Zara Mohammed, Secretary General of theMuslim Council of Britain, said “Our view is that the Islamophobia in the Party is institutional, tolerated by the leadership and seen as acceptable by great swathes of the party membership.”
The Muslim Council of Britain is the organization pushing for the British government to accept its restrictive definition of Islamophobia. The group has consistently promoted the definition produced by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Muslims in 2018–2019. That definition states: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness orperceived Muslimness.”
When the U.K. government released its own definition in March 2026, using the term “anti-Muslim hostility” rather than “Islamophobia,” MCB Secretary General Dr. Wajid Akhter called it a “diminished version” of what the government’s own working group had recommended and declined to endorse it.
Working from a restrictive definition of Islamophobia, the British government has been cracking down on free speech in order to appease Muslim groups. In 2025, Hamit Coskun was handed a criminal conviction for burning a Quran outside the Turkish Embassy in London, shouting “F–k Islam” and “Islam is a religion of terrorism.” He was convicted of religiously motivated harassment, alarm, or distress and received a fine of approximately $300 plus asurcharge of $120.
Coskun was attacked by Moussa Kadri, who came at him with a knife, beating and slashing at him. Kadri pleaded guilty to assault and possession of a bladed article and received a 20-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, with 150 hours of unpaid work. The judge spared him jail because he had “lost his temper” and was of previously “exemplary character.”
Another recent case involved online speech targeting Islam. Pete North was arrested in 2025 on suspicion of a public-order offence after posting a meme that read “F*** Palestine, F*** Hamas, F*** Islam.” He was later released without charge.
A broader enforcement pattern has also emerged. According toFreedom House, 12,000 people were arrested in 2023 alone, including for social media posts, under the Communications Act 2003 and the Malicious Communications Act 1988.
Hatun Tash, anex-Muslim convertto Christianity who preaches publicly, has been arrested multiple times in 2020, 2021, and 2022. She was arrested once for alleged criminal damage to a copy of the Quran she says was her own property and once under the Public Order Act for wearing a Charlie Hebdo T-shirt depicting the Prophet Mohammed.
In June 2022, police arrived at Speakers’ Corner to find a crowd surrounding Tash after a man had stolen her Quran. Rather than pursuing the thief, officers restrained her, marched her through the crowd, strip-searched her, and detained her overnight. She was then charged with “criminal damage” for her own property.
Tash had previouslybeen stabbedin the face and hands at Speakers’ Corner in July 2021. Her attacker was never arrested. An Islamic terrorist was later jailed for a minimum of24 yearsfor plotting to murder her with a firearm.
Source: The Gateway Pundit
