Holyrood told to adopt definition on Islamophobia

MSPS have been urged to set an example to the UK Government by adopting a definition of Islamophobia to tackle prejudice and hate in Scotland.

On a visit to Holy rood yesterday, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi and We sS tree ting from Westminster’ s All-party Group (APPG) on British Muslims joined Scottish Labour MSP Anas Sar war in calling for all political parties in Edinburgh to adopt the de fini ti on produced by the group.

It classifies discrimination against Muslims as a form of racism and reads: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that target sex pr essi ons of Mu slimness or perceived Muslimness.”

So far, the definition has been adopted by the UK Labour Party, the UK Liberal Democrats, the SNP Westminster Group, Plaid Cymru and several English local authorities.

Mr S ar war, who chairs Holy rood’ s Cross-Party Group (CPG) on Tackling Islamophobia, said: “The issues of prejudice and hate go beyond party politics.

“The challenge we had in Scotland two years ago was trying to get people to believe that Islamophobia existed in Scotland. I think we won that argument.”