Victims of Islamophobia urged to report incidents

Appeal to create clearer picture of religious intolerance in Scotland

Muslim people are turning the other cheek to verbal assaults rather than report them to police, it has been claimed in the wake of new figures that suggest religious bigotry has reduced in Dundee.

Information released by the Scottish Government details how many times someone was charged in relation to religiously aggravated attacks against a Muslim person in the country.

According to the data, there had been fewer than five charges in 201617 and 2017-18 respectively in Dundee compared to 2015-16, when there were 16 such incidents.

The data includes any form of offensive conduct towards someone based on the belief that the victim is Muslim, whether this is actually the case.

Naseh Ahmad, of Dundee’s Ahmadiyya Mosque, said that despite the reduction of incidents in the city, most verbal incidents go unreported.

He said: “Abuse towards us still happens, but I think most people end up ignoring it rather than reporting it to police. A couple of times people have shouted at me, but I just got on with it.

“I know a lot of people who have to deal with the public in their job, such as taxi drivers, get quite a lot of verbal abuse.

“I’ve never actually heard of a physical attack happening, though.”

Ahmadiyya Mosque was attacked by vandals earlier in the year, with fears that it was hate crime being raised shortly after.

The community responded with kindness, however, cooking up a feast for anyone in the area to attend and learn about the mosque.

Naseh, who has lived in the city for 10 years, feels Dundee is better than a lot of other places for Islamophobia.

“I have family in England and it seems to be worse for them there,” he said.

Naseh suggested that more people should use services such as Tell Mama – a national project which records antiMuslim activity in the UK –, so there is a clearer picture of the scale of religious hatred in the country.

According to Tell Mama, the number of discriminatory attacks against Muslims have more than doubled in the UK since 2015.

Scottish Government data shows that Glasgow and Edinburgh – unsurprisingly, given the higher populations – saw the highest number of attacks on Muslims.

Around Courier Country, in Angus there were no charges of aggravated attacks since 2014 with the exception of 2016-17, when there were fewer than five.

The figures were similar in Perth and Kinross, but there were also fewer than five incidents during 2017-18.

The rate was higher in Fife, where charges were brought every year since 2014.

In 2016-17 there were 16 incidents, and there were 11 in 2017-18, but there were fewer than five attacks in 2014-15 and 2016-17.

“Abuse towards us still happens, but I think most people end up ignoring it rather than reporting it to the police. NASEH AHMAD, AHMADIYYA MOSQUE