FSU General Secretary Toby Young joined Matt Goodwin on GB News to warn that Labour’s new Islamophobia Council could bypass Parliament and criminalise Islamophobia by stealth. “The alarming thing about this,” he explained, “is that Labour isn’t proposing to criminalise Islamophobia by passing a law.” Instead, the government will argue that ‘Islamophobia’ is already a criminal offence, with the new council merely offering ‘guidance’ on enforcement. Lord Young has also written about what’s at stake in The Spectator here.
Last Saturday, Greater Manchester Police arrested a man for burning a copy of the Quran in the city centre. He was later charged with a racially and religiously aggravated public order offence.
“The Quran is a sacred book to Muslims, and treating it as you did is going to cause extreme distress,” said the judge. “This is a tolerant country, but we just do not tolerate this behaviour.”
That was disappointing, given that freedom of expression is supposed to be protected by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Surely, that right includes the right to say or do something Muslims find offensive?
But if the judge in the Manchester case is right, offending Muslims isn’t protected by Article 10. Someone accused of intentionally causing harassment, alarm or distress can mount a defence by arguing it was ‘unreasonable’ for the ‘victim’ to experience those feelings. But if it’s not ‘unreasonable’ for a Muslim to feel ‘distress’ when a person sets fire to the Quran, why would it be when another Islamic blasphemy code is breached?
Once you’ve allowed that becoming distressed on religious grounds isn’t ‘unreasonable’ and anyone causing it is guilty of an offence, you’ve opened the door to criminalising other forms of ‘Islamophobia’.
This is Labour’s real plan. Instead of passing a new law, the government will argue that ‘Islamophobia’ is already an criminal offence – and the new Islamophobia Council is simply providing ‘guidance’ on who to prosecute, which we have good reason to think will be based on the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims’ extremely broad definition.
So how do we fight back?
Not in parliament, but in court. The next time someone is prosecuting for causing a Muslim ‘distress’, the FSU will be there to defend them, arguing that their speech – or actions, if it’s another Quran-burning case – are protected by Article 10. Causing offence, we will argue, is not a crime.
The FSU is already defending an asylum seeker arrested for burning a copy of the Quran. He hasn’t been charged yet. If he is, we’ll go to bat for him.
