Muslim MP threatened over Syria vote
Police investigate after Conservative is targeted on social media for backing air strikes against Isil
THE Conservatives’ first Muslim female MP has been targeted with violent threats on Twitter and Facebook after voting for air strikes in Syria.
Nusrat Ghani, the MP for Wealden, East Sussex, dismissed as “idiots” the social media users who made threats via Facebook and Twitter and said she would continue doing her job, debating national security, and trying to represent and protect her constituents.
The abusive comments and threats were posted after the vote on air strikes on Dec 2, and have now been passed to the police who are examining the evidence to see whether any potential offences have been committed.
Ms Ghani is among a number of MPs who received threats and abuse via social media websites after backing David Cameron’s plan to extend military action against the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) into Syria. However, she told The Sunday
Telegraph that Isil, which is also known as “Daesh”, had to be stopped and that she would continue to back action against terrorists who have killed thousands of people through their attacks.
“Daesh are slaughtering Muslims in the region and killing Muslims, Christians and others elsewhere – there have been thousands of deaths attributed to their terrorism activities,” she said. “One of the reasons I voted to extend air strikes from Iraq into Syria was to stop them from continuing the killing of Muslims and Yazidis and non-Muslims, the raping of women, beheading of hostages.
“They are a threat to the region and there will be no stability in the Middle East until Daesh are removed.
“They are a direct threat to us here and in Europe, regardless of what faith that you are,” she said.
“There are passions on both sides of the argument and I completely understand that.
“And I understand the fear people have that we are engaging in something that’s incredibly complex.
“I am happy to have this discussion with people. What I am not prepared to tolerate is anonymous threats of violence, of all sorts. That’s not the way we work in a democratic country. My job is to represent my constituency, keep my constituency safe and help keep my country safe and I won’t be deterred from that.”
Ms Ghani said bombing was required as a way to take back territory that Isil had seized – because the jihadists’ military success was a key factor in enabling them to recruit more people to their evil cause.
“Daesh are an embryonic state and their power comes from taking territory. Their ideology is based on them having territory. To be able to challenge and remove Daesh, we have to be able to take back territory and one way of doing that is military strikes,” she said.
Ms Ghani added: “It’s hard to have a debate on social media. It’s very easy to go on social media and say things that are not appropriate.”