(Photo credit: Fibonacci Blue/Flickr Commons)
Crimes against Muslims continue to mount to record levels in England and Wales. According to the latest annual Home Office figures, the number of Islamophobic hate crimes registered by police soared by a shocking 42 per cent in the 12 months ending March 2022.
Muslims remain by far the most targeted religious group, and the increase compares with a general rise of 26 per cent in all hate crimes and 37 per cent in recorded cases of religiously motivated crimes. The new high of 3,459 official case figures is the tip of the iceberg, given that most crimes are left unreported.
The number is almost twice as many as the 1,919 hate crime offences committed against Jewish people, the second-highest religious group, which rose by 23 per cent.
Hate crimes, commonly committed as people go about their normal business, are pernicious.
The continuing rise in offences comes in the background of successive Tory governments becoming more nationalistic and extreme right-wing following the divisive Brexit referendum in 2016. Religiously aggravated assaults include, with or without an injury being committed, harassment, causing public fear, alarm or distress and committing criminal damage.
The fear of secondary victimisation by the justice system and a lack of faith in the police resolving crimes are among the main reasons most crimes remain unreported.
The latest report comes ahead of the annual Islamophobia Awareness Month in November; a community-based initiative launched a decade ago in 2012. It aims to showcase the positive contributions of Muslims, as well as raise awareness of the extent of Islamophobia in society.
The theme this year is tackling denial. That echoes the position of the ruling Tory government, which continues to drag its feet in accepting a definition of the phenomenon. The denial of Islamophobia is evident in many forms in both political and social spaces. To deny the very existence of Islamophobia even stops the problem being discussed by simply shutting down even a sensible conversation at the start.
The sad truth is Islamophobic hate crimes have become a social norm, an unwritten rule of attitudes considered acceptable. Muslims have become used to being victimised in all walks of life and are often unfairly treated by the public and in the media, which has proven so prejudicial.
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