London: MCB, parliamentarians discuss how to tackle Islamophobia ‘The formation of an All Party Parliamentary Group on Islamophobia would be a crucial step and one that would inspire confidence in Muslim communities’ The Muslim Council of Britain hosted a special closed-meeting to discuss the growing spate of attacks in all its forms against British Muslims on March 3rd at the Grand Committee Room of the House of Commons. The event entitled ‘Tackling Islamophobia: Reducing Street Violence Against British Muslims’ brought together distinguished Parliamentarians, academics, journalists, police, public servants, and community representatives who all endorsed calls for the establishment of an All-Party Parliamentary Committee on Islamophobia with a view to holding a parliamentary inquiry on Islamophobia in the UK

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London: Muslim councillor faces death threats over Western dress A SECULAR Muslim woman councillor has been forced to dress more conservatively after receiving death threats and sexually harassing phone calls from members of her own community. Shiria Khatun, 38, has called in the police over the sinister calls in which threats were made not only against her, but also her four young children. In one they warned they would dig up parents’ graves and bury her there instead.

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UK: Two hundred terror arrests made last year A total of 201 people were arrested on suspicion of terrorism last year, Home Office figures showed today. Of those, 66 were eventually charged, 17 under terror laws.

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Scotland: Muslims tackle Islamic far-right The British National Party and the Scottish Defence League often portray Islam as a separatist Trojan horse inside Britain – a religion of shadowy conspirators plotting to bring the county to its knees.

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Leeds: Social housing org builds community links through sports West North West Homes Leeds (WNWHL) has launched a community cohesion project to build links with the Asian community in the Armley area of Leeds.

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UK: Mosques play key role in raising awareness about hepatitis C A screening programme in mosques, rather than in hospitals, has led to new thinking on how to approach health issues Mosques across the UK have been ­doubling as makeshift medical centres, with queues of worshippers lining up to have saliva swabs taken, in what could prove to be a model for identifying future health problems. In a unique collaboration, a team from the Royal London hospital in east ­London – led by Graham ­Foster, a professor of hepatology and a leading authority on viral liver disease – embarked five years ago on a mass viral hepatitis screening programme of apparently healthy people of south Asian origin in mosques and community centres.

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UK: More on the British Social Attitudes study Via LibertyPhile, data and analysis of the recent British Social Attitudes study. LibertyPhile also has an analysis of the Gallup Coexist Study 2009: Gallup Coexist Study 2009 – The Headlines You Didn’t See! It’s interesting to note, in the question below, that Muslims and “Deeply religious” have very similar scores

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UK: Mosque trio are honoured for faith project TWO mosque leaders and a volunteer have been honoured for their role in a pioneering scheme that allowed police unprecedented access to an Islamic place of worship. They received commendation awards at a Kirklees police divisional ceremony. Mohammed Younis Choudary, chairman of Gulzar-E-Medina Mosque in Westtown, and Siraj Valli, president of the Mohaddis-E-Azam Mission Madani Mosque in Dewsbury Moor, along with Kirklees Faith Network volunteer Waseem Riaz received their accolades from divisional commander, Chief Supt John Robins

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London: Police probe anti-Semitic facebook posts Police have launched an urgent investigation into a horrific Facebook group that gave graphic details of anti-Semitic incidents perpetrated by its members against Ilford’s Jewish community. The group, created by a student at Loxford School of Science and Technology, attracted more than 500 members in two weeks following its launch last month and featured teenagers boasting about engaging in anti-Semitic behaviour. It featured messages from youths using language rife with spelling errors, profanities and teenage colloquialisms.

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UK: “England is the breeding ground of fundamentalist Muslims” A Nobel prizewinning author has accused England of being a “cesspit” that nurtures terrorism. Wole Soyinka, the first African winner of the prize, claimed the Nigerian student who tried to blow himself up over Detroit on Christmas Day, was radicalised during his time at University College London.

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