(Manchester, Gorton)
(Lab):...Last week, Azeem Rafiq’s powerful and
moving testimony about his experience in cricket shone a light on
how easily racism and Islamophobia can go unchecked and be simply
dismissed as “banter”. A series of attacks on mosques, including
in Manchester and east London, demand serious action by the
Government. Most recently, a man was convicted of terrorism
offences after planning an attack on a mosque in Scotland. Will
the Minister outline what steps are being taken to better
safeguard places of worship?
(Streatham)
(Lab):...Finally, I remind Members that 45% of religious hate
crimes recorded by the police in 2020-21 were Islamophobic. That
is an estimated 42,000 incidents of religiously motivated hate
crime per year, which is approximately six times the number of
recorded offences. And perhaps it is a reflection of how much
Islamophobia permeates our entire society that a professional
sportsperson had to share his painful experiences of being
discriminated against during his time as a cricketer.
Since Azeem
Rafiq provided evidence to the Digital, Culture,
Media and Sport Committee this month, other professional
cricketers have shared their stories of being abused due to their
ethnicity or religion, and an independent commission looking into
racism and discrimination in cricket has now been inundated with
responses...
(Bradford West) (Lab):...When
15-year-old Azeem
Rafiq is forced in a car to drink alcohol, that is
of course a hate crime and an assault. Later, when he feels he
has to drink alcohol to fit in, to be the best that he can be, to
have an opportunity to progress, where is the hate crime then? He
is in an environment in which he cannot be the best or achieve
his dreams while adhering to the faith that he chooses to follow.
Listening to his evidence at the Digital, Culture, Media and
Sport Committee, it was evident how much trauma he faced later on
in life through being forced to be someone he was not just to fit
in..
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