number of “anti-Muslim hate cases” per year in 2024, since their records started in 2011 to 2012.

It heard that a total of 6,313 such cases were reported that year, a 165% rise on 2022.

The post Tell MAMA Makes Intervention to Support Finsbury Park Mosque Staff appeared first on TELL MAMA.

A jury at Sheffield Crown Court was told that Christopher Ringrose, 34, Marco Pitzettu, 25, and Brogan Stewart, 25, were “right-wing extremists” who were preparing to use firearms, explosives and a range of bladed weapons in their attacks.

They were arrested when security services believed an attack could be imminent after undercover officers infiltrated their group, the court heard on Wednesday.

Jonathan Sandiford KC, prosecuting, said the defendants had acquired or were trying to acquire a “wide variety of weapons” including swords, knives, axes, spears and crossbows as well as gathering information on explosives and firearms.

He said the preparations they were making included “taking steps to complete the manufacture” of a 3D printed semi-automatic firearm.

Mr Sandiford said: “The prosecution say that these three defendants were right-wing extremists who regarded themselves as National Socialists, or Nazis, and they supported the National Socialist movement in the UK, such as it is or indeed was.”

He said the defendants followed a cause which embraced an admiration for Adolf Hitler, white supremacy, a “hatred towards black and other non-white races”, and glorification and admiration for mass killers who have targeted the black and Muslim community.

He told a jury of seven men and five women that the trio all held a “belief that there must soon be a race war between the white and other races”.

Mr Sandiford said that, at the time of their arrest in February 2024, “all three were involved in making preparations for acts of terrorism in furtherance of their political, racial or ideological causes”.

He said the three were also gathering equipment such as riot shields, body armour and gas masks in readiness for a race war.

The prosecutor told the jury that the defendants formed a group called Einsatz 14 in January 2024, with “like-minded extremists” who wanted to “go to war for their chosen cause”.

Mr Sandiford explained that Einsatz 14 included three undercover officers and the police intervened in February 2024 when it became clear the defendants had identified potential targets and there was a threat of an “imminent attack”.

The prosecutor told the jury that Ringrose had 3D printed most of the components of an FGC9 firearm at the time of his arrest in early 2024 and was trying to get the remaining parts.

He took the jury through a range of material on social media he said was evidence of the “political, racial or ideological causes” followed by the defendants.

He showed jurors a post by Stewart on a Telegram chat group called The National Socialist Movement of the United Kingdom which said: “Nazis wanted what’s best for the white people.

“They cared. They loved us so much they did everything in their power to save us from Jewish scum and for what? The world to be handed over to the hooked nosed creatures.”

Stewart went on: “Hitler did more for his people then any politician. And for Britain to have a paki and zionist in charge of the country is absolutely outrageous”.

Mr Sandiford said this last comment was a reference to the then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

The jury was also shown a short video Stewart posted of himself wearing a German army helmet, a Nazi armband and a skull face covering, which the prosecutor said was associated with right-wing extremism.

Ringrose, of Cannock, Staffordshire; Pitzettu, of Mickleover, Derbyshire; and Stewart, of Tingley, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, deny a charge of preparing acts of terrorism and charges of collecting information likely to be useful to a person preparing or committing an act of terrorism.

Ringrose also denies manufacturing a prohibited weapon.

Mr Sandiford is expected to continue opening the prosecution case on Thursday at 10am.

The post Three ‘Nazis’ planned terror attacks against mosques and synagogues appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Correspondingly, we have seen anti-Muslim sentiment on some social media platforms, notably ‘X’, where disagreement with such a day, has led to anti-Muslim tropes and sentiment. Sadly, in today’s world, discussions about Hijab and Muslims in general, leads to the circulation of toxic tropes about Muslims. It has become a tedious cycle where themes and topics of discussions about Muslims, turn into racist and anti-Muslim tropes.

Tell MAMA does not take a public position on the ‘World Hijab Day’. Our work is fundamentally based on supporting the victims of anti-Muslim hate, whether that be online or offline, and in monitoring and mapping anti-Muslim hate in the U.K. This work also involves working with police forces across the United Kingdom so that victims can receive access to justice.

We are also mindful and aware that Muslim women who do not wear the Hijab and those perceived to be Muslim, also suffer anti-Muslim prejudice and hate. It is also to be noted, that many of the cases that we received from British Muslims, are from individuals who are visibly Muslim and who wear the Hijab, the Niqab, Muslim prayer caps and cultural clothing such as ‘thobes’.

What we wanted to add is that the volume of anti-Muslim sentiment on platforms such as ‘X’ has worryingly grown and is taking a sharply upward trend. Ultimately, what Muslim (or any) woman wants to wear, is not of anyone’s concern and it is up to the woman’s choice as to how she covers her body – or not.

We are also mindful that some Muslim women in other countries in the world may feel political and social pressures to wear the Hijab, such as in Iran. However, Britain is not Iran and Muslim women in the U.K by enlarge have a choice as to whether they wear the Hijab or not. Which goes back to our central point, that what women choose to wear, or not, is their choice.

Sadly, armchair pundits who sit on platforms like ‘X’ fail to see this basic tenet and some in their defence of ‘saving women’ from wearing the Hijab, spread anti-Muslim tropes and prejudice. We just wish that people think and take a step back before posting comments on social media platforms.

The post World HIjab Day & Online Anti-Muslim Sentiment appeared first on TELL MAMA.

A second 16-year-old boy has been arrested under the Terrorism Act after an incident outside a mosque.

On Thursday at around 9am, police apprehended one youth outside the Inverclyde Islamic Centre, Greenock, under the Act.

It is understood he remains in custody. Police Scotland has said there is no risk to the community.

Assistant Chief Constable Andy Freeburn said on Thursday evening a second male of the same age had been arrested “in the Greenock area”.

He said: “During the course of the investigation, a second 16-year-old male youth was arrested this afternoon in the Greenock area in connection with a separate terrorism offence.

“He has been released without charge pending further enquiries.”

Earlier in the day, Mr Freeburn said: “Shortly after 9am on Thursday January 23 a 16-year-old male youth was arrested outside the Inverclyde Islamic Centre, Laird Street, Greenock, in connection with offences under the Terrorism Act.

“The youth remains in custody and inquiries continue.

“There is nothing to suggest anyone else was involved or that there is any further risk to the public.

“We are speaking to members of the local community to provide reassurance and I would urge anyone with information or who has any concerns to please come forward and speak to officers.”

Martin McCluskey, Labour MP for Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West, which covers Greenock, said: “As people will have seen from media reports, the boy is understood to be a white Scottish male and the police have said that there is no indication that anyone else was involved or that there is any further risk to the public.

“If anyone has any further information or has any concerns, I would encourage them to contact the police.”

The post Two Boys arrested under Terrorism Act after incident at mosque appeared first on TELL MAMA.

There is however, a cross-over into our work which also includes countering and challenging anti-Muslim hatred. We wanted to firstly say that there is nothing Islamophobic or anti-Muslim in nature about raising the horrendous spectre of the abuse of young vulnerable children. Indeed, it is a duty on all of us to ensure that it is called out and that those who conducted it, or who suppressed investigations into them, need to be held to account. This is a fundamental and a given and anyone should have a right to do so. There is no middle ground on this, nor should there be, and we are all under a duty to call this behaviour out.

The horrific crimes of child sexual exploitation, abuse and violence are a stain on our country, and the victims deserve support from statutory bodies and access to justice, not denied nor disbelieved by those in authority and who have a duty of care to uphold.

For many years, Tell MAMA cautioned about striking a balance between the importance of free and fair debate and the dangers of language that sowed division and stigmatised all Muslims as potential paedophiles. Subsequently, some suggest that being Muslim “predisposes people to want to abuse children”, as though Islam is some form of “virus” that creates a pool of people “who are a risk to society”. Such language is an extreme, perverse, and dangerous discourse that requires us all to challenge.

Over the years, in various reports, Tell MAMA has highlighted multiple examples of Muslim men targeted and threatened with language falsely accusing them of being paedophiles. In January 2025, we received reports from Muslim communities who told us that they were targeted with such abhorrent language and abuse because of their ethnicity and religious identity.

In 2015, one of the racists who murdered the pensioner, Mushin Ahmed, called him a “groomer”

Notably, in the online world, we continue to document many cases of harmful, dehumanising language that targets Muslims and their Islamic faith by linking them to paedophilia generally due to their ethnicity and beard, especially older, more vulnerable male members of Muslim communities.

Muslim communities who have nothing to do with what has happened in Rotherham and other parts of our country should not be targeted with abusive, racist, anti-Muslim or threatening language. It really is as simple as that. Those stoking the view that Muslim communities as a whole cannot be ‘trusted’ or are a ‘threat’ to the U.K, neither add anything constructive to the conversations around child sexual grooming, nor to finding solutions to challenge this behaviour.

Iman Atta, Director of Tell MAMA, said: ‘We are repelled by all those who have been involved in the rape and abuse of children. Our sympathies are with all victims of child sexual exploitation.  As the British public debates the issue, we only call on those in the public eye to be mindful of the real world consequences of their words.  This is not an attempt to stifle free speech, only a reminder that inflammatory rhetoric is leading to increasing threats to the safety and security of Muslim communities going about their daily lives who have nothing to do with such abhorrent crimes.’

The post Statement: Supporting victims of child sexual abuse and challenging anti-Muslim hatred, moving forward. appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Taxi driver Andrew McIntyre, 39, created the “Southport Wake Up” Telegram channel, encouraging others to carry out violence and disorder in Southport on July 30, including targeting the local mosque.

He pleaded guilty to pleading guilty to encouraging violent disorder and criminal damage and possession of a bladed article in a public place.

During sentencing, Judge Flewitt stated that racism was the key motivator for McIntyre, and “I have no doubt your actions encouraged many people to plan and then to commit offences of both violent disorder and criminal damage.”

For the prosecution, Arthur Gibson outlined that the riots and disorder were not ‘spontaneous’ or “that persons coincidentally simply decided to turn up and take part” and that individuals “to a greater or lesser degree participated in the organisation, encouragement and incitement of such gatherings, which resulted in the disorder.”

Two days before the far-right violence and disorder descended upon the mosque in Southport, threatening notes appeared, and staff alerted Merseyside Police. As the threat of violence grew on the day, officers encouraged congregants to lock themselves in the mosque. As the Liverpool Echo reported: “By now, Islamophobic hate chants could be heard from the growing mob outside, and there were attempts to break down the front door. Items resembling makeshift petrol bombs were thrown at the building, as well as bricks and rocks, resulting in several broken windows.”

Residents, disgusted by the far-right violence, worked together to clean up the damage and provide support to the mosque.

In the days before McIntyre’s arrest on August 8, Tell MAMA’s investigations and research team reported numerous social media materials, including from individuals responsible for and posting in the “Southport Wake Up” channel to various police forces and counter-terrorism.

Officers found a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf at McIntyre’s address.

One admin post from 4 August 2024 read: “WE NEED TO GET POLITICAL NOW LADS, STARTING WITH LIVERPOOL, WHAT GOVERNMENTAL BUILDING ARE WE TARGETING FIRST. THE TRAITORS WILL HANG. POST SUGGESTIONS IN COMMENTS (USE BURNER ACCOUNTS ONLY).”

Another post about the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, read, “We’re going to hang this woman and her associates, lads.” It was accompanied by various flexed biceps and fire emojis. McIntyre, however, was cleared of such a charge, as Judge Neil Flewitt KC stated: “There is a clear distinction between what might be termed a rant, however unpleasant it is, and messages which clearly incite criminal activity to take place.” The count will instead lie on McIntyre’s file.

A day later, he shared terrorist material – the Christchurch terror attacks – responsible for the murder of 51 Muslims in New Zealand in March 2019, captioning it “WHITE LEGEND F*** ISLAM F*** JEWS” and glorifying the name of the white supremacist terrorist responsible.

Other deeply disturbing anti-Muslim content from the Telegram channel included statements like “Kill All Muslims” and “Burn all mosques” surrounded by fire emojis.

Other examples of neo-Nazi propaganda included a white supremacist meme captioned: “TRIBE UP, ARM UP, WHITE LADS.”

Following the abhorrent violence and disorder in Southport, including the targeting of a local mosque, called for “Round 2” and named another mosque. The second half of the message contained extremist, racist language: “Mass deportations. Ethno state. Death to traitors. We are not asking, we are protesting. We are coming to take what is ours. Rise sons of Europa.”

During the trial, it emerged that McIntyre shared materials with pages called “Tommy Robinson/Britain First/For Britain” and “Liverpool People’s Resistance.”

The Liverpool Echo reported that Andrew McIntyre had two alt accounts on Telegram, revealing his engagement with other accounts, including praising the targeting of mosques, and in another example, posted in a pro-Tommy Robinson channel, “Free Quran stand in Liverpool city centre gets f***ed up. Go on lads,” inciting violence towards Muslims once again.

On X (formerly Twitter), McIntyre created an account on August 1 to spread their racist propaganda and incite others towards violence by posting the location of various mosques, the offices of immigration lawyers and hotels hosting refugees, repeating the extremist, racist and menacing content he shared on Telegram.

McIntyre harassed members of the public with abuse and antisemitic slurs before targeting Nick Lowles of HOPE Not Hate on the platform, whose investigation detailed McIntyre’s neo-Nazi ideology.

X limited the reach of but did not remove an extreme racist post from McIntyre that used the N-word.

Our investigation found that he interacted with another infamous far-right X user who incited others to riot – Wayne O’Rourke, replying to a racist tweet about refugees with screenshots of the locations of various mosques and hotels, each had various fire emojis attached and called for “mass deportations”.

Calls for violence from their X account appeared routinely – “Violence is right when it is time, now is the time,” “the time for violence is NOW,” and in reply to a post asking what “Britain needs the most right now” he replied “weapons”.

On Telegram and X, McIntrye used dehumanising anti-Muslim and Islamophobic language – calling Muslims “Muzzies” and “Muzz rats”. Across more than a decade of research, Tell MAMA has long documented how such animalistic and mechanistic forms of dehumanisation of Muslims appear online, especially how the above examples routinely appear in far-right discourse.

Following sentencing, Detective Inspector Paula Jones of Merseyside Police made clear that: “McIntyre played a key role in coordinating the group who took to the streets on 30 July, using social media to encourage members of the group to turn up at the heart of the communities in Southport and Liverpool to commit criminal damage. The result left dozens of officers injured as bricks, bins and other missiles were thrown at them.”

The post Southport: Neo-Nazi who stoked riots online jailed for over 7 years appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The findings of a Tell MAMA and Survation poll with British Muslims carried out 8 weeks after the start of far-right demonstrations after the murder of 3 young girls in Southport, have demonstrated the following:

• 1 in 4 British Muslims interviewed online and via the telephone experienced anti-Muslim hate or Islamophobia post July 30th 2024. (This accounted for Islamophobic hate incidents that took place online or at a street level).
• 2 in 3 British Muslims surveyed said that the potential of risk and harm to Muslim communities had increased post the 30th of July.
• 1 in 3 British Muslims surveyed said that the far-right demonstrations made them consider leaving the U.K. to settle into another country.
• 7 in 10 British Muslims surveyed felt that anti-Muslim hate or Islamophobia has become more widespread post the 30th of July.
• Nearly 4 in 10 surveyed said that there is a risk to their local mosque from far-right groups and extremists.

The Tell MAMA/Survation survey also found some positive and more optimistic findings after the 30th of July far right demonstrations that took part in various parts of the United Kingdom.

These included:

• 1 in 2 British Muslims surveyed said that the recent far right demonstrations (post the 30th of July), made them feel more open about their Muslim identity. This was usually through conversations that they had with friends and colleagues.
• 6 in 10 Muslims said that they felt safe in Britain.
  

These findings highlight growing fears within British Muslim communities and these findings should also be read in conjunction with the Tell MAMA/Survation poll conducted with British Muslims from the 15th of July to the 29th of July 2024. (In this poll, 550 British Muslims were surveyed and the polling took place just before the far right riots that have formed a benchmark for the latest Tell MAMA/Survation No2H8 November campaign poll.)

The recent poll also demonstrates that a substantive number of British Muslims polled feel that their local mosques are at risk from far-right extremist groups. Tell MAMA also understands that the ‘Places of Worship Protective Security Fund’continues to try and meet the security needs of local places of worship such as mosques. (This scheme is administered by the Home Office).

The Tell MAMA/Survation poll also worryingly points to 1 in 3 British Muslims seeking to leave the U.K. and to move to other countries. These findings do demonstrate that local police forces, local authorities, local political leaders, national government and statutory authorities all have a role in re-assuring local faith communities such as Muslim communities, particularly around their safety and security.

Of particular concern is that 7 in 10 British Muslims who were polled say that anti-Muslim hate or Islamophobia has become more widespread post the 30th of July demonstrations.

Finally, it is also clear that the recent far right demonstrations have added to a sense in about half of the British Muslim polled, that they are willing to assert their Muslim identity in a more open and transparent manner, rather than shying away from asserting this part of their identity. This is an interesting and heartening finding and also points somewhat as a reaction to anti-Muslim commentary and actions by far-right groups.

Speaking on the findings of the Tell MAMA/Survation poll, the Director of Tell MAMA said:

“The poll findings demonstrate that anti-Muslim hate or Islamophobia is having significant impacts on Britain’s Muslim communities. The findings show that much more work needs to be undertaken in re-assuring Britain’s Muslim communities and in supporting the social cohesion in our local areas. The findings should be a wake-up call for Central Government.

In the weeks since the riots at the end of July, Tell Mama has been inundated with calls from members of the public who have been shouted at aggressively and threatened to be killed, some have been spat at and assaulted. There has also been an increase in online reports including calls to burn down mosques, calls for mass migration and calls for Muslims and migrants to be killed.

Tell MAMA continues to support the victims of anti-Muslim hate or Islamophobia in a number of ways since 2011. We help them report incidents to Police or work with employers when incidents occur in the workplace.  We are an ‘always-on’ service for those who need us both in terms of practical, legal and emotional support.

But there must now be a laser like focus from the government on preventing the causes of anti-Muslim and Islamophobia. We must see Central Government acknowledge that much more work needs to be done in re-assuring British Muslim communities and in making real long-term commitments to challenging such hate”.

NOTES 

Survation (on behalf of Tell MAMA), contacted 750 members of the Muslim communities in the UK – online or by telephone between 30 September 2024 and 14 October 2024.

The post Tell MAMA’s Survey Finds that 1 in 3 British Muslims are considering leaving the U.K appeared first on TELL MAMA.

James Aspin, of Blyth, in Northumberland, uploaded his anti-Muslim and Islamophobic rant to his TikTok account that boasted 931 followers, which included the call to burn mosques whilst demonising refugees and Muslims more broadly by linking them to criminality.

Aspin had pleaded guilty to stirring up religious hatred (contrary to section 29E of the Public Order Act 1986) on 13 August after a member of the public alerted police days earlier.

Her Honour Judge Scott told Aspin that his words proved “hugely offensive and dangerous” and that he spoke about “people who practice Islam as being largely responsible for awful crimes committed in this country.” Adding, “You spoke about asylum seekers in a despicable way. You stated that you and others at the planned march in Newcastle would burn down every mosque in Newcastle.”

According to the judgment, the threatening video gained 14 likes, 18 comments and three saves.

Following his arrest, the judgment added that Aspin called asylum seekers “Muslim Asians” who “should not come to the UK, as caused problems for the country” when interviewed by officers from Northumbria police.

Her Honour clarified that Aspin’s threats fell into category one as it “directly encouraged activity which threatened or endangered life”, and whilst not a call for ‘direct action’ it did, however, ‘encourage’ it. Another factor was the nature of TikTok since his account remained visible to all “at a time when there was widespread violence in this country, there was a particularly sensitive social climate.”

Mitigating factors included his early guilty plea (which reduced the sentence by one-third) and a borderline IQ level.

Again, however, the judge made clear that his words “are not and should be tolerated” since such threatening language “could and do, on some occasions, result in action being taken by others which have a serious impact on the lives of other people,” and, therefore, only an immediate custodial sentence would suffice.

Following the horrendous Southport stabbings, we observed other examples of those jailed calling for the burning of mosques.

Tell MAMA, more broadly, recorded almost 5,000 anti-Muslim cases a year after the Hamas terror attacks on 7 October 2023.

Tell MAMA engages with various social media platforms and encourages Muslim communities and the wider public to confidently flag materials they find on TikTok (and other platforms). Contact us via our website, email info@tellmamauk.org, or direct message us on the relevant social media platform.

The post James Aspin jailed over TikTok threats to burn down every mosque in Newcastle appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Callum Ulysses Parslow, 31, stabbed 25-year-old Nahom Hagos from Eritrea in the back and hand, resulting in serious injuries that required extensive medical treatment on April 2.

“I still look at it as a miracle. God saved me,” Mr Hagos told the media.

News of Parslow’s conviction emerged after he switched to a guilty verdict concerning an unrelated trial that imposed reporting restrictions – to sending racist and sexual messages to a Black woman online, the journalist Lizzie Dearden revealed on X (formerly Twitter).

Parslow had appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court days after the terror attack, charged with attempted murder and possession of a bladed article to which he pleaded not guilty.

That prosecution outlined his use of social media to express his neo-Nazi views and the ideological motivations of the terror attack and to intimidate “asylum seekers and those providing accommodation to asylum seekers.”

Following the terror attack, he attempted to upload his terrorist screed to X, describing that he “just did my duty to England” and tried to “exterminate” his victim.

He was, however, unable to publish his terrorist screed as he tagged in too many accounts – ranging from news sources to the likes of Nigel Farage, Richard Tice, Suella Braverman, Keir Starmer, Laurence Fox, Michael Gove, David Cameron Lee Anderson, Boris Johnson, Donald Trump and others. He also attempted to tag those on the far-right spectrum – including Tommy Robinson (aka Stephen Yaxley-Lennon), Paul Golding, and Nick Griffin.

Online search results pulled from Parslow’s phone included the far-right, anti-Muslim terror attacks in Finsbury Park and Christchurch, New Zealand, respectively.

On X, Callum Parslow glorified the Christchurch terrorist, promoted white supremacist conspiracy theories about demographic changes and routinely used anti-Black racist slurs.

Parslow used two X accounts, Cyberpunknazi and iambutagardener, and the latter might have benefited from paid-for blue tick verification, according to screenshots posted on the platform from other users.

Credit: X/deletedacc0982

Some online mentions to iambutagardener redirect to deletedaccount0982, which boasts a paid-for verified status since February 2024. Some replies to the previous username criticised the platform for not removing their racist content.

Extracts of the racist and terrorist screed included antisemitic tropes that blamed them for “demonising Christianity, White people and all European culture” before blaming “Muslims and Africans” for rape and criminality, the Daily Mail reported.

West Mercia Police uncovered various Nazi-era paraphernalia at Parslow’s bedsit in Worcester, as well as a second knife, an axe, and a metal bat.

The post Neo-Nazi guilty of attempted murder after terror attack on asylum seeker appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Geraint Boyce, 43, of Rhondda Cynon Taf in Wales, pleaded guilty to one charge of publishing written material intending to stir up religious hatred.

During sentencing, the judge made clear that Boyce’s posts were “encouraging activity that would threaten or endanger life”.

The prosecution outlined how his far-right rhetoric had religiously and racially aggravated motivations.

On 31 July, Boyce posted an image of a mosque on his Facebook wall, captioned “no more mosques” before calling for the burning of mosques with worshippers inside in subsequent comments.

Police arrested him on 9 August. The CPS issued charges three days later.

The BBC reported that he called for the sinking of boats containing refugees.

Other inflammatory and threatening Facebook posts included captions like “I’m ready for war” over an image of a Union Jack and a lion, according to Sky News and a subsequent post that read “time to fight”.

He also shared an AI-generated picture of a “Hulk-sized” man chasing Muslims in religious clothing, the prosecution further outlined.

Whilst accepting his early guilty plea and reducing the prison sentence, the judge made clear that Geraint Boyce intended to “incite serious violence” during a “particularly sensitive social climate”.

In August, Blake Hindry threatened to burn down various mosques in anonymous menacing phone calls before receiving a prison sentence spanning over two years.

News of his jailing came against the backdrop of record levels of recorded religious hate crimes in England and Wales, with almost two in 5 of those targeted in religious hate crimes being Muslims (3,866 offences, 38 per cent of religious hate crimes).

Tell MAMA revealed how a year after the Hamas terror attacks on 7 October 2023, our service recorded almost 5,000 cases.

The post Man jailed over Facebook posts that called for the burning of mosques and murder of worshippers appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The Home Office briefing, drawing on data from 31 police forces, cited that the “increase was driven by a rise in hate crimes against Jewish people and to a lesser extent Muslims and has occurred since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas conflict,” adding that this was “the highest annual count in these offences since the hate crime collection began in the year ending March 2012.”

In the year ending March 2024, religiously aggravated hate crime figures stood at 10,484 offences, with 8,370 offences recorded by forces the previous year.

Recorded hate crimes towards Muslim communities rose 13 per cent, with 3,866 offences compared to the previous figure of 3,400 offences. Almost two in 5 of those targeted in religious hate crimes were Muslims, and the targeting of Jewish communities more than doubled in the recorded data from the previous year, accounting for more than one-third of religious hate crimes (33 per cent).

Offences towards Muslim communities across England and Wales rose by 67.5 per cent between September and October last year, rising from 194 offences to 325 offences and rising by a further 11.38 per cent the following month.

Credit: Home Office

The figures for December dropped slightly from the previous month but remained higher than offences recorded in September, August and July 2023. This pattern followed into 2024, with 332 offences against Muslims recorded by forces in March this year.

Several days ago, Tell MAMA revealed how it recorded almost 5,000 anti-Muslim and Islamophobic cases towards Muslim communities across the UK a year after the deadly Hamas terror attacks on 7 October 2023.

As our article mentioned, our service recorded cases of “violence, abuse, and discrimination – Muslims targeted for displaying pro-Palestine views, hostility in the workplace, or even losing out on employment or job opportunities based on their social media posts about Palestine or the war. Individuals described harassment or abuse when speaking Arabic in public areas.”

Our Director, Iman Atta, made clear that anti-Muslim hatred and discrimination harms the social mobility of Muslims, harms their careers or studies, and undermines their fundamental rights. Adding that “It falls on politicians, the media and other public bodies to do more to help Muslim communities, but also challenge stereotypes and falsehoods and undo the normalisation of tropes that link communities to violence and criminality or as cultural threats. The challenge is collective: we must not lose sight of what brings communities together.”

Tell MAMA has also produced updated safety advice for communities, including an Arabic translation.

Other safety tips and security advice for mosques appear on our Resources.

The post Recorded religious hate crimes hit record levels, Home Office reveals appeared first on TELL MAMA.

On the first anniversary, Tell MAMA Director Iman Atta made clear that: “Since 7 October, we have seen peaks and rises of anti-Muslim hatred where Middle Eastern communities (irrespective of faith), Muslim communities and Muslim women who are visible in their faith, who have supported Palestinian rights have been called ‘terrorists’, ‘Hamas’, ‘bombers’ and ‘Nazis’ on our streets, threatened, abused and in some cases subjected to violence or discrimination – harming their social mobility, careers or studies, and undermining their fundamental rights. It falls on politicians, the media and other public bodies to do more to help Muslim communities, but also challenge stereotypes and falsehoods and undo the normalisation of tropes that link communities to violence and criminality or as cultural threats. The challenge is collective: we must not lose sight of what brings communities together.”

“In total, Tell MAMA recorded 4,971 incidents of anti-Muslim hate and discrimination cases between 7 October 2023 and 30 September 2024, the highest total ever recorded in over a decade. (The data covers cases of anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobia directly reported to Tell MAMA).

“Almost two-thirds (63%) of the cases reported were abusive behaviour in nature, and 27% were threatening behaviour cases, the majority of which took place in London, Northwest, Yorkshire and the Midlands.

“The war on Gaza has left some questioning their safety and sense of belonging in the UK – a feeling compounded by the far-right violence in parts of the country following the horrific stabbings in Southport. Hate crime across all strands remains vastly underreported, and others told us that the daily levels of abuse meant some stopped reporting to the police. The long-term impacts on social and community cohesion and economic insecurity risk more significant threats to communities that the government must not overlook in the months and years ahead.

“The abhorrent and profoundly troubling rise in antisemitism, as recorded by the Community Security Trust and police forces since 7 October, cannot be ignored either. The strains between Muslim and Jewish communities will take time to repair. However, it must also not deter us from reaching out to check on each other and stand together against the racists and the extremists who seek to divide and harm our communities.

“We all deserve to live in a society that upholds fundamental rights for all, that holds those to account who seek to divide (whether in politics, the media or elsewhere) and that Muslim, Jewish and other communities are listened to and have their experiences heard, and that we work across society to make our society stronger.”

In preparation for the first anniversary, Tell MAMA worked alongside various partners and police forces to draft tailored security and safety advice that we translated into Arabic.

Your safety and security are vital.

We saw cases of violence, abuse, and discrimination – Muslims targeted for displaying pro-Palestine views, hostility in the workplace, or even losing out on employment or job opportunities based on their social media posts about Palestine or the war.

Individuals described harassment or abuse when speaking Arabic in public areas.

Last year, we highlighted how a Muslim family had a firework put through their letterbox, which they believed was motivated by a Palestinian flag they hung outside of their property. Following the attack, they removed the flag, fearing further attacks. We also reported on a family who had their window smashed for displaying a pro-Palestine kite.

Tell MAMA continued to work across various sectors, providing advice and training, and in the justice sector, helped the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) with an impact statement after 62-year-old Jonathan Katan targeted two mosques, a café and the Palestine Mission to the UK with red paint on eleven separate occasions.

We also provided the CPS with an impact statement over the abhorrent Islamophobic abuse Terry Eury subjected a group of women to in Romford High Street. After leaving court with a suspended sentence after being found guilty of religiously aggravated public order offences, we further raised the lack of a custodial sentence.

In a more recent example, our impact statement was read out in court when racist Michael Mongan appeared in court, receiving a 10-month prison sentence after he spat at and called a Muslim bus driver a “Muslim terrorist b*stard” and subjected staff at a betting shop to racist abuse before damaging the building in August.

In August, we published polling carried out amongst Muslims in the UK, revealing that 60% of the participants surveyed believed that anti-Muslim hate in British society has increased over the past year. Almost one-third of Muslims surveyed (27%) had faced incidents in the past twelve months. Nearly 69% of Muslims polled who received verbal attacks did not report these to the police, authorities or third-party services. It demonstrates the importance of providing more support and access to justice for those impacted by anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobia

The post Tell MAMA recorded almost 5,000 anti-Muslim cases a year on from 7 October appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Credit: X/@elonmusk

The disinformation came via Peter Imanuelsen (PeterSweden7), who, according to academic research at the University of Oslo, is “a well-known far-right voice in Sweden” on 31 August before Musk quoted the post a day later and captioned it “wow”.

Imanuelsen, who made historic antisemitic and Holocaust denial tweets before renouncing them later, has also been called out for misinformation on environmental issues and pro-meat issues. Other articles looked in-depth at their propensity for conspiracy theories and spreading falsehoods online. In 2022, Jewish News highlighted the outrage Imanuelsen’s appearance on GB News generated. Academics have also explored how a far-right subnetwork that included tweets from Imanuelsen undermined the integrity of Sweden’s voting system in 2018.

In reality, Ciaran Lockett, 34, pleaded guilty to violent disorder after admitting to hurling projectiles, including rocks, towards a mosque and police officers in Stoke-on-Trent on 3 August, which his partner Deana Evans filmed as far-right rioters took part in disorder and violence in Hanley, the prosecution outlined.

Both attempted to block a police van (requiring officers to physically remove them after they refused to step away from the vehicle), and both shouted at officers, “You are all protecting nonces” and “We want our country back.”

The pair continued to target officers during the disorder, requiring the use of riot shields to push them back, according to Staffordshire Police.

When officers tracked the couple to their home address, Deana Evans assaulted an officer by elbowing them in the chest after they attempted to seize her mobile phone, and she continued to resist arrest.

Evans pleaded guilty to violent disorder and assaulting an emergency worker, receiving a 20-month prison sentence.

Ciaran Lockett received a 34-month prison sentence after entering a guilty plea for violent disorder.

Judge Graeme Smith told the couple: “The seriousness of the offence means appropriate punishment can only be achieved by immediate custody.”

The headline in the StokeOnTrentLive, however, did not refer to their guilty pleas for violent disorder as it read, “Couple chanting ‘we want our country back’ jailed after Hanley riots.”

We have previously highlighted how the far-right and others are weaponising misleading headlines on social media.

Nor is the first such example back in March, when Musk boosted a similar falsehood posted from the PeterSweden7 account. The falsehood read: “Britain just jailed a man for 2 years for the crime of posting stickers opposing mass migration. Free speech has been banned in Britain.” To which Musk replied, “!!”.

Again, in reality, white supremacist Samuel Melia was guilty of creating a library of downloadable racist and white supremacist stickers and received a two-year prison sentence. He was found guilty of publishing or distributing material intending to stir up racial hatred and encouraging the commission of the offence of racially aggravated criminal damage between 2019 and 2021.

Judge Tom Bayliss KC told Melia: “I am quite sure that your mindset is that of a racist and a white supremacist.”

Elon Musk has engaged with Peter Imanuelsen numerous times on X.

Last month, Musk deleted a post promoting far-right disinformation about the creation of “detainment camps”.

The post Elon Musk boosted disinformation about couple who pleaded guilty to violent disorder appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Wayne O’Rourke, 35, came to our attention after members of the public reported an X post (formerly Twitter) that read made in late November that read: “Palestinian genocide is way more funny than you are” and other posts of concern.

O’Rourke (@Waynegb88) posted under his real name (@WayneOrourke88) last year, “Should I live stream a Quran burning? F*** Islam”, “A vote for labour is a vote for the continued islamifaction of Britain”, and that mosques would have “beheading rooms” for Christians.

As our investigation continued, we found that O’Rourke had posted AI-generated images linking Muslim men to bestiality and used “white lives matter” in some posts.

He also has a history of posting racist, anti-Black memes, evoking older historical racist tropes.

Other racist material included examples of him dehumanising refugees by calling them “foreign invaders” and later posting racialised memes linking refugees to criminality.

Weeks before his jailing, Tell MAMA wrote to the courts citing several posts we believed breached Contempt of Court laws regarding the Southport killings and how they pushed anti-Muslim conspiracies more broadly in early August. One such post had almost 700,000 impressions on X. He had also published details about the suspect on his X account, generating millions of impressions, before the judge had lifted an anonymity order.

On 2 August, posting on X, O’Rourke called for the mass deportation of “traitors” who protected mosques alongside Muslim communities following far-right violence disorder and violence after disinformation about the suspect went viral. Days earlier, he posted, “Today was a terror attack by a Muslim…heads must roll.”

The court heard that a further post urged the “people of Southport” to “get out on the street,” generating almost two million impressions as he celebrated the burning of a car in Sunderland with the caption: “Sunderland, go on lads”.

Further examples included inflammatory language, such as “Starmer has basically said it is against them. Hold the line.” And  “give them hell lads”, the BBC and other media outlets reported.

Wayne O’Rourke posted a dehumanising meme, inverting a crescent moon and star to spell “c****,” and compared Muslims to an “infestation” in early August. Tell MAMA has long continued to document in our research how racialised, dehumanising content uses animalistic or mechanistic forms of dehumanisation.

He also told the court that he made £1,400 monthly on X and boasted over 98,000 followers.

During his sentencing, Judge Catarina Sjolin Knight told O’Rourke: “You were not caught up in what others were doing, you were instigating it,” adding: “The flames fanned by keyboard warriors like you.”

The judge rejected his claims of using “dark humour” and, after pleading guilty to a charge of stirring up racial hatred, sentenced O’Rourke to three years in prison as the trial at Lincoln Crown Court concluded last Friday.

The post Three year prison sentence for X user who incited racism online appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Blake Hindry, of Rosebery Road in Kent, called from a withheld number and threatened to murder worshippers and burn the mosques down.

After a London mosque dialled 999 on 5 August to report the death threats, officers carried out reassurance patrols locally before connecting the threatening calls originated from the same source.

Within three days, officers who worked long hours had located Hindry and arrested him.

Hindry pleaded guilty after appearing before Maidstone Magistrates Court on 10 August. At Maidstone Crown Court yesterday (15 August), Hindry was sentenced to two years and six months in prison.

KentOnline reported that Hindry targeted mosques in Gillingham, east London and southeast London and chillingly told one mosque volunteer: “We are English patriots and we are coming after you. We are going to burn down the mosques, we are going to kill you guys. We are coming for you, we are going to wipe you out. We are going to take back our country.”

The KentOnline report also mentioned how Hindry responded to online disinformation following the horrific stabbings in Southport, which Tell MAMA wrote in length about.

He also called Muslims “paedophiles and killers” – across multiple research reports and news articles, our work has evidenced the criminalising and stigmatising impacts of these anti-Muslim and Islamophobic tropes target Muslims more broadly.

Blake Hindry also has a history of violence and of making violent threats to others.

Tell MAMA recently published an infographic of the targeting mosques following the Southport stabbings.

We provide tailored safety advice for mosques on our website.

Following Hindry’s jailing, Commander Louise Puddefoot, from the Metropolitan Police, said in a statement: “We understand that Muslim communities have felt particularly concerned for their safety following the violent disorder and criminality the country has seen in recent weeks.

“This sentencing demonstrates our determination to bring offenders to justice for racist and criminal behaviour.

“Our teams continue to investigate all offences committed during this period of disorder as we work hard to build trust and confidence in communities.”

The post Man jailed after threats to burn down mosques and murder worshippers appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Michael Mongan, 39, from Ealing in west London had targeted a branch of Ladbrokes in Northolt on 27 July and received bail after admitting guilt at Ealing Magistrates’ Court two days later.

Mongan targeted a Muslim bus driver in Hayes on 7 August in a shocking act of anti-Muslim and Islamophobic abuse and threats – where he called the driver a “Muslim terrorist b*stard” and spat at him as a member of the public filmed the abuse.

Officers arrested him two days later and prosecutors at the Crown Prosecution Service’s out-of-hours charging service (CPS Direct) authorised charges of religiously aggravated harassment and criminal damage, to which he pleaded guilty on 10 August.

During the trial, prosecutors read out a community impact statement from Tell MAMA to “explain the profound impact Mongan’s actions had not only on the individual he aimed his vitriol at, but also the wider community.”

Judge Comfort told Mongan: “Your behaviour (occurred) when there was violent disorder in other parts of the country against Muslims and other groups.”

Jaswant Narwal, Chief Crown Prosecutor with CPS London North, made clear following the sentencing that: “Mongan’s disgusting racism shocked our community and the thousands who saw it played out online.

“After being denied travel because he could not pay the fare, Mongan hurled hateful abuse at a bus driver who was simply doing their job.

“His actions come at a time of unrest which has left many feeling unsafe to go about their daily lives. The fact Mongan was on bail for a similar offence shows he lacked any contrition or remorse.

“Such behaviour has no place in our communities, and we will continue to work closely with the police to identify offenders who will face the full force of the law.”

Following his guilty pleas on 10 August, Detective Inspector Jonathan Potter, of the Roads and Transport Policing Command at the Metropolitan Police welcomed the verdict and stated: “I’m glad Mongan has been swiftly brought to justice and will now face the consequences of his actions.”

Prosecutors had also successfully applied a hate crime sentence uplift to ensure Mongan received a custodial sentence.

Tell MAMA also provided a community impact statement after 62-year-old Jonathan Katan targeted two mosques, a café and the Palestine Mission to the UK with red paint having previously admitted 11 counts of religiously aggravated criminal damage. He received an 11-week prison sentence suspended for two years. Katan must pay £2,650 in compensation to victims, complete 240 hours of unpaid work and complete twenty Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days.

In a statement, Tell MAMA’s director Iman Atta stated: “As with many anti-Muslim attacks, this case had a profound impact on individuals and wider Muslim communities.

“The Criminal Justice System can play a significant role in allaying fears and improving the confidence of victims of such crimes.

“By working in partnership and prosecuting those who commit such crimes against Muslim communities, this sends out a strong message that anti-Muslim hate crime will not be tolerated in society”.

The post Racist Michael Mongan jailed after targeting Muslim bus driver appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The misinformation began after Abdullah gave interviews to the media, with a foreign account re-branding itself as @AbdullahfromUK, which was just hours earlier, posting under @Fanof_Putin.

Tell MAMA published a thread on Twitter/X regarding the duplicity yesterday. See https://x.com/TellMamaUK/status/1823027489922224250

The BBC article (which included an image of Abdullah) went online at around 1 pm, with the first tweet from the fake Abdullah account appearing on the platform with the stolen photo at 3:01 pm, with light photo edits in hopes of adding to the deception.

Google results confirmed that the Fanof_Putin account had re-branded to steal the identity of Abdullah.

The pro-Putin, pro-Hamas materials appeared around May 2024 after a two-year gap in media posts. The account holder mass deleted old posts to appear more authentic, appearing under the name @Fanof_Putin until the early afternoon of 12 August, with its origins beforehand appearing under the username @ZartashaPti years prior.

Archival captures confirmed the redirections from the previous account names. In further research into their Twitter usage, the individual behind this account shared pro-Putin materials verbatim lifted months later.

Tell MAMA researchers identified anti-Muslim remarks directed towards the fake account, with some accusing them of being “terrorist scum” before news of the falsehood grew.

The far-right agitator Tommy Robinson (real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) also deleted his post after falsely accusing the security guard of supporting Hamas, The National reported.

Despite X adding a community note informing readers that the account is fake, it remained on the platform until today, having again changed its username from @AbdullahfromUK to @AbdullahU_k. The platform did not remove the account. The individual responsible, however, did delete the account before randomly returning again.

More broadly, criminalising anti-Muslim and Islamophobic memes circulating on the platform after news of the horrific stabbings in Leicester Square broke had linked Muslims to violence in London, with one such example gaining over one million impressions alone.

The real account belonging to Abdullah is here

“I would like to inform you that there are many fake accounts circulating on social media under my name,” he made clear, before holding a piece of paper listing his various, real social media pages to the camera.

So what are some tips for identifying false information from Twitter accounts?

We advise communities to check when the account first appeared on the platform via its bio and check replies by searching to:username (no spaces). Consider: Have people interacted with it as of late or at all? Or did people interact with the account under a previous name? Is their profile photo of a person? Google Images to TinEye and Yandex, are multiple reverse image search engines. There is guidance to help identify AI-generated faces.

Some accounts might also appear on archived platforms like the web archive machine by searching the full URL – this will be the Twitter dot com URL (not the X dot com version most often). You can also search the account profile link via good within quotation marks to see if the search engine indexed the profile or previous tweets. Taking screenshots is also a great way to preserve evidence and we encourage the public to report such accounts to ourselves and the platforms when they come across them.

Tell MAMA has previously provided advice and tips to improve social media literacy.

Members of the public also flagged concerns about some MailOnline coverage, where an image-based headline that read “’knifeman’ snared” made no distinction between the heroic security guard and the arrested suspect.

Members of the public contacted Tell MAMA to raise their concerns about how the original MailOnline image and headline made no distinction between Abdullah’s heroism and the arrest of the suspect.

A later version added the caption “hero security guard” above Abdullah’s head to make the distinction. Reverse image search engine TinEye captured the original version.

Credit: TinEye.

The suspect, 32-year-old Ioan Pintaru, who was charged with attempted murder and possession of a bladed article, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday morning.

The post How a pro-Putin account pretended to be the Leicester Square hero Abdullah appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Tell MAMA has been assessing the numbers of mosques attacked since the 29th of July and we have received a deluge of reports from British Muslims around the anti-Muslim hate and Islamophobia that they have been receiving.

What has been particularly distressing has been the speed with which the far right mobilised and the manner in which they immediately targeted mosques and Islamic institutions. Such has been the fear that they generated within large sections of British Muslims, that it will take months for levels of safety, security and confidence to build within British Muslim women, particularly, those who are visible and who wear the Hijab.

We are at a nexus point where it is clear that anti-Muslim hate or Islamophobia needs coordinated and concerted action by Her Majesty’s Government. For far too long some politicians have played with fire with the language that they have used about Muslims, migrants and asylum seekers. They must now, going forward, be held to account. Those who instigated and who left a question mark on social media platforms that a ‘Muslim’ may have been responsible for the murders of the innocent young girls, must be asked serious questions about their conduct in public life. They must also be assessed as to whether they have broken any criminal laws.

Tell MAMA continues to work with British Muslims at this time, and in supporting their needs and their desire for access to justice. We will not tire in supporting them going forward.

The post Anti-Muslim Hate or Islamophobia Needs Serious Action Now appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Our earlier investigation into a prominent Telegram channel established following the horrific stabbings in Southport boasted over 15,000 members. A notable figure in this channel before its removal due to its posting of violently racist and terrorist material was an individual from Finland.

Tell MAMA revealed how that Telegram channel had, before its removal, glorified the Christchurch terrorist, shared footage of the terror attacks and posted demonising comments about Muslim and Jewish communities. A second neo-Nazi Telegram channel that re-shared that content was removed from Telegram hours later.

A further investigation into a much smaller account, with 328 subscribers, with links to this individual revealed a channel that had largely focused on promoting neo-Nazi messages in northern European, with the occasional commentary on European and North American politics, before the killings in Southport.

In the days that followed the stabbings that resulted in the deaths of Elsie Dot Stancombe, Alice Dasilva Aguiar and Bebe King and the subsequent murder charges against Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, the channel re-shared material from various UK-based Telegram channels, in calls to violent actions and in racist invectives against refugee and Muslim communities.

Neo-Nazis based in different Nordic countries called for and encouraged violence towards Muslims in English cities.

On the evening of 5 August, a video appeared on the channel promising that “many things are going to happen” invoking racist and violent responses that included, “We should target the central hub of these p*kis like Bradford and Birmingham.” A Swedish-based neo-Nazi, called for violence in London, with the group admin sharing their agreement, as someone else posted a winking Totenkopf (death skull) emoji.

It was within this time frame that the Finnish neo-Nazi our investigation had identified had uploaded a racist video to TikTok titled “DO NOT GIVE UP YOUR HOMELAND DEAR ANGLOS” with a racist German-language song “Deutschland den Deutschen, Ausländer raus!” (“Germany for the Germans, foreigners out!”) that became a worrying TikTok trend in Germany, according to the public broadcaster NDR. Various neo-Nazi and white nationalist accounts in the UK and abroad posted approving and racist statements in the comments.

A second racist TikTok video was captioned “Defend your birthright! #england #christisking” and included a clip of Prime Minister Keir Starmer with a Star of David on his forehead, splicing content posted lifted from a racist X-user (formerly Twitter) in the UK (an individual they often retweeted).

More broadly, the responses of Elon Musk, including about potential “civil war” in the UK and policing responses to far-right violence is subject to ongoing government rebukes and wider public condemnation.

In the early hours of 7 August, a US-based Telegram channel that boasts over 15,000 subscribers (who have links to the extremist far-right nationalist Proud Boys group) posted a screenshot of the online hate crime reporting hub for communities in England and Wales and a link. What followed in the comments of screenshots purporting to show malicious hate crime reports, including one report calling Muslims rapists and the N-word.

An example of an alleged malicious hate crime report that called Muslims the N-word, captured during our investigation.

The tactic was equal parts racist and disruptive: hoping to undermine the efforts of police forces nationally to collate genuine hate crime reports from Muslim and other minority communities and to follow up with support.

Comments that our investigation found is that the admins of the Northern European channel actively encouraged such racist trolling (re-sharing the post to their channel) – with clear instructions to not “make credible sounding reports” as to also disrupt police responses to racist and far-right violence on a street level.

Last week, we highlighted the role of disinformation and misinformation on social media related to the stabbing suspect.

Tell MAMA will pass the findings of this investigation to the authorities, government and the relevant social media platforms.

Update: Following the publication of our investigation, a spokesperson for Telegram contacted Tell MAMA and gave the following statement: “Telegram’s moderators are actively monitoring the situation and are removing channels and posts containing calls to violence. Calls to violence are explicitly forbidden by Telegram’s terms of service.

Moderators use a combination of proactive monitoring of public parts of the platform, sophisticated AI tools and user reports to ensure content that breaches Telegram’s terms is removed.”

The post How neo-Nazis and far-right agitators abroad use Telegram to target Muslims in the UK appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Under the law, a suspect under the age of eighteen receives anonymity. Nor would a child aged between 10 and 17 and charged with a crime have their details disclosed outside the court, according to the Crown Prosecution Service.

However, during the late afternoon yesterday (30 July), a name circulated online and across Twitter/X, with false, incendiary and racialised claims that the suspect was an “asylum seeker” and was “known to M16”.

By 5:30 pm, numerous accounts shared the name, reinforcing the myth – an important fixture of this falsehood came outside of the UK – from a website called “Channel 3 Now” – with a now-deleted tweet timestamped at 5:51 pm yesterday gaining at least 1.7 million impressions.

Archives of the “Channel 3 Now” news article containing the in-text falsehoods went online just after 5 pm. Minutes earlier, however, though now-deleted, a viral tweet contained the falsehood at 4:49 pm, with users promoting and quoting it by at least 4:51 pm. The “Channel 3 Now” website lifted direct sentences from the deleted tweet and put them into their subheading and body of the article without citation, archives confirm.

A thread by the BBC journalist Shayan Sardarizadeh debunked the falsehood yesterday afternoon, highlighting the account that posted the falsehood before “Channel 3 Now”.

Just after 5 pm yesterday, we identified various other accounts promoting the falsehood verbatim – with some far-right accounts adding pro-Tommy Robinson statements, gaining hundreds of thousands of impressions on Twitter/X.

A far-right Twitter account boasting over 200k followers took a screenshot of the false headline from “Channel 3 Now” in a post that gained over one million impressions -demonstrating a bigger problem with disinformation on the platform.

More broadly, a common trend we saw was of accounts using a collage of female MPs and London Mayor Sadiq Khan holding pro-refugee statements alongside racist and misogynistic statements – blaming politicians for the stabbings.

We also logged examples of racist, anti-Black and dehumanising racist caricatures of South Asian Muslim men in AI-generated memes, presenting them as violent threats to white children (often dressed in Union Jack clothing).

Members of the public also reported a despicable tweet from Laurence Fox, who called for the ‘complete’ removal of Islam from the UK in response to the stabbing.

In an extreme example of some of the material Tell MAMA flagged with the police, an account on Twitter/X called for the “end of Muslims” and immigration in the UK.

As the hours passed and Merseyside Police debunked the name published online, the website “Channel 3 Now” deleted the offending tweet but quietly edited Facebook to remove the false claims.

The academic Marc Owen-Jones also explored the viral reach of the falsehood – from far-right accounts to more mainstream figures.

Times Radio interviewed the investigative journalist Katherine Denkinson to discuss the falsehood.

Reuters Fact Check also debunked the falsehood, echoing claims from Merseyside Police that the suspect was born in the UK.

Tell MAMA’s investigation unearthed a Twitter user based in India who had pretended to be a UK-based Muslim user glorifying the horrific stabbings before Twitter/X suspended the account holder in the hope of sowing further unrest. In some cases, responding to that fake tweet, some called for deportations of Muslims more broadly.

Our investigation found that an anti-Muslim troll from India sought to take advantage of the horrific stabbing attacks to further an anti-Muslim agenda by pretending to be a Muslim and endorsing the violence.

We found that the user had previously spread anti-Muslim and Islamophobic statements on Twitter, with archives confirming a location of Jabalpur.

Outside agitations included from the United States, with overt white supremacists propagating the falsehood, jumping on hashtags and quote-tweeting mainstream news sources to accounts with verified ticks re-posting the same false information highlighted above.

In other examples, websites hosted by individuals banned from entering the UK due to their anti-Muslim views, namely Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller, had also shared the falsehood before both “Jihad Watch” and the “Geller Report” had quietly deleted their respective articles.

In a statement today, our Director Iman Atta condemned the misinformation online that helped fuel the targeting of Southport Mosque, making clear that: “We must also work collectively in our politics, media and wider society to challenge and remove scapegoating and stigmatising narratives that collectively link refugees, migrants, Muslims and other minority communities to violence and crime.

Nor can we accept passivity from social media platforms on harmful misinformation. Change must come, and platforms must do more to tackle misinformation.”

The statement adds about the added fear some Muslims are feeling in the current climate after contacting us.

Locals in Southport also helped clean up the mess left by the far-right who violently targeted the mosque and the police – injuring 39 officers after hurling bricks and other objects.

MP Patrick Hurley condemned the far-right violence as they had “hijacked the grief” of the town and families, the BBC reported.

Jenni Stancombe, who tragically lost her seven-year-old daughter Elsie, pleaded publicly for the disorder and violence to stop.

Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, made clear that social media companies “need to take some responsibility” for the material shared on their platforms. Our research identified worrying tweets about the home secretary we also flagged.

To reiterate: the focus should be on the families and those impacted, we like many others grieve for the loss of Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice Dasilva Aguiar.

The post How misinformation and disinformation about the Southport stabbings went viral appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Our research and investigations team worked tirelessly yesterday in helping to identify various far-right agitators online spreading misinformation on social media platforms – we have reported some extremist racist and harmful materials to the police – and will continue to do so.

We also received messages from Muslim communities, including visibly Muslim women, worried about the current climate. We must not lose our sense of mutuality and support for each other by those who seek to divide us, especially by those with large platforms online and more mainstream traction.

We must also work collectively in our politics, media and wider society to challenge and remove scapegoating and stigmatising narratives that collectively link refugees, migrants, Muslims and other minority communities to violence and crime.

Nor can we accept passivity from social media platforms on harmful misinformation. Change must come, and platforms must do more to tackle misinformation.

Tell MAMA’s research highlights the threat of the far-right both online and offline, and we urge the government and the public, to understand how the disgraceful scenes in Southport last night, which left 39 police officers injured, do not exist in a vacuum. After many trigger events, we often saw a rise in anti-Muslim cases reported to Tell MAMA.

We are also heartened by members of the public standing up for Muslim communities locally, with offers of support to help clean up and who reject the racialised misinformation online.

The focus should be on the families and those impacted, we like many others grieve for the loss of Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice Dasilva Aguiar.

The police investigation is ongoing, and we remind the public to avoid speculation as Merseyside Police have also dismissed claims about the name of the suspect circulating on social media – who, due to their age, cannot be named for legal reasons.

Notes to editors

Please email ‘info@tellmamauk.org’ FAO of our Director Iman Atta OBE to discuss the story and our work more generally.

The post Statement on the targeting of Southport Mosque by the far-right and online disinformation appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Reports in the local press, including the Romford Recorder, confirmed that graffiti also appeared at each location.

The police confirmed that the pig heads and graffiti appeared on the morning of 26 July, with one found at 4 am.

The shameful targeting of schools and a youth centre drew strong condemnation from the local MP Margaret Mullane.

In a statement, Superintendent Simon Hutchison, who leads neighbourhood policing, made clear that: “These incidents are being treated as Islamophobic hate crimes. I know that people in Rainham are as shocked and appalled at these acts as am I.”

Officers spoke with local Muslim faith leaders, community representatives, and elected officials to give more insights into the investigation and understand community concerns, adding that officers are trawling CCTV footage and increasing patrols in the local area.

Tell MAMA is liaising with the police further and endeavours to provide further updates where possible.

Anyone with information can contact 101, quoting the reference 1878/26JUL. Tell MAMA can pass information forward on your behalf or anonymously.

The post Pig heads dumped outside two schools and youth centre in Rainham appeared first on TELL MAMA.

In their analysis of our data in the ‘A Decade of Anti-Muslim Hate’ report (2023), Byline clearly demonstrate their ignorance of what Tell MAMA is – a third party hate crime reporting service. These are centres or services within communities that allow people to report into them, if they are not comfortable reporting to police forces, or if they feel more comfortable approaching a community based organisation. Here is an example of what a third party hate crime reporting service is. This is precisely what Tell MAMA is funded to be, though according to Byline Times, we should be in direct comparison and contrast with police forces across England and Wales, as though Tell MAMA should be collecting all of the data of anti-Muslim hate cases in the U.K. This is a fundamental point, because it shows how Byline have literally gone off at a tangent.

READ: The Truth, Nafeez Ahmed and Byline Times – ‘Indefensible Reporting’
READ: Parliamentary Privilege, Smears and Conspiracies Aimed at Tell MAMA

Apart from this being fantastical thinking, we can add this to the conspiratorial thrust of what has been thrown at us – that we are somehow secretly monitoring Muslims.  Our experiences of Byline Times have been listed here and here, though now we have to deal with what we can only call a serious deficit or shortfall in understanding what a third party hate crime reporting service is.

In other words, the central premise of Byline’s article on our data is that we are not reflecting the whole state of anti-Muslim hate in the U.K. This also shows that their reporting is not in good faith, since they are attempting to hold Tell MAMA to a bar that no other community hate crime reporting service is held to. No third party hate crime reporting service will have data that is higher than police forces. That is a simple fact and it is impossible to record all hate crimes and particularly difficult given the scale, nature, geographical location and nationality of British Muslims from over 50 Muslim majority countries.

Byline Times will suggest that we under-estimate the scale of anti-Muslim hate crimes. Again, we are not meant, nor resourced to be an organisation that looks for hate incidents or crimes on the internet or at a street level. We report on what is provided to us by victims, and which is unsolicited. Byline will also suggest that between 2017-2022, the police recorded 19,146 anti-Muslim hate crimes for England and Wales. They will also suggest that Tell MAMA/Faith Matters reported on 13,143 anti-Muslim hate crimes during this period.

Even by their own figures, we provided over 60% of cases to police forces, over 95% of which would not have been received by them. This is the fundamental point, and this is a collaborative and not competitive process.

What is also important to note is that Tell MAMA is the only hate crime service working with British Muslim communities that has an information sharing agreement and is a trusted partner with police services in England and Wales. Once again, this is a collaborative process, not a competitive one since we are a third party reporting service for people who don’t want to report to the police.

So let us summarise:

• The role of Tell MAMA is to provide a monitoring and victim support service to British Muslims (and others) who suffer targeted hate or discrimination. Each individual receives a wrap-around multi-layered service from Tell MAMA which supports their emotional well-being whilst ensuring that we either advocate for them, collect evidence, support them at courts or work with them through a range of complicated and interlinked agencies such as local authorities, GP’s and other local services. 
• We do not go looking for cases or seeking material online or offline. If we did so, we would be here with a workload that would far exceed the limited resources we have and the data would not be credible. Of course, the numbers of cases we receive will be less than the police and 95% of the cases, when analysed by Tell MAMA, do not initially get reported to the police. That is the point of Tell MAMA, to provide another access and route so that people can get access to justice. In doing so, the data that we collect is unique in the client reporting it to us as a trusted partner and which helps the police build up a national picture of hot-spots and trends, assess where there may be issues specific to local areas, make arrests etc. Additionally, some of the cases are related to employment and discrimination in goods and services or housing and which are not fed into the police. (Those involving risk to life, assaults, threat of assaults, far right agitation etc are just some examples of what is fed into police forces.)
• Tell MAMA has been in existence for about a decade and in that period our data and access by people has significantly built up. (Even Byline’s figures in their article will show a year on year growth in reporting). We are therefore the largest non-police hate crime reporting service for British Muslims in the U.K. There is no doubt about that and for Byline Times to deny the value of this in supporting victims and in giving statutory authorities a richer picture of what is taking place, is disingenuous. Furthermore, naturally, our figures will not be higher than police forces in England and Wales. That is a fact and we have never suggested this.
  Trust and confidence in getting communities to report in is a slow and difficult process and more work is needed to ensure that we can remain a service that people, (who don’t want to report into the police), can do so through us. That is one of the fundamental principles of Tell MAMA.Tell MAMA has been in existence since 2011/2012 and this year will report on the highest number of recorded cases.Also, we do not include police data in our total tally of cases, whereas other hate crime reporting services do. That shows unique organic growth and traction in Muslim communities and the fact that this work takes time, resource and decades of consistency.
  For example, the Community Security Trust (the CST), which monitors antisemitism in the U.K. was registered as a charity in 1994 and has been working in this area for 30 years. This is our twelfth year of work, where the range, types of nationality, geographical spread and complexity within Muslim communities and dare we say, a fear of statutory agencies in some parts of them, makes this work exceptionally difficult. However, according to Byline Times, they don’t do nuance, but look at people in terms of figures, thereby doing a grave injustice to people and to this work.

• We also have to ask why Byline Times think that damaging Tell MAMA’s standing or reputation helps add value to monitoring anti-Muslim hate incidents. It simply means that people who do not want to report to the police, have fewer opportunities to, if we close. Precisely how does this help to counter anti-Muslim hate and support the victims of it?
• According to Byline Times, the police data is ‘flawed’ (their term in text sent to us), and the data of Tell MAMA is not useful. We wonder whose data they may consider as being truly useful going forward if the police data and Tell MAMA data is flawed etc. A genuine question – whose data do they think is reliable? Or shall we start guessing by some of the types of people and organisations on Byline’s web-site and who have written on their platform and who have a history of community divisiveness?
  
  We should also add that the article that they will publish in the coming days belittles both agencies, (the police and Tell MAMA), and then suggests that there is significant under-reporting in anti-Muslim hate cases, according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales. How is their article supporting trust and confidence in either agency and again, how is this helping the work on countering anti-Muslim hate?
• Tell MAMA fully acknowledges and has always accepted that significant under-reporting of anti-Muslim hate takes place and this is a real issue. There is no disagreement on this, yet to suggest that the people who report to us and who get assistance and help by us, is less than useful work in building a better picture of the state of anti-Muslim hate in the U.K. is plainly perverse. Byline Times seems to take a ‘slash and burn’ approach in making the case about building up a stronger picture of the state of anti-Muslim hate. In using numbers they detach this work away from the human element and impact and the emotional and physical cost to people’s lives, and they fundamentally demean a third party services which gives access and opportunity to those who don’t want to report to the police.
• Lastly, Byline Times also assumes that with the limited resources we have, we should be able to accumulate higher figures of anti-Muslim hate than police forces; as though when there is a physical attack, Tell MAMA would have the resources to be able to record every incident that the police gets to, and where the majority of British Muslims should approach Tell MAMA first. Both of these positions show breath-taking naivety, based on fantastical and magical thinking and again, overlie an insidious attempt to undermine the work of Tell MAMA. Furthermore, comparing our resources to police forces in England and Wales is quite a stretch of the imagination.

So, there we have it – Byline Times. Clearly in a place where psilocybin can’t even reach.

The post Byline Times, Data & Ignorance of What Tell MAMA is About appeared first on TELL MAMA.