British Muslim MPs are calling for urgent social media regulations to tackle the rising issue of Islamophobic and racist abuse online.
They complain of personally experiencing an overwhelming amount of messages of a racist and violent nature on the social media and through emails.
Manchester Gorton MP Afzal Khan highlighted the issue and shared the abuse he has been receiving in recent days. One of the email messages sent to him says “I hope you die of Corona in the most excruciatingly painful way”. Afzal Khan said that he had reported the email to the police and would encourage anyone to do the same. Abuse such as this is a hate crime and must not be tolerated by anyone, he said, and urged the government for immediate action to tackle the issue. A female Muslim MP on the condition of anonymity confirmed to Daily Times that she regularly gets racist abuse and sometime she feels concerned about her own safety. She said that she has received emails from people saying she should ‘go back to her own country’. Similarly, she also said another email equates Muslims to terrorist and said, “No to Sharia law in the UK”.
The MPs’ concerns have been also shared in the report of the Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group (AMHWG) which found that Islamophobic online ‘Cyber Hubs’ were being formed which linked Muslims to the spread of COVID-19, spread anti-Muslim memes and shared fake news stories. These groups continuously circulate fake news stories online blaming Muslims for spreading the coronavirus by violating the lockdown.
The study also found that fake news being circulated online included images of people attending mosques which were taken many weeks before the UK introduced lockdown measures and false claims of mosques refusing to close. Online abuse found to be targeted at Muslims through memes and online posts included ‘There are two forms of policing in the UK, one for white middle classes, one for little Pakistan. I have been reported to my local police for buying a tomato plant. “Shut all the mosques. Demolition is the cure.”
The research by Imran Awan, Professor of Criminology at Birmingham City University and Roxana Khan-Williams warned that these claims about Muslims could lead to a spike in attacks when the lockdown lifts. Co-author of the report Imran Awan, a professor of criminology at Birmingham City University, said: “The Covid-19 crisis has been used to create ‘others’ of Muslims, blaming them for the spread of the virus. The spread of fake news online is contributing to this extremely worrying trend.
Anti- racism campaign groups says the individuals or groups hide behind fake accounts feel free to post material believing that they can do so anonymously and without fear of the law. They agreed that no one would argue against the right to ‘freedom of speech’ however that has always been balanced in a fair and just society not to incite hate and spread malicious stories and falsehoods against a person or a particular group.
However, Birmingham Perry Bar MP Khalid Mahmood had a different view, that only a particular group in society cannot be blamed for sending these messages to one religious or ethnic group. He confirmed to the Daily Times that he has been experiencing abuse but believes that there may be many reasons for them, e.g. the person did not agree with your opinion or he may have a dislike of you. Mahmood said that the right strategy is to ignore these messages but if it is of a serious nature then it must be reported to the police.
MP Khalid Mahmood arrived in the UK at the age of 10 and was elected as the first Muslim MP in 2001. According to Khalid, he experienced difficulties in his life but he asserted that due to sheer hard work he has been elected MP for six consecutive terms to Parliament representing the Labour Party.
