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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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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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.

The post How Christchurch terror content still permeates on social media appeared first on TELL MAMA.

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.

The post Police investigating anti-Muslim graffiti on Birmingham mosque appeared first on TELL MAMA.

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.”

The post Trafalgar Square, Prayer and Subsequent Anti-Muslim Abuse appeared first on TELL MAMA.

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.

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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.

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A new research briefing by Tell MAMA exposes how anti-Muslim hate in the UK is no longer solely home-grown, but increasingly shaped by foreign influence, online extremism, and the misuse of artificial intelligence. The report documents how a short-lived but highly dangerous far-right network — operating primarily on Telegram and amplified through X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and YouTube — actively encouraged attacks on mosques, Muslim communities, and the police.

This case study shows how online hate translates into real-world harm, how AI is being weaponised, and how foreign actors can exploit moments of national trauma to incite violence inside the UK.

From Online Propaganda to Real-World Targeting

The report centres on an extremist network known as “Direct Action”, which emerged in the aftermath of the Southport murders and stabbings. The group deliberately sought to hijack public grief and social tension, reframing tragedy as justification for racist violence. Using Telegram as its core platform, the network led to encouragement of the vandalism of mosques, whilst it also offered incentives in cryptocurrency so that the flows of money could not be tracked. This incentivisation marked a new low in the targeting of mosques and Islamic institutions. 

Direct Action also shared terror manuals and circulated bomb-making instructions, as well as guidance on the use of weapons. The aim of this was to direct the possibility of arson attacks against Muslims and thereby the intimidation and harassment of Muslim communities in the real world.

Anti-Muslim Hate as a Strategic Target

A central finding of the report is the systematic targeting of Muslims and Islamic institutions. Analysis of hundreds of posts by our in-house researchers marked out the repeated references to mosques, Islams, Muslims and migration, as well as anti-Muslim tropes like the ‘Great Replacement Theory’ and the ‘Demographic Time Bomb of Muslims in Europe’. There were also calls to make things difficult in the social space for British Muslims. The report also highlights how Direct Action framed mosques as not just being places of worship, but places that needed to be targeted.

Clear Foreign Influence

One of the most alarming aspects of the case study is the strong indication of foreign ideological and technical influence. Our researchers found out that there were fingerprints of Russian hacktivists and logos from defunct Russian extremist Telegram channels that were evident in the fomenting of violence against mosques and Muslims. Language errors also pointed to people who were based overseas and non-native English speakers and we also picked up references to extremist manuals that were sourced from abroad. 

Our report also highlights AI-generated images that falsely depict Muslims as violent and visuals that have been created using AI tools that promote false narratives of burning police cars and mosques. The aim of these AI assets is to mobilise anger and emotional hatred, whilst then seeking to mobilise this emotional impact into real world physical impacts on the streets of the United Kingdom.

By launching this report, our in-house research team are highlighting the risk that foreign actors are fomenting on our streets in the United Kingdom. This is not only a security issue — it is a human one.

Read the Report HERE.

Read More: Thirty Reports of Mosques Targeted Across the U.K. Between June and the 30th of October 2025

The post The Risk of Foreign Influence on the UK Far-Right and Anti-Muslim Hate 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.

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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”.

The post Dame Louise Casey’s Review Says What Needs to be Said appeared first on TELL MAMA.

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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Over the last 6 months, however, we have been left in the uncomfortable and unsettling position of having no guarantee of further direct grant funding from the Ministry for Communities, Housing and Local Government (MHCLG). We have been concerned about decisions that have been made on the future funding of Tell MAMA during this period, particularly at a time when we recorded the highest numbers of anti-Muslim hate cases since Tell MAMA was founded in 2011. In addition, we have been subjected to malicious campaigns to undermine our work, including being the subject of hate and abuse targeting the project and our staff, threatening their safety and security, which have been reported to the relevant authorities. Whatever the reasons behind these campaigns, the people responsible for them have given no thought to victims of anti-Muslim hate whom we have served with dedication over the past 13 years.

We are saddened that the very service that has trained police forces, statutory authorities and civil society organisations, whilst highlighting the depth, scope and impact of anti-Muslim hate since 2011, has had to go through these significant insecurities and challenges over the last 6 months.

Following discussions with the MHCLG, Tell MAMA has received an offer of an extension of funding from the MHCLG covering the next 6 months (April-September 2025), together with confirmation from the MHCLG that it has full confidence in Tell MAMA and its work, for which we are grateful. However, for the reasons outlined above, and in order to strengthen our independence from central Government, Tell MAMA has taken the decision to turn down this offer. Also, we will not be applying for any future tenders from MHCLG on this work.

We would like to thank Lord Khan of Burnley in particular for his part in our discussions with the MHCLG and his expression of support for Tell MAMA in ensuring the offer of further funding. His determination to tackle anti-Muslim hate is heartening and motivating and we value his desire to make a positive impact in this area of work.

We will continue to monitor cases of anti-Muslim hate, whilst supporting victims of anti-Muslim hate and striving to meet the needs of British Muslims affected by it. We believe that this is crucially important at a time when the volume of anti-Muslim hate online has increased and where anti-Muslim hate appears to be fast becoming normalised politically. However, we will also seek to repurpose and refocus our support services in the next 3 months, without taking away from our work ensuring that victims of anti-Muslim hate have the access to access to justice to which they are entitled. We believe that our newfound independence from Government will ensure that we are able to review our services and re-assess where we can ensure maximal impact in this area of work.

Finally, we would like to add that work on countering anti-Muslim hate should not be an afterthought, but central to decision planning within the MHCLG if it is to ensure that Muslim communities are properly protected whilst also supporting social cohesion on a national basis. We are proud to have worked with over 50,000 British Muslims since 2011 – the true heroes striving for justice and ensuring that perpetrators of anti-Muslim hate are held to account.

Read more: Tell MAMA is a key partner with Government on tackling anti-Muslim hate

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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.

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Historical Context

➢ Between 2012-2024, over 51,000 British Muslims have utilised the services of Tell MAMA.
➢ Since 2012-2024, Tell MAMA has seen a 2,253% increase in street based anti-Muslim hate cases reported in.
➢ Significant, tangible and large increases in anti-Muslim hate cases reported to Tell MAMA between 2023-2024.

Key Findings – Between 2023 and 2024
Total Number of Cases Reported to Tell MAMA Between 2023-2024:

➢ Between 2023 and 2024, Tell MAMA received 10,719 cases out of which 9,604 were verified cases of anti-Muslim hate that were overwhelmingly reported in by British Muslims in the United Kingdom. (Note – the term ‘verified’ means that cases have been diligently checked and as being ‘anti-Muslim’ in nature and with supportive relevant evidence that confirms this finding).
➢ 2024 saw the highest number of anti-Muslim hate cases recorded by Tell MAMA in any year, since the founding of the project in 2011/2012. This amounted to 6,313 cases of anti-Muslim hate reported to Tell MAMA, a rise of 165% of verified cases reported in since 2022 and in just 2 years.
➢ Tell MAMA recorded a 120% increase in street based cases since 2022.
➢ Data shows an 103% increase in targeted anti-Muslim hate towards people who are visibly Muslim when comparing 2023 and 2024 data sources.
➢ There has been a large rise in the categorisation of ‘threatening behaviour’ in street based cases. This amounts to a 715% increase in such cases between 2023 and 2024.
➢ In summary, cases of anti-Muslim hatred are becoming more threatening towards victims, higher in volume and much more prone to significant peaks because of a higher frequency of national and international events.

The Online World

➢ Post October 7th 2023, Tell MAMA received the highest number of online anti-Muslim hate reports with a 1,619% increase, when compared to online cases received prior to October 7th. The Middle East conflict super-fuelled online anti-Muslim hate. (Verified online cases recorded in 2023 – 1,719)
➢ In 2024, Tell MAMA recorded 2,307 (verified) cases of online anti-Muslim hate that were reported in, the majority of which were reported in after the 29th of July 2024 and after the brutal murder of Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice Dasilva Aguias.
➢ This demonstrates a 34% increase in online anti-Muslim hate cases reported to Tell MAMA when comparing 2023 and 2024. In both years, significant national and international events spiked online reports of anti-Muslim hate into Tell MAMA.
➢ To date, ‘X’ remains the most toxic online platform in the dissemination of anti-Muslim hate. The platform far outstrips any other social media platform in the volume, aggressive language and the targeted nature of anti-Muslim hate towards other users, which the Tell MAMA report highlights.
➢ Tell MAMA is deeply concerned about how Artificial Intelligence generated anti-Muslim pictures are being generated and circulated online and which have been reported in by British Muslims who have been targeted by them online. This phenomenon became marked and noticeable in cases in 2024.
➢ Tell MAMA continues to see an overlap between the online and offline (street-based) worlds. Tell MAMA continues to collate information that is reported in by British Muslims on how far right extremist groups continue to harass and target vulnerable refugees in temporary accommodation with anti-migrant and anti-Muslim hate.

2024 Key Findings on Anti-Muslim Rhetoric and the Targeting of British Muslim Members of Parliament

➢ Anti-Muslim tropes in both street based and online anti-Muslim hate cases reported in stress anti-Muslim tropes of a ‘take-over’ of Europe, demographic surges in ‘numbers of Muslims’ with an associated preconceived plan to Islamise the United Kingdom, and to ‘outbreed’ the local ‘indigenous’ population.
➢ There has been a stark rise in the intensification of language calling for the banning and removal of British Muslims from the political life of the United Kingdom.
➢ Tell MAMA has recorded disproportionate amounts of anti-Muslim hate targeted towards the following British politicians who happen to be Muslim and in the following order of frequency, with the most targeted politician listed first:

1. The Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan,
2. The former Scottish First Minister – Humza Yousaf MSP,
3. Zara Sultana MP,
4. Apsana Begum MP,
5. Naz Shah MP

➢ Racist posts have also been reported into Tell MAMA that have targeted Diane Abbot MP, Suella Braverman MP and the former Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP.

Commenting on these findings, the Director of Tell MAMA, Iman Atta OBE said:

“We have had the largest volume of cases reported to us in Tell MAMA in 2024 and since we started our work in 2012. As anti-Muslim hate continues to be felt by a greater number of British Muslims, both at a street and online level, our work and support for victims of anti-Muslim hate is needed now more than ever. We are at a nexus point where it is clear that anti-Muslim hate needs a coordinated action by His Majesty’s Government.”

“The rise in anti-Muslim hate is unacceptable, and this is deeply concerning for the future. We should never allow such hatred and intolerance to take root in our communities. We urge the public to stand together against hatred and extremism and we urge those in positions of influence and public authority to consider how their language risk stereotyping communities and how it unduly influence discussions online and offline”.

The post Tell MAMA Records the Highest Number of Anti-Muslim Hate Cases in 2024 Since Its Founding 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.

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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.

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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.

(Note: These findings are disturbing since they demonstrate a level of fear and apprehension in British Muslim communities prior to the Southport mosque attacks over the recent week. They demonstrate the effects on British Muslims, post the October 7th attacks on Israel and the continuing Israel and Gaza war. Tell MAMA is consistently monitoring the situation nationally).

Tell MAMA commissioned a poll of 550 British Muslims in July 2024. The poll was to assess perceptions around anti-Muslim prejudice and to assess what the impacts of anti-Muslim hate have been on Muslims post October 7 and the subsequent conflict between Israel and Hamas.

The Survation poll was conducted between 15/07/2024 – 29/07/2024 and involved 550 British Muslims of Shia and Sunni theological backgrounds. The survey was representative of the British Muslim population to targets drawn from the Office for National Statistics, representative of age, sex and regional distributions.

The vast majority of interviews were conducted over the telephone with just over 100 interviews being conducted online and all participants came from the faith probability panel of Survation. They had previously been surveyed by Survation and therefore agreed to take part in this snapshot poll for Tell MAMA.

Key Findings

The Tell MAMA Commissioned Poll demonstrated that:

• 60% of the participants surveyed believed that anti-Muslim hate in British society has increased over the past year.
• Over 1 in 4 – 27% of British Muslims surveyed said that they had experienced an anti-Muslim hate incident in the last year. This is a concerning statistic.
• There has been a 300% increase in verbal abuse and anti-Muslim prejudice against British Muslims since October 7, 2023. (16% of those who suffered verbal anti-Muslim abuse experienced it prior to October 7 versus 51% who experienced it after October 7).
• The Tell MAMA commissioned Survation data backs up the academic reports of Tell MAMA, in that verbal anti-Muslim abuse against British Muslims has increased and key locations where the abuse takes place includes ‘at a street level’, on public transport and worryingly, within work environments. 22% of those who had experienced incidents of verbal abuse experienced it in the workplace or other institutions. (Tell MAMA has repeatedly made clear that employers must raise their game, develop better awareness on identifying anti-Muslim hate & put into place how they can reduce and manage anti-Muslim hatred in the workplace).
• The report demonstrates why ‘Third Party services’ like Tell MAMA are important and where individuals can report in physical and online anti-Muslim attacks against them. (Third Party hate crime reporting services provide members of the public with another avenue through which they can report in anti-Muslim hate and organisations like Tell MAMA help to support access to justice for victims by linking them into relevant forces, assisting in collecting relevant evidence and in advocating for victims where required).
• Nearly 69% of British Muslims who received verbal attacks, did not report these into the police, authorities or third-party services. This demonstrates that more work needs to be done by all to demonstrate how reporting in can ensure access to justice for victims of anti-Muslim hate or Islamophobia.
• About 1 in 3 – nearly 28% of the 550 British Muslims surveyed, fell under 5 in a scale from 1-10, with 10 being associated with feeling very safe, post October 7, 2023.

This demonstrates that nearly 1 in 3 British Muslims are uneasy or uncomfortable about their safety since October 7, 2023. This is a worrying statistic and demonstrates that much more needs to be done by the Government, statutory and civil society organisations to re-assure British Muslims after October 7.

Summary

These findings point to a significant number of British Muslims who have suffered anti-Muslim abuse and hate in the last year. The poll also points to verbal abuse that has taken place at a street level, on public transport and in the workplace.

The findings also show that perceptions within British Muslims, of anti-Muslim prejudice in British society, are increasing allied with a sense of feeling uneasy about their personal safety. The inverse correlation is understandable given the tensions felt by British Muslims since October 7, 2023.

The findings also throw down the gauntlet that statutory, private and civil society groups need to demonstrate to British Muslims why ‘reporting in’ anti-Muslim hate may be of benefit to them in getting access to justice. The levels of British Muslims ‘just letting go’ of anti-Muslim abuse that has been targeted against them, demonstrates that there is a gulf that needs to be closed and this is even more acute given that perceptions of a rise in anti-Muslim hate in the U.K cut across the majority of those British Muslims polled.

Read: ITV News and Tell MAMA mosque hate crime survey reveals scale of problem

The post Survey of British Muslims After October 7th Shows A Rise in Anti-Muslim Abuse 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.

We are deeply concerned about the way that Greater Manchester Police initially communicated the incident to members of the public and we are also aware that there were community based concerns before this incident in Manchester airport, around the flying of Gaza flags on private homes. Some residents who flew such flags on their properties were questioned by members of Greater Manchester Police. So, prior to the Manchester airport incident, there were community based concerns around policing.

We within Tell MAMA are clear. There are no circumstances that a man lying on the floor and who is not a threat to anyone, should end up being kicked in the head and then stamped on, as the officer in question did. Whilst Greater Manchester Police talked about context, there is no context that can justify these actions.

We understand that criminal charges may be brought against the officer. We await the result of the outcome of the IOPC investigation and we hope that the investigation will publish its results so that the findings are accessible to members of the public.

There are tens of thousands of men and women serving in our police forces on a daily basis. They suffer abuse, high stress levels and daily threats, yet, thankfully, we do not see them doing what the Greater Manchester Officer did on film. His actions are uncalled for and deeply troubling.

We will be tracking the outcome of this case and we will await a response to our letter from Greater Manchester Police.

The post Our Letter to Greater Manchester Police appeared first on TELL MAMA.

This is the second letter that we are releasing for public viewing on the back of the attacks by Byline Times and its associates such as Nafeez Ahmed. We have raised question marks around his actions in a previous article with evidence of comments that he made to us when approaching us for a comment and which Byline Times have now withdrawn and rowed back on. The comments made by Nafeez Ahmed demonstrated an over-reach and wide sweeping assumptions which were fundamentally wrong. What does this say about his style of working and the crude and deeply troubling allegations he made without any tangible evidence of any ‘criminality’.

For example, we point to the following paragraph in the Mishcon de Reya letter:

We note that you (Byline Times) appear to have rowed back from the very serious allegation made by Mr Ahmed in his enquiries to our client dated 19 June 2024, in which he claimed that directors of our client “have provided false information deliberately to Companies House“, a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment and/or a fine. We note that you have sensibly confirmed that you “have no intention of publishing anything to the effect that the directors of Faith Matters or any persons connected with Faith Matters have committed any criminal offence“. That you accept that this allegation is unsupportable is indicative of your Mr Ahmed’s journalism and irresponsible approach to the preparation of your threatened story. Rather than objectively and forensically assessing evidence and drawing the appropriate conclusion based on that assessment and supporting evidence, you reframe and selectively apply the facts and cherry-pick evidence to suit your conspiratorial narrative”.

Baroness Shaista Gohir

This letter also highlights how a politician, using Parliamentary privilege, has made astonishing and conspiratorial remarks about the work of Tell MAMA. Within the letter, the Baroness in question (Baroness Gohir), is quoted as saying in the House of Lords that Tell MAMA has been “funded to tackle Muslim extremism which is hidden under the guise of monitoring”. Not only this statement libellous if she chose to make it in the public domain, she needs to back this statement up with proof or apologise to us as publicly as she made this statement. This statement is outrageous.

It is also an affront that a person in public office makes a statement that puts the safety of members of the Tell MAMA team and its Director, Iman Atta OBE, at personal and professional risk and when we know that there are many people in communities who are angry and who may take physical action against individuals and agencies who are deemed to be ‘monitoring’ or ‘snooping’ on them. For an official in public office to make such a statement and tar us with this brush, therefore puts the whole Tell MAMA team and the project’s reputation at serious risk. It is as simple as that. It is unacceptable and backed up with no evidence – that we are funded to ‘monitor Muslim extremism’ as thought we are a malign organisation. Such comments are nothing short of abhorrent.

We want to be clear; if Baroness Gohir is sufficiently confident in this statement she made – that we are “funded to tackle Muslim extremism which is being hidden under the guise of monitoring“, we would invite her to make this in public and not hide under the cover of Parliamentary privilege. We also note how Byline Times have mysteriously ended up with the text of letters from Baroness Gohir, which the Baroness has never sent to us, nor credited us with seeing. So much for transparency.

Other Assertions

Other assertions made by Byline Times, that Tell MAMA somehow does not provide a ‘robust and effective’ monitoring system on anti-Muslim hate leads us to question how Byline has failed to read the multiplicity of reports on our website and the fact that we have assisted over 28,000 Muslims in the U.K to date. Given the data on our web-site demonstrating the scale, range and numbers of people we assist who have been targeted by anti-Muslim hate, it is breath-taking that Byline Times has made such assertions.

For example in the Mishcon de Reya letter which is attached, figures for reporting anti-Muslim hate have increased from 1,223 in 2016 to 2,301 in 2021. The annual figure for 2022 was 2,656 and the figure for 2023, which is much higher, is still to be published. We challenge Byline Times and anyone associated with it to point to any organisation in the U.K that measures such high volume numbers of cases of anti-Muslim hate or Islamophobia in the U.K, and which supports, collects evidence and achieves tangible outcomes for victims of anti-Muslim hate? Much of this is listed in the report, ‘A Decade of Anti-Muslim Hate’ which is on our website and which can be read HERE. In fact, we know that Baroness Gohir liked a tweet from July 2023 which highlighted the very report we have mentioned – ‘A Decade of Anti-Muslim Hate’. This makes the allegations and assertions put to us by Byline Times, even more bizarre in their direction of travel.

READ: The Truth, Nafeez Ahmed and Byline Times – ‘Indefensible Reporting’

Report and Data

It is interesting to note that Ahmed, suggested to a third party that Baroness Gohir, (in her letters to DLUHC), said that Tell MAMA’s ‘Decade of Anti-Muslim Hate‘ report does not disaggregate data across age, location, gender and ethnicity. This he claims on behalf of Baroness Gohir, suggests that the data makes it less useful in looking at trends.

This from a journalist. Let us explain. The Decade of Anti-Muslim Hate  is a summary of a decade of work from 2012-2022 which Tell MAMA has undertaken. There are numerous other reports on a year by year basis that are listed on the Tell MAMA site which provide all of the year on year details that Baroness Gohir and Ahmed request, and which they did not bother to read. You can find just a few of the links HERE, HERE and HERE. So again, we ask the question – what is the real motive behind these claims?

Also, we are truly baffled as to how a journalist who writes to a third party asking why Tell MAMA’s data does not dis-aggregate, fails to research the most basic of items. For example, just a cursory look at the ‘Decade of Anti-Muslim Hate’ report shows that gender is dis-aggregated in data and visuals on page 19, 31, 59, 78. Location is dis-aggregated from pages 72-77, 82,83,97,99 and page 103. Definitions of types of cases and dis-aggregations around classifications of data are listed on page 50 – just one of the pages when the data is clearly broken down. Ethnicity breakdowns are on pages 78 and 79 – just to provide two examples. Trends, well how could a Baroness and a journalist miss ‘Trends’, which have a whole section from pages 86-115 and 133. We could also add that if you have a desire to promote a narrative, you pick and choose what fits and overlook what does not.

Furthermore, Ahmed suggests that another of Baroness Gohir’s concerns is that the Government relies just on Tell MAMA’s data and that it is a ‘disservice’ to Muslim communities. Apart from this being the opinion of one or two people, both the Crown Prosecution Service (see comments below) and various police forces have commended the work of Tell MAMA and the way that victims of anti-Muslim hate are treated, and the data collected. The comments show a serious deficit in understanding how hate crime monitoring and support services work. Tell MAMA is a national and significant conduit through which Government receives data on the numbers, cases, types, locations etc., of anti-Muslim hate cases. Yet the Government does not rely on just one source. All of Tell MAMA’s data goes to local forces so that victims can be supported and any smaller NGO’s collecting hate crimes also feed into police services. Government therefore collects data from multiple sources, with Tell MAMA coming in second volume wise to the police data on the numbers of national cases of anti-Muslim hate. This alone shows that the complainants have not got a clue how the hate crime reporting systems work.

Additionally, in Ahmed’s correspondence to a third party, it is clear that he thinks that Tell MAMA is just a ‘monitoring’ service. It is not. Tell MAMA supports victims of anti-Muslim hate through data collection for evidential purposes, advocacy support, support at courts, access to legal advice and information, emotional support through counselling, direct advocacy with local forces and in providing a ‘listening ear’. There are a range of services provided and each case usually accesses multiple services within Tell MAMA.

Now, before Baroness Gohir or Ahmed say – well if the police collect data, why is Tell MAMA needed, the answer is because on a service evaluation check that was conducted in 2021/2022, 96 out of 100 individuals asked, said they approached Tell MAMA first and did not consider taking their experiences to the police.

Motive

Once again, we are having to question the motives of Byline Times at a time when a new government is in place and which is increasingly seeming and smelling like a smear campaign against the work and the staff of Tell MAMA. It is also interesting to note that these attacks align with the timing of a new incoming government administration who may not be fully aware of our work in Tell MAMA.

We have always been open and responsive to constructive criticism as we have repeatedly made clear. However, the shabby and ramshackle attempts by Byline Times to fixate and run what are now clearly, a series of ‘hit job’ articles on Tell MAMA are deeply troubling. We also question the selectivity of what they are choosing to report on and then overlook other elements which do not seem to fit a series of their narratives.

With this in mind, we have decided to publish all correspondence so that members of the public can see that Tell MAMA has nothing to hide and we will not accept statements and claims thrown at us which are untrue, libellous and downright perverse in their conspiratorial and damaging nature. This also goes for anyone in Parliament who makes worryingly conspiratorial statements without evidence and which puts the staff in this project at physical and emotional risk.

Finally, a search on Google on Byline Times brings up this statement in a link about the ethos of the publication:

 “Accurate information is the lifeblood of a democracy and, although everyone is welcome to their own opinions, facts cannot be debated.”

We would agree, however, given our experiences with Byline Times and in particular, Nafeez Ahmed, we can point to his opinions, rather than facts in his engagement with us. This is not withstanding his previous attempt to garner a donation from us for a writing project he had developed in 2018.

Addendum – Crown Prosecution, the Independent Advisory Group on Hate Crime & Police Statements About Tell MAMA

“Since its establishment in 2012, Tell MAMA has been a strong ally of the CPS. We are delighted to call Tell MAMA a partner in our collective efforts to challenge hate crime. Whether as a provider of key services, a partner at our CPS External Consultative Group or as a supporter of newly-established hate crime services, Tell MAMA’s support and assistance has been invaluable.”

Statement from DCC Mark Hamilton, the National Policing Lead for Hate Crime:

“I would like to congratulate Tell MAMA on this milestone of reaching 10 years of monitoring anti-Muslim Hatred.

When we started to gather national data on hate crime in 2009 our biggest challenge was the unknown figure of under-reported crimes. We made steps to encourage reporting and improved data systems but we will always know that many victims do not want to report direct to the police for numerous reasons. This is why we were so keen to partner with Tell MAMA from its inception – to provide a platform for victims to seek support.

During that time Tell MAMA has been a vital partner and critical friend. Our data sharing arrangements, built on anonymous data exchanges are vital to help us see the full picture of anti-Muslim hatred and take steps to support communities, by preventing crime and responding to critical incidents. I have been particularly impressed that, whilst it obviously concentrates on Muslim victims, Tell MAMA shares our ideals of universal protections and have worked to support other communities who come under attack. “

Statement from the Chair of the Independent Advisory Group (IAG) on hate crime:

“The National Independent Advisory Group (IAG) on Hate Crime for Policing and Criminal Justice is made up of key organisations, academics and individuals (including Dr Neville Lawrence OBE) advising the NPCC and the APCC on policies and strategies to reduce Hate Crimes and Incidents. 

TellMAMA is a key member of the group. They are the only Hate Crime advocacy group we would work with given their commitment to opposing all forms of Hate Crime. Specifically, unlike other groups, they seek to reduce sectarian tensions and attacks with the Muslim community.

 

Since October 7 TellMAMA have been tireless in their work on the NPCC Gold Group. Specifically they ensured that police forces dealt equitably with Muslim communities and their concerns. Despite, at times, political pressures to further isolate the community. They identified quickly that Muslim community confidence in policing was damaged post October 7and they helped the NPCC develop strategies to move beyond this.

 

The pressures on the organisation and specifically on their CEO has been intense. Their ability to rise above this, continue working and maintain good relations with all key partners has been impactful and inspiring. I doubt the IAG’s ability to continue working without their presence.”

The post Parliamentary Privilege, Smears and Conspiracies Aimed at Tell MAMA appeared first on TELL MAMA.

We cannot, nor rightly should we be political, but we are extremely concerned about the targeting of female candidates who are suffering intimidation, harassment and attacks against their properties or offices.

We understand fully that many Muslims are deeply concerned about what is happening in Gaza and the longer that the conflict and violence continues against Gazan civilians, the greater the depth of feeling in Muslim communities.

However, intimidation, violent or harassing female candidates in this election, or any candidate in this election, is simply not on. Such actions do nothing for the cause of Palestine, nor do they help in trying to keep levels of fear within communities down.

We will be reaching out to female candidates who may need security advice and support in this election, or who may need the opportunity to be heard or just offload any feelings that they are having,

These elections are particularly tense, and we must all try and reduce tensions where we come across them.

The post Attacks & Threats Against Labour Female Candidates Are Deeply Worrying appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Writing on Facebook, the community policing team for Luton confirmed that the comment occurred on Wednesday (19 June), adding that “Officers have attended the Mosque and engaged with representatives to offer assurances that the matter will be investigated thoroughly.”

Local community officers provided high-visibility patrols locally.

Luton Town Council stated their strong condemnation online, posting on Facebook: “Luton is no place for hate.  We strongly condemn any form of hate crime in our town and stand united with all our communities to combat and stamp out prejudice and hatred.”

Tell MAMA will liaise with the police further and aims to provide further updates where possible.

The force concluded their statement by making clear that: “There is no place for hate or discrimination of any kind in our county. We would always encourage people to report instances of hate crime or speech and want to assure our communities that reports of this nature are taken seriously.”

Anyone with information can speak to the police via 101 or online, quoting the reference 40/33695/24. Tell MAMA can forward information anonymously or on your behalf if requested.

The post Police investigating social media comment to Luton Central Mosque appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Nafeez Ahmed/Byline Times – PRESS HERE

An initial response to Byline Times, Nafeez Ahmed and a 2018 Call for Financial Support

We within Tell MAMA, have sadly had to take up time that could be better utilised working to help victims of anti-Muslim hatred or Islamophobia, which is the remit of our work, instead of having to respond to Nafeez Ahmed from Byline Times. This is the second time he has contacted Tell MAMA (on the 19th of June 2024), and we chose in his initial contact not to respond and to get on with the work we are funded for – to help and support victims of anti-Muslim hate. However, given his fixation on us and his authorship of a previously inaccurate and bizarre article about an event 8 years ago that is highlighted in the attached Mishcon de Reya letter, we have chosen to respond in detail and we urge you – members of the public, to read the letter addressed to Ahmed.

We have today made the decision to highlight to the public, the actions of Nafeez Ahmed. For someone who promotes himself as a serious journalist, we want you, the public, to read the following letter sent to Ahmed and Byline Times from our solicitors – Mischon De Reya.

Whatever issue Ahmed has with us, we want to make it clear that His Majesty’s Government are our funder and we will answer to them and they regularly conduct due diligence work on Faith Matters, which runs the Tell MAMA project. This is important and it is obviously essential to ensure value for money and operational viability, as well as good practice. We are not beholden to whatever issues Ahmed and Byline Times have with us, though we also are aware that Byline regularly provides a platform to divisive groups. They have to answer for that.

It is also interesting to note how Ahmed has written previously for Byline Times and suggested that Tell MAMA ‘suppressed the publication’ of a report we commissioned. Depending on how you choose to interpret the term ‘suppressed’, the general assumption that can be made is that the report we commissioned was ‘buried’. The assertions Ahmed made was that Tell MAMA suppressed, (read) buried the report for fear of losing our funding because the report criticized some Conservatives meeting with politicians of far right groups in assembly and other meetings. The question does arise as to why would we commission a report into these matters and then ‘bury’ the findings. Seemingly, we suppressed the publication, so much so that he quotes the very report we commissioned in Le Monde (online), in 2019. Here is the link. Tell MAMA is clearly listed there as the commissioning organisation.

Separately, we have always said that we are open and willing to listen to constructive debate and dialogue, but we will not allow ‘culture’ wars, personal vendettas or any such issues to be used against the work of supporting victims of anti-Muslim hate. This work is too important for that.

READ: Parliamentary Privilege, Smears and Conspiracies Aimed at Tell MAMA

Correspondence from Mishcon de Reya on Behalf of Faith Matters and Tell MAMA

We therefore want to highlight the following paragraphs from the Mishcon de Reya letter and they are listed below, for ease of reference, though we would urge you to read the whole of the letter on Ahmed and his comments. (The abbreviation MdR is used for our solicitors).

There are also two things that are particularly important and the first is that, in the e-mail of the 19th of June 2024, Ahmed suggests that the Directors of Faith Matters have purposefully and deliberately provided ‘false information’ to Companies House. This assertion suggests criminality. In further correspondence from Byline Times on Tuesday the 9th of July, this is what Byline Times stated:

“We would like to repeat the assurance given in that letter that we have no intention of publishing anything to the effect that any directors of Faith Matters or any other persons connected with Faith Matters have committed any criminal offence.”

This is a significant ‘u-turn’ from Ahmed’s written and stated position to Tell MAMA. This is important since it points to issues around accuracy and we can also rightfully question whether Ahmed can be impartial in his journalism in the future towards Tell MAMA, or to Faith Matters – the parent registered body. All very relevant points.

Furthermore, we did not want to raise this, but our hand has been forced after the actions of Ahmed and Byline Times. In January 2018, Nafeez Ahmed direct messaged Tell MAMA asking for financial support in a new writing venture that he was starting. Again, we can legitimately ask the question – has Ahmed crossed the rubicon of journalistic ethics in asking for financial support from the very project that he sought to write two (negative) articles about. Suffice as to say, Tell MAMA did not entertain his financial request.

These are key paragraphs in the Mishcon de Reya letter which we want to highlight demonstrating serious questions around the prejudicial tone of the enquiries made by Ahmed:

MdR – “It is clear from the nature and prejudicial tone of the Enquiries that you have no intention to engage in good faith with Faith Matters, and have no interest in any objective and impartial analysis of Faith Matters’s work. It is remarkable that you would allege that criminal offences have been committed by two of Faith Matters’s directors based on unspecified “discrepancies”, and that £6million of public funds have been “wasted” on the basis of the wording of Faith Matters’s CIC reports as filed on Companies House.”

This paragraph in the letter highlights comments on the work of Nafeez Ahmed:

MdR – “On 6 June 2016, the research team at Tell MAMA e-mailed Mr Mughal maintaining his concerns with the presentation of certain arguments in the Report and the sourcing of the information contained in it. He also expressed his concerns with the fact that Mr Ahmed had rejected many of Tell MAMA’s requested citations and further amendments the Report despite the fact that Tell MAMA was commissioning the report: “From a research perspective, I’d expect this from someone who was in their first year at university. It would be wholly unacceptable to publish something under our banner without the appropriate citations. […] Also, he’s been paid to deliver this project and I expect that we have liberty to make style changes.” Again, no concerns were raised regarding the conclusions of the investigation as set out in the Report.”

Point (viii) in the chronology of the letter lists this about Ahmed’s first article on Tell MAMA a few months ago:

MdR – “On 20 June 2016, sections of the Report were published on Tell MAMA’s website. Tell MAMA’s social media channels also publicised the publication of the Report. Mr Mughal sent an e-mail to Mr Ahmed on the same day confirming this. They also exchanged e-mails later that day about OpenDemocracy’s publication of the Report. It is therefore staggering that Mr Ahmed would claim in the Article that, “Tell MAMA did not publish, amplify or campaign on any of the findings revealed in my investigation, which it had commissioned. There was no report launch, no social media campaign, and no press coverage.”

Furthermore, as we have suggested, Ahmed had asked for financial support from Tell MAMA through a ‘direct message’ on Twitter in 2018. Why would a journalist want to receive financial support from an organisation that he then seeks to write negatively about? Surely Ahmed would have realised that these two positions may well have been compromised?

MdR – “Until he e-mailed Mr Mughal on 8 and 9 March 2024 for comment on the Article prior to its publication, Mr Ahmed had limited contact with Mr Mughal, and any member of Tell MAMA, after November 2016: on 16 January 2018, Mr Ahmed requested to connect with Mr Mughal on LinkedIn, and on 29 January 2018, Mr Ahmed sent a direct message to Tell MAMA on Twitter asking if it would financially support his work.”

The letter ends with the following:

MdR – “Your reporting is indefensible

It is clear from your cynical approach to engaging with and reporting on our client that the Article and any future reporting on our client would not be legally defensible.

The Article is, and any article based on the Enquiries would be, indefensible and no defence pursuant to section 2 (truth), section 3 (honest opinion) nor section 4 (public interest) of the Defamation Act 2013 would be applicable. The Allegations in the Article and in the Enquiries are false, precluding a section 2 defence. As to section 3, the Allegations in the Article are presented as fact and, in any event, even if they were held to be opinion, as the contemporaneous e-mail exchanges between Tell MAMA and Mr Ahmed demonstrate, Mr Ahmed did not in fact hold that opinion.

Faith Matters and its project, Tell MAMA, support investigative journalism that is in the public interest – indeed, that is why it commissioned the Report. However, as you will be well aware, there is no public interest in publishing false allegations which mislead the public, precluding a s4 defence.

Far from being an example of such journalism, the Article and Enquiries levy highly defamatory and false allegations against Faith Matters. The publication of the Article has caused – and, for as long as it remains online, will continue to cause serious harm to Faith Matters, Tell MAMA and Mr Mughal. The publication of any article based on the Enquiries would similarly cause very serious harm for which you would be liable.”

The post The Truth, Nafeez Ahmed and Byline Times – Indefensible ‘Reporting’ appeared first on TELL MAMA.

44-year-old Edward Griffiths sent copies of the terror attacks in New Zealand that resulted in the murder of 51 Muslims to two individuals, declaring his desire to replicate it and go on a killing spree.

On social media, Griffiths called the Christchurch terrorist a “hero”.

Neither the prosecution nor police allege that he plotted any attack, but how his actions might encourage acts of terrorism – convicting him instead on one count of the encouragement of terrorism and two counts of disseminating a terrorist publication.

Griffiths committed the offences between November 2021 and the following summer, as officers from Counter Terrorism Policing East Midlands arrested him at his home in Whitwick, Coalville in June 2022.

Charges followed in May 2023, and a guilty verdict followed last month at Birmingham Crown Court.

Detective Inspector Glynn Jehu, from Counter Terrorism Policing – East Midlands, said in a statement: “Fifty one people lost their lives in the Christchurch attacks. Spreading messages of extreme hate and violence in the way that Griffiths did is dangerous, reckless and could easily have encouraged others to commit an act of terrorism.

“It was therefore important that we stopped this by acting on information received, investigating the communications fully and bringing Griffiths before the courts.”

Tell MAMA continues to extensively cover far-right convictions that took inspiration from or praised the Christchurch terrorist.

Edward Griffiths joins a list of over twenty individuals.

The post Extremist who praised Christchurch terrorist jailed for over four years appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The 56-year-old, who pleaded guilty last month at Thames Magistrates’ Court admitted two counts of religiously aggravated abuse and received a twelve-week sentence suspended for twelve months on May 21.

As the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) made clear, Eury targeted them as returned from a pro-Palestine protest in April as he shouted, “a torrent of Islamophobic language that lasted about two minutes”.

The frightening encounter captured on a mobile phone went viral, drawing wide condemnation and disgust, as members of the public sought to offer support to the Muslim women and others targeted support and identify those responsible.

The Met Police arrested on April 22, with Eury appearing before a judge soon after where he entered his guilty pleas, and according to the prosecution, gave his name to the police as ‘Adolf Hitler’.

Tell MAMA provided a community impact and victim impact statement which the judge partially read out during the sentencing hearing.

Staff present for sentencing described a tense atmosphere as the judge revealed that Eury had previous convictions, including a racially aggravated offence in 2012.

Eury denied calling himself Adolf Hitler, arguing that the biggest motivator was his alcohol intake. Nor did he claim to hold an anti-Muslim animus as: “I go to Indian restaurants run by Muslims, I take cabs driven by Muslims, I used to work with an Iranian Muslim and we had no issues,” adding his remorse and a “desire to move forward”.

For one of the women, who we supported however, the impacts of the abuse and the threat of violence impact her daily routines, changing her routes around the local area and leaving her with physical ailments due to the ongoing mental anguish caused.

The judge also ordered Eury to comply with a three-month alcohol treatment programme.

In the build-up to the sentencing this week, members of the public alerted our staff to materials on social media, including posts on Twitter/X praising Terry Eury. One extreme example, contained the racist P-word epithet, stating that Muslims require ‘mass deportations’, as taxpayers like Mr Eury faced prison for merely “telling the truth”. We flagged this material with the police to investigate.

Following news of the suspended sentence, councillor Ray Morgon, leader of Havering Council, condemned the abuse. He added “There is more that unites us than divides us, and I’m calling on our local community to join me and make it clear that Havering is for everyone.

“We will always treat all our communities fairly and equally.”

In a statement, Varinder Hayre, District Crown Prosecutor and CPS London North Hate Crime Lead said: “Terry Eury’s extreme display of intolerance towards the victims in this case was a hate crime, and his appalling behaviour has understandably had a detrimental and lasting impact on the victims.

“At the sentence hearing today, we used a Community Impact Statement from Tell Mama, an independent victim support service, to further demonstrate the wider impact this display of hatred can have on the local community, causing trauma and fear across society.”

“The CPS has delivered swift justice for the victims, and indeed for the local community of Romford, in this case.

“We won’t hesitate to ensure that hate crimes, against any religion or other protected characteristic, are prosecuted.”

The post Statement: Tell MAMA will raise Terry Eury’s suspended sentence with the Attorney General appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Speaking to Tell MAMA, they described hearing a “massive thud” at around 9:30 pm on May 1 and soon discovered the vandalism, adding the anguish of knowing that someone targeted them for supporting Palestine

The rock shattered the first pane of glass, but the family must now replace the window as it damaged the middle pane. 

Photos shared with us reveal the damage to the window. To help raise awareness, they agreed for us to tell their story anonymously and won’t let the incident stop them from supporting the Palestinian cause.

A photograph of the broken window shared with Tell MAMA shows where they hang their “Free Palestine” kite.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police took a statement from the family, and the investigation is ongoing. 

Tell MAMA will liaise with the police further to ensure a hate crime investigation follows.

In recent months, from our statistical bulletins to news articles, Tell MAMA documented case studies that highlighted the targeting of Muslims when expressing support for Palestine. In November, we wrote about the targeting of a Muslim family who hung a Palestinian flag, which they took down after someone put a firework through their letterbox.

The post Family had their window broken over pro-Palestine kite appeared first on TELL MAMA.

According to the BTP press release, the incident occurred close to lunchtime (around 11:45 am) on March 23.

The statement adds that the suspect had snatched the Palestinian flag from protestors before stamping on it and abusing them.

BTP officers seek the man pictured to help with their enquiries.

Anyone with information can contact the BTP by texting reference 281 of 26/03/24 to 61016 or by calling 0800 40 50 40. Tell MAMA can pass information forward on your behalf or anonymously.

More broadly, we remind the public of our tailored safety tips for the rail networks, created in partnership with the BTP, which you can download here.

The post Hate crime appeal after Palestinian flag stamped on at Sheffield station appeared first on TELL MAMA.

    (Tell MAMA has recorded a 335% increase in anti-Muslim hate cases, comparing the last 4 months to those in 2022/2023)

Contact: Iman Atta OBE

Tel: 0800 456 12 26

Email: info@tellmamauk.org

Embargo: None – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

As the leading hate crime monitoring agency on measuring anti-Muslim hate, Tell MAMA recorded over 2,000 anti-Muslim cases in the four months that followed Hamas’s deadly terror attacks on October 7. This is the largest recorded number of cases in four months, since Tell MAMA was founded in 2011.

Following the publication of our previous briefing on December 20, Tell MAMA can confirm that in total, of the 2,010 cases post October 7th 2023, 901 occurred offline with 1,109 online cases. In comparison with the same timescale a year earlier, this demonstrates a 335% increase in anti-Muslim hate cases.

(In stark contrast, between 7 October 2022 and 7 February 2023, Tell MAMA recorded 310 offline cases and 290 online cases, respectively.)

Consistent with our previous statistical bulletins, a geographic breakdown for offline cases is as follows:

Tell MAMA received 576 cases in London, 71 in the northwest, 27 in South Yorkshire, 39 in West Yorkshire, 33 in the East Midlands and 41 in the West Midlands. In other areas, like the Southeast, we recorded 26 and in the Southwest of England, we recorded 27 cases. The final geographic areas concern Scotland (21), Wales (9), and the Northeast (31).

Regarding the types of cases recorded, Tell MAMA received 535 cases of abusive behaviour, 77 threats, 83 assaults, 79 acts of vandalism, 69 cases of discrimination, 39 acts of hate speech and 19 examples of anti-Muslim literature. And in over 65% of these cases, women were the target of such attacks. This once again demonstrates that British Muslim women have borne the majority of the brunt of anti-Muslim hate during this time.

Like all Tell MAMA cases, the figures are subject to further revision and analysis. We ensure that evidence is corroborated where possible and that cases are reviewed.

 Statement by the Director of Tell MAMA – Iman Atta OBE

“We are deeply concerned about the impacts that the Israel and Gaza war are having on hate crimes and on social cohesion in the U.K. Hate crimes against British Muslims have substantially risen and our data clearly demonstrates this. This rise in anti-Muslim hate is unacceptable and we hope that political leaders speak out to send a clear message that anti-Muslim hate, like antisemitism, is unacceptable in our country. There really is no space for hate and more than ever, it is essential that we sustain, nurture and protect the bonds that we have between communities, so that we all feel valued and safe in our communities and in our country”.

Street Level Anti-Muslim Abuse

Examples of street-level abuse and harassment flagged with our service since our December bulletin include a case of a Muslim woman in Islamic clothing who described the assault she faced when on a bus in East London. During the assault one of the perpetrators made inflammatory statements to her including, “you Muslims are troublemakers”. A hate crime investigation is ongoing, as we continue to provide support and liaise with the Metropolitan police.

In another London-based case, a woman described how someone vandalized their car with a Nazi swastika.

Outside of London, street-level abuse included cases of Muslim women harassed in the street and called “terrorists”, a classic anti-Muslim trope.

Tell MAMA is also liaising with Durham Police over a written death threat to worshippers at a mosque in Darlington on the 29th of December. Furthermore, local Muslim and Palestinian communities spoke of their fear about rising levels of racism and hate locally when speaking to the Northern Echo newspaper.

Another case included the targeting of a Muslim family home after someone daubed “Hamas” on their front door.

Online Anti-Muslim Abuse

In the online world, comparisons continue to show a sharp rise in reported cases. For example, in January 2023 Tell MAMA received 18 online anti-Muslim hate cases. In January 2024, we received 70 cases.

Following our December bulletin, we continued to record cases on public transport. One case of note is the targeting of individuals expressing visible support for Palestine (be it wearing a badge or carrying a Palestinian flag) who faced abuse, including anti-Muslim slurs like being a “terrorist”.

Statements by far right sympathisers post October 7th have included comments around demonstrations for a Gaza ceasefire that have included, “f*** off” to a Muslim country and do so”.

We also note that X, (formerly known as Twitter), suspended an account that asked users “Who’d win in the upcoming civil war in Britain?” providing two options: “British” or “Muslim”; the post attracted various replies from individuals who expressed overt anti-Muslim sentiments, boasted Crusader imagery in their bios and who made racialised and extremist comments about Muslim communities.

Reference Points

Our previous bulletins can be found here, here, here, here, here, here and here. The December bulletins appear here.

We attach the same advice and safety tips below as with previous bulletins. We urge Muslim communities and mosques to keep them to hand.

Standing together, not apart

In the current climate, we continue to urge communities to stand together and practice compassion and care for each other and for themselves; to be upstanders and intervene safely to stop racism and hate crimes.

Safety advice

We urge mosques and Islamic centres to download our mosque safety advice resources and to consider our updated mosque security advice service.

We have safety advice in both English and Arabic – and urge Muslim communities to remain vigilant when out and about.

Our counselling service is accessible to anyone in need. If you would like to access the service or find out more about it, e-mail us at counselling@tellmamauk.org

ENDS

Notes

1) Tell MAMA is a national service supporting victims of anti-Muslim hate through casework, counselling, advocacy, legal and signposting support.

2) Tell MAMA was founded in 2012 and is supported by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

The post Greatest Rise in Reported Anti-Muslim Hate Cases to Tell MAMA since Oct 7th appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Kieran Turner, 37, re-shared the Christchurch terror attack video online on the day it happened.

The BBC reported that the 37-year-old was an army veteran.

Turner used alternative social media platforms like GAB and Bitchute to spread racist and harmful propaganda – according to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), between 2016 and 2020, he “posted and re-shared material expressing antisemitic, transphobic, misogynistic, homophobic, racist and Islamophobic views.”

A year earlier, Kieran Turner wrote: “Britain needs 650 Thomas Mairs.”

Counter-terror police arrested him in November 2021, gathering substantial evidence of their online behaviour: encouraging terrorism, stirring up racial hatred, and disseminating terror attack videos.

Great Manchester Police revealed that Turner praised the banned neo-Nazi terror groups National Action and the Sonnenkrieg Division whilst possessing a copy of the white supremacist screed written by the Christchurch terrorist.

Our research revealed how over twenty individuals, later convicted of far-right terrorism offences, took inspiration from or sought to replicate the terror attacks in Christchurch.

Appearing at Manchester Crown Court on February 8, Turner received a prison sentence of 2 years and 8 months following guilty pleas: one count of encouraging terrorism (contravening Section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2006); two counts of disseminating terrorist publications (breaching Section 2 of the Terrorism Act 2006); and seven counts of stirring up racial hatred in written materials – contrary to Section 19 (1) of the Public Order Act 1986.

Responding to Kieran Turner’s jailing, who leads the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, made clear: “Kieran Turner’s extreme views and his relentless attempts to stir up hatred have no place in society.

“His online posts and comments were abhorrent and far-right extremists such as Turner have the potential to threaten public safety and security.

“The CPS will always seek to prosecute such appalling online criminal behaviour, and it is only right that Turner has been sentenced today for his crimes.”

Detective Superintendent Andrew Meeks, from the Counter Terrorism Policing North West, described how the investigation “revealed he held abhorrent views. The ideology he promoted creates fear and distrust and will not be tolerated,” adding that: “A lot of the work carried out by CTPNW cannot be seen but rest assured we are committed to identifying and prosecuting those who pose a risk to our society.

The post Neo-Nazi jailed for terror offences praised the murder of Jo Cox, shared Christchurch terror attack video appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Officers believe one individual is responsible for the racist graffiti over a three-year period, which worryingly increased last December, with four cases logged by police.

Inspector Kristina Money who leads the Safer Neighbourhoods Teams which covers the impacted area made clear that: “This individual has been active for a significant period of time and his actions have caused significant distress in the local community.”

The most recent incidents of racist graffiti occurred in the early hours along Rochester Way (SE9), targeting both private and public property.

Over three years, racist graffiti appeared across Eltham Page, Eltham Park and Progress, Eltham Town and the Avery Hill wards.

The Met describes the suspect as being around 5ft 8 inches tall of medium build who walks with a distinctive gait.

Anyone with information is urged to call 101, quoting CAD1298/5Feb. Tell MAMA can pass information forward on your behalf or anonymously.

The post CCTV appeal following racist, far-right graffiti in Eltham appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Original story below.

It took a jury less than a day to unanimously find a white supremacist guilty of spreading racist hate after creating a library of downloadable stickers for supporters to distribute in public.

Samuel Melia, 34, from Pudsey, who organises locally for Patriotic Alternative, will return to court on March 1 for sentencing after guilty verdicts at Leeds Crown Court on January 24.

The offences concern publishing or distributing material intending to stir up racial hatred and encouraging or assisting the commission of the offence of racially aggravated criminal damage between 2019 and 2021.

The Times newspaper exposed Melia’s racist activities following a lengthy investigation into Patriotic Alternative in 2021.

The Hundred Handers Telegram channel, created by Melia, granted supporters access to files to download – and shared examples of where the stickers appeared across the UK, Europe and North America. At its height, the channel had over 3,500 subscribers.

Following his arrest in 2021, police found various far-right stickers in Melia’s wallet as subsequent searches of his property revealed a poster of Adolf Hitler, a Nazi emblem, and a copy of fascist literature authored by Oswald Moseley.

Officers downloaded over 200 Hundred Handers stickers and photographs from Melia’s digital devices.

The prosecution further outlined the expectation Melia placed on others: to display the stickers in public as he did.

Examples of Melia’s racist stickering cited included anti-Black statements around Black Lives Matter (BLM) in his local town. On Telegram, the channel boasted of targeting a street sign near the home of a Muslim teenager and their family after making headlines for expressing support for BLM during the summer of 2020.

Over the years, Tell MAMA did receive reports about their activities, including stickers linking Muslims broadly to criminality or pushing white supremacist conspiracy theories. In 2018, the public alerted us to stickers targeting Muslim communities with “No 2 Halal” and “No 2 Koser” stickers – distribution of the former launched a hate crime investigation in the St Helens area in February 2020. Weeks earlier, we highlighted how local anti-racists removed a Hundred Handers sticker in Sunderland whilst highlighting the antisemitic, anti-Muslim and broad racist ideologies that underpinned the stickering.

Following the guilty verdict, Nick Price, head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, made clear that: “It is illegal to publish such material intending to stir up racial hatred towards others, and the CPS will not hesitate to bring prosecutions against those who break the law in this way.”

Price also stated: “Melia was perfectly aware that the stickers he published on his Telegram channel were being downloaded and then stuck up in public places around the country.

“He also knew full well the impact these racially inflammatory stickers were having, and by attempting to remain anonymous, sought to protect himself and others from investigation.

“He was very deliberate in the manner he wanted to spread his messages of racial hatred, and online messages recovered made it clear that he knew these stickers were being displayed in public and causing damage to public property.”

The post Pudsey white supremacist who distributed racist stickers jailed for two years appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Kristen Persen, 22, entered guilty pleas last month for ten charges – six concerned sharing terrorism material – a Section 2 of the Terrorism Act 2006 offence – and four counts in breach of Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (collection terrorism information).

His arrest on November 30, 2022, followed a joint investigation between counter-terror police in the West Midlands and Wales.

Following news of his jailing, it emerged that counter-terror officers found books and manuals on a laptop to build firearms, explosives, and detonators.

Also amongst the litany of white supremacist propaganda, officers found material glorifying banned neo-Nazi terror groups and racist materials targeting Jewish and other minority groups.

Other white supremacist materials found at the Cardiff address included neo-Nazi clothing, flags and stickers.

In a statement, Detective Chief Superintendent Anastasia Miller, who leads Counter Terrorism Policing West Midlands CTU, made clear that: “We work tirelessly to secure convictions of individuals such as Persen who pose a significant threat to communities across the country.

“Extremists use this kind of ideology to create discord, distrust and fear among our communities and we strive to counter this. As a result of these investigations, we have seen a significant increase of right-wing referrals to our Prevent programme.

“Our proactive efforts to confront the threat posed by extreme right-wing terrorism continues.”

Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Williams, Head of Investigations at Counter Terrorism Policing Wales, welcomed the jailing of Kristen Persen by stating: Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Williams, Head of Investigations at Counter Terrorism Policing Wales stated:

“We welcome the outcome of the court process, which is the result of a lengthy and extremely detailed joint investigation between Counter Terrorism officers in both Wales and the West Midlands.

“It clearly demonstrates the benefits and strengths of a collective approach to what are often very complex cases to investigate. The safety and the security of the public is at the heart of everything we do, and our officers and staff rightly go to great lengths to meet that objective. The outcome of the court case helps us ensure that continues to be the case.”

The post Cardiff neo-Nazi jailed for multiple terrorism offences appeared first on TELL MAMA.

During the afternoon of December 23, at around 4:40 pm, five men approached them and abused them.

Anyone with information can contact the BTP by texting quoting reference number 478 of 23/12/23 to 61016 or by calling 0800 40 50 40.

Tell MAMA can pass any information forward on your behalf or anonymously.

On December 12, we reported on the targeting of a Muslim teacher in front of her students on the London Underground.

More broadly, we recorded a seven-fold rise in anti-Muslim cases between October 7 and December 13 2023. Of the 1,432* cases following the deadly Hamas terror attacks on October 7, up from the 2022 figure of 195 cases (153 offline, 42 online), and represented the largest rise in reports to our service across 68 days.

To help keep safe on the rail networks, Tell MAMA in partnership with the BTP, created tailored safety tips for the rail networks.

The post CCTV appeal after man and woman abused for carrying Palestinian flag at Leeds station appeared first on TELL MAMA.

We recorded 1,432* cases following the deadly Hamas terror attacks on October 7, up from the 2022 figure of 195 cases (153 offline, 42 online), and represents the largest rise in reports to our service across 68 days.

Like with our previous statistical bulletins, we provide a brief geographic breakdown of where offline cases occurred:

Of the 613 offline cases, 381 occurred in London, 55 in the northwest, 15 in South Yorkshire, 31 in West Yorkshire, 23 in the East Midlands and 35 in the West Midlands. In other areas, like the Southeast, we recorded 17 and in the Southwest of England, we recorded 19 cases. The final geographic areas concern Scotland (13), Wales (4), and the Northeast (20).

In terms of categories, Tell MAMA received 387 cases of abusive behaviour, 52 threats, 49 assaults, 46 acts of vandalism, 40 cases of discrimination, 28 acts of hate speech and 11 examples of anti-Muslim literature.

Whereas, in the online world, we recorded 819 cases – ranging from racist, dehumanising memes to calls for violence towards Muslims, as noted white supremacists and far-right account holders pushed racist conspiracies of so-called “replacement” or stigmatised Muslims as criminals and terror threats.

*Like all Tell MAMA cases, the figures are subject to further revision and analysis.

Our previous bulletins are found here, here, here, here, here, here and here. The most recent bulletin appeared online last week.

We continue to liaise with various police forces nationally, including the Met Police and the British Transport Police relating to various hate crimes.

Please continue to follow our website and social media platforms for updates.

Standing together, not apart

In the current climate, we continue to urge communities to stand together and practice compassion and care for each other and for themselves, to be upstanders and intervene safely to stop racism and hate crime, and we urge those in positions of influence and public authority to consider how their language risk stereotyping communities and how it may unduly influence discussions online and offline.

Safety advice

We urge mosques and Islamic centres to download our mosque safety advice resources and to consider our updated mosque security advice service.

We have safety advice in both English and Arabic – and urge Muslim communities to remain vigilant when out and about.

Our counselling service is there for anyone in need. If you would like to access the service or find out more about it, e-mail us at counselling@tellmamauk.org

In any emergency, dial 999.

The post Tell MAMA recorded 1,432 anti-Muslim cases between Oct 7 and Dec 13 appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The 1,350 anti-Muslim cases* recorded following the deadly Hamas terror attacks on October 7 include 574 offline cases and 776 online cases, respectively.

For a geographic sense of where we recorded such cases, we broke them down by regions below:

London (363)

Northwest (51)

West Midlands (32)

West Yorkshire (29)

East Midlands (21)

Northeast (20)

Southwest (17)

Southeast (13)

South Yorkshire (13)

Scotland (11)

Wales (4)

Across the online world, the 776 cases included racialised, dehumanising memes to overt calls for bans on mosques, the Quran and the forced removal of Muslims from the UK. Other content flagged included overtly racist content that used the P-word to those calling Muslim children future terrorists.

*Like all Tell MAMA cases, the figures are subject to further revision and analysis.

Our previous bulletins are found here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

During this recording period, we published case studies including the targeting of a disabled Muslim woman who wears the face veil who faced abuse along with her children and how fearing for their safety, a Muslim family took down a Palestinian flag from their property after someone put a firework through their letterbox over Halloween.

Tell MAMA supported a couple who faced death threats for challenging a woman’s racist comments about Palestinians and anti-Muslim comments about London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan and made a police report on their behalf.

We continue to liaise with various police forces nationally, including the Met Police and the British Transport Police relating to various hate crimes.

Please continue to follow our website and social media platforms for updates.

Standing together, not apart

In the current climate, we continue to urge communities to stand together and practice compassion and care for each other and for themselves, to be upstanders and intervene safely to stop racism and hate crime, and we urge those in positions of influence and public authority to consider how their language risk stereotyping communities and how it may unduly influence discussions online and offline.

Safety advice

We urge mosques and Islamic centres to download our mosque safety advice resources and to consider our updated mosque security advice service.

We have safety advice in both English and Arabic – and urge Muslim communities to remain vigilant when out and about.

Our counselling service is there for anyone in need. If you would like to access the service or find out more about it, e-mail us at counselling@tellmamauk.org

In any emergency, dial 999.

The post Tell MAMA saw more than a seven-fold increase in anti-Muslim cases since October 7 appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Speaking to Tell MAMA, she disclosed that it was the first time she faced any hate crime on the rail networks, adding that she followed up with a report to the British Transport Police (BTP).

She mentioned how the perpetrator had stood near the group on the Piccadilly Line, which included students under the age of ten having returned from a museum visit, before exiting the train, tapping on the window, and re-entering to begin the abuse.

Abusive comments included, “You are a teacher?! You shouldn’t be a teacher” before they pointed aggressively at the children and claimed, “Be careful, she’s going to poison you”.

Speaking about the anti-Muslim abuse she faced, the teacher told us: “My first instinct was to make sure that I protect the children, but then I thought: who is going to protect me?”

Thankfully, two upstanders spoke up and challenged the abuse, with supportive statements like  “Actually, she is a good teacher” and “You should go to school and learn”.

The perpetrator soon exited the train.

After speaking with our Casework Team, the Muslim woman consented for our staff to liaise with the BTP further, as they agreed for us to tell their story anonymously.

In partnership with the BTP, Tell MAMA offers tailored safety tips for the rail networks which are free to download from our Resources page.

Get advice from our confidential and free helpline on 0800 456 1226. Or through our free iOS or Android apps. Report through our online form. Alternatively, please leave us a WhatsApp message at 0734 184 6086.

The post Muslim teacher abused in front of students on the London Underground appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Our latest figures cover October 7 to November 30, demonstrating a seven-fold increase in cases from the 2022 figure of 172 cases (135 offline, 37 online).

The 1,202 cases* reported to Tell MAMA represents the biggest and most sustained spike in reports to our service across a 55-day reporting period.

Like with our previous statistical bulletins, we provide a brief geographic breakdown of where offline cases occurred.

Of the 505 offline cases, 324 occurred in London, 47 in the northwest, 13 in South Yorkshire, 27 in West Yorkshire, 17 in the East Midlands and 27 in the West Midlands. In other areas, like the Southeast and Southwest of England, we recorded 11 cases in each area, respectively. The final geographic areas concern Scotland (9), Wales (2), and the Northeast (17).

In terms of categories, Tell MAMA received 331 cases of abusive behaviour, 37 threats, 43 assaults, 33 acts of vandalism, 31 cases of discrimination, 23 acts of hate speech and 7 examples of anti-Muslim literature.

Examples include the harassment and abuse towards Muslims in public spaces wearing clothing or colours in support of Palestine – with some told to “cover it up.” Other offline reports concern abuse towards Muslims when out shopping or exiting major supermarkets – including racist slurs like the P-word.

Across the online sphere, including major social media platforms to Telegram and other digital platforms, we received 697 cases.

*Like all Tell MAMA cases, the figures are subject to further revision and analysis.

Tell MAMA continues to report extreme, racist, and dehumanising materials to the police – during the latest bulletin period, we flagged accounts which called Muslims and Palestinians “rats” that should be “stamped out” to menacing calls for violence towards Muslim women (including the use of the P-word).

More broadly, a far-right tweet that dehumanised Muslim women as “breeding machines” and that pushed racist conspiracies like the so-called “Great Replacement” appeared in this reporting cycle.

Our previous bulletins highlighted the worrying levels of anti-Muslim dehumanisation online, the targeting of mosques, and concerns about anti-Muslim language and behaviours at places of education.

We told the Guardian newspaper earlier this month that: “Students and staff are feeling particularly anxious and unsafe at the moment and questioning whether they should wear Islamic clothing on campus, show solidarity for Palestine, or even discuss publicly what is happening in Israel and Palestine, for fear of being targeted.” In response, both UCL and the University of Manchester promote Tell MAMA’s service on their website, a step we encourage other universities to follow (if they do not already do so).

Standing together, not apart

In the current climate, we continue to urge communities to stand together and practice compassion and care for each other and for themselves, to be upstanders and intervene safely to stop racism and hate crime, and we urge those in positions of influence and public authority to consider how their language risk stereotyping communities and how it may unduly influence discussions online and offline.

Safety advice

We urge mosques and Islamic centres to download our mosque safety advice resources and to consider our updated mosque security advice service.

We have safety advice in both English and Arabic – and urge Muslim communities to remain vigilant when out and about.

Our counselling service is there for anyone in need. If you would like to access the service or find out more about it, e-mail us at counselling@tellmamauk.org

In any emergency, dial 999.

The post Tell MAMA recorded 1,202 anti-Muslim cases in 55 days appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Speaking to Tell MAMA, she described how she felt targeted due to her niqab and the added vulnerability she experienced as he blocked the path of her wheelchair before abusing them, and agreed for us to tell their story anonymously.

He stopped in the street, blocking their path, before flailing his arms and disparagingly shouting: “Allah, Allah, Allah!” at her and her children, who also wore Islamic clothing.

After the perpetrator left, she contacted the police, and soon Tell MAMA got in contact with her to offer support.

The anti-Muslim abuse occurred in early November and she described the perpetrator as a white male of an unspeficied age.

She told our Casework Team that this was the first example of anti-Muslim abuse she had reported, recognising its importance after someone told her ‘this is a hate crime, you need to report it’, believing previously that you had to ‘live with such abuse and accept it’.

Her children, she added will gain resilience from the experience, as she wants them to continue being proud of their Muslim identities.

“Everyone should be treated with respect, no matter what your identity is, and it’s no one else’s business,” she said.

Tell MAMA also sent them a self-assestment form for our free counselling service which sits within our existing support structures.

Over the years, we documented various examples of the disproportionate abuse, threats, violence and discrimination Muslim women who wear the face veil experience.

The Met Police investigation remains ongoing.

Get advice from our confidential and free helpline on 0800 456 1226. Or through our free iOS or Android apps. Report through our online form. Alternatively, please leave us a WhatsApp message at 0734 184 6086.

The post Disabled Muslim woman and her children abused by man in West London appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Detective Superintendent Figo Forouzan, who leads the investigation, said in the press release: “These charges have come as a result of diligent police work by officers who have gathered evidence while providing support and reassurance to those affected.”

Chief Superintendent Sean Wilson, in charge of policing in West Area which covers Hammersmith, said: “Officers have worked incredibly hard with the Crown Prosecution Service and communities in both boroughs of Ealing and Hammersmith and Fulham to get an arrest and a charge in this case.

“This demonstrates how seriously we take allegations of hate crime against any of our communities.”

Original story appears below.

The Metropolitan Police arrested a 61-year-old on suspicion of racially aggravated criminal damage on Monday (November 27) following the targeting of mosques and businesses in west London and the Palestinian Mission in Hammersmith with red paint.

In a statement, the force confirmed the arrest of the individual in Ealing, with the twelve offences occurring across the boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham between October 16 and November 18.

The diplomatic mission for Palestinians had also spoken about death threats towards staff in a recent statement: “On Saturday, 18 November, 2023, at 23.05 the Palestinian Mission to the UK was attacked and vandalised. In addition to death threats, damage to vehicles and vandalism of property, this is the fourth attack in the last few weeks.”

We also highlighted the ongoing targeting of Acton Central Mosque with red paint in recent weeks, as a Syrian café and the Masjid Ezzeitouna faced vandalism with red paint, Asian Image reported.

The man remains in custody.

In a statement, Detective Superintendent Figo Forouzan, who leads the investigation, made clear: “Hate crime has no place in London. Its effects run far deeper than property damage, and the impact on victims can linger beyond the removal of the paint. Officers have been working incredibly hard to identify the individual responsible for these offences and provide the relevant support and reassurance to those affected.

“The victims are being supported by dedicated faith officers, and neighbourhood teams have changed their patrol times and routes to provide additional reassurance.”

Tell MAMA is liaising with the Metropolitan Police further, and we endeavour to provide more updates where possible.

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