Sikh Group Crowdfunds To Legally Challenge UK's Anti-Muslim Hostility Definition

 

London : A UK-based umbrella body of Sikh organisations has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds to legally challenge the government's decision to launch a new anti-Muslim hostility definition.

UK Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Steve Reed had tabled the definition alongside a social cohesion strategy in Parliament last month as a crackdown on “unacceptable prejudice, discrimination and hatred directed at Muslims or those perceived to be Muslim”.

However, some British Hindu and Sikh groups had expressed concerns over the impact such a definition would have on freedom of religion in the UK. "Freedom of religion and belief for British Sikhs is under threat with the government-backed ‘anti-Muslim’ hostility definition,” the Network of Sikh Organisations (NSO) said.

"We are compelled to pursue judicial review due to the government's actions and their expected effect on British Sikhs and other faith groups' ability to practice their beliefs.

 

“We believe there should be one law for all. As we previously stated, if there is a special government-backed definition for one group, why not for others – a ‘tsar’ for one, why then the exclusivity?

“Allegations of ‘anti-Muslim hostility’ will act like non-crime hate incidents – that is they don’t meet the criminal threshold, but are investigated, nevertheless, and this will have a chilling effect on freedom of speech and religious freedom. The process then becomes the punishment,” it stated.

The NSO fears the new non-statutory definition will likely permeate extensively across schools, universities, councils, the workplace and the online arena.

 

“The definition poses problems that threaten free speech and will directly affect how British Sikhs (and other faiths) are able to express and manifest their faith, and moreover openly discuss their history," it noted.

The group is now preparing for a judicial review in court on the grounds that the government’s move interferes with protected Article 9, 10 and 14 rights under the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).

Its Crowdfunder.co.uk campaign raised over 2,000 pounds of the 25,000 pounds target within days of its launch on Sunday. The group said it is joining the Free Speech Union and allied organisations and representatives of other faiths and beliefs to challenge the "ill-conceived definition” and all funds raised will contribute towards a legal fund for the judicial review.

“The definition safeguards our fundamental right to freedom of speech — about religion in general or any religion in particular — and ensures that concerns raised in the public interest are protected,” Minister Steve Reed told Parliament last month.

 

The full definition reads: “Anti-Muslim hostility is intentionally engaging in, assisting or encouraging criminal acts – including acts of violence, vandalism, harassment, or intimidation, whether physical, verbal, written or electronically communicated – that are directed at Muslims because of their religion or at those who are perceived to be Muslim, including where that perception is based on assumptions about ethnicity, race or appearance.

“It is also the prejudicial stereotyping of Muslims, or people perceived to be Muslim, including because of their ethnic or racial backgrounds or their appearance, and treating them as a collective group defined by fixed and negative characteristics, with the intention of encouraging hatred against them, irrespective of their actual opinions, beliefs or actions as individuals.

“It is engaging in unlawful discrimination where the relevant conduct – including the creation or use of practices and biases within institutions – is intended to disadvantage Muslims in public and economic life.”