Anti-Muslim hate crimes on rise in UK

Tehran, Dec 31, IRNA -- The number of Muslim women reporting hate crime has risen by up to 10%, according to a UK charity. Tell Mama, a national project measuring anti-Muslim incidents, has told Sky News that over the last 18 months they have seen a 5-10% increase. Fiyaz Mughal, director of Tell Mama, says over the last two years their data has shown that women suffer more incidents of hate and they also suffer more aggressive incidents of hate. Research has shown that Muslim women are subjected to ˈopportunisticˈ verbal or physical attacks, mostly by men, on the street. Yasmeen Khalid, 21, from Bromsgrove, says she has always faced abuse, but the problem has become worse in recent months. She says out of 30 different hate crime incidents, she has only ever reported two, and admits wearing a hijab has made her a target. ˈBy looking, they instantly know Iˈm Muslim... sometimes people call me a terrorist, sometimes they say ˈPakiˈ, sometimes someone has called me ˈTalibanˈ or stuff like that,ˈ she said. ˈSometimes I walk off humiliated - I shouldnˈt be humiliated but I am humiliated. ˈSometimes I speak up, sometimes I just cry, go away somewhere, and cry because I donˈt know what to do.ˈ Fiyaz Mughal, from the Tell Mama campaign, says thereˈs ˈbeen an enormous shift in the language of anti-Muslim hate. International and national incidents create differences in the way narratives are set.ˈ Shalina Litt, from Birmingham, has been the victim of racist abuse on the street while wearing the hijab. ˈActually we are mothers, we are daughters, we are sisters,ˈ she said. ˈI really just hope that any mothers, any daughters etc., can speak to their sons and say actually itˈs not right and we do need to change how we approach this.ˈ The Tell Mama project highlights there is still ˈsubstantial under reportingˈ by the Muslim community about hate crime. Part of their approach involves working with different agencies through community outreach and education./end