08 November 2012

Baroness Warsi calls on Mosques to encourage hate crime reporting

The Senior Minister for Faith at the Department for Communities and Local Government is to write to all Imams to urge them to do more to tackle the problem in their areas.

New figures show there have been nearly 500 recorded incidents of anti-Muslim attacks in England since a new Government-funded helpline was established in February this year to monitor them.

But Baroness Warsi, who argued last year that Islamophobia had "passed the dinner table test", believes that the real figure may be much higher, with victims feeling unsupported to come forward or believing that reporting will not be taken seriously.

And the Minister will say that Mosques can play a crucial part in helping victims have confidence that attacks will be treated seriously. [Dept of Communities] Read more