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View Full Version : Muslims slam UK’s “religious profiling” plan



sonz
08-16-2006, 09:06 AM
British Muslim leaders warned the government to think very carefully following reports that UK officials are considering a system of passenger-profiling which could be used to single out Muslims for security checks, the Guardian Unlimited reported.

British media reported that the government is discussing with airport authorities a system of profiling, where security staff single out people they regard as suspicious on ethnic or religious grounds.

If deployed, this system would anger British Muslims, though aviation experts claim that profiling could help them secure airports after police said last week it foiled an alleged terror plot to bomb U.S.-bound planes.

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), the UK’s largest Islamic organization, warned that the procedure, which also includes “behavioral pattern recognition”, would inevitably lead to discrimination.

MCB’s spokesman, Inayat Bunglawala, said that the British government could alienate the “community whose help it needs in combating the terrorist threat".

"Before some kind of religious profiling is introduced, a case has to be made; and we are certainly not convinced by the arguments for this kind of profiling. First of all, Muslims are not an ethnicity, as was shown by the arrests in last week's raids; there are many white converts to Islam,” he said.

Moreover, many Muslims already feel “unfairly targeted” because of their appearance, Bunglawala said, adding that some form of profiling was already in effect.

"This kind of thing must be intelligence-led, not appearance-led ... I hope the government has thought very carefully about this,” he stressed.

Many of Britain's 1.7 million Muslims have complained of being unfairly targeted by the police after last years’ bomb attacks on London’s transport systems.

Since 2000, UK police have detained more than 700 people, many of them Muslims, under the government’s tough anti-terrorism laws. Only a few of those arrested were tried, while the vast majority have been released without charge.

MCB General-Secretary Muhammad Abdul Bari also criticized the passenger-profiling system. "If you treat a community as a problem community, you are not going to get support from them."

Asked about the consequences of applying a passenger-profiling system, Bari told Sky News: "It could end up in racism unfortunately."

"If the profiling is done on the basis of race and religion, it will be wrong, it is not going to work,” he said.

These comments were echoed by one of Britain’s most senior Muslim police officers.

”What you are suggesting is that we should have a new offence in this country called 'traveling whilst Asian',” said Metropolitan Police Chief Superintendent Ali Desai, one of Britain's top Muslim police officers.

"That's unpalatable to everyone ... What we don't want to do is actually alienate the very communities who are going to help us catch terrorists,” he added.

AlJazeera
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wilberhum
08-16-2006, 04:36 PM
It is easy to Criticize. It is dificult to find a solution. What solution does the "British Muslim leaders" perpose?
I would like to see solutions not just criticism.
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Muezzin
08-16-2006, 05:12 PM
Given the current political climate, I'm surprised such a measure hadn't previously come into force. There's already a hell of a stigma for 'looking' Muslim - it was only a matter of time before such an attitude became officially endorsed.

However, terrorists could easily circumvent such profiling simply by using agents of, basically, any ethnicity other than Asian or Somali, dressed in 'Western' clothing. I just hope the so-called random checks would discover such people before they have the oppurtunity to blow something up.
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DaNgErOuS MiNdS
08-16-2006, 05:36 PM
They do profiling anyway, alot of muslims are checked questioned more then the regular passengers. I think it's almost a crime for a Muslim to travel on a airplane, I wouldn't be suprised if all muslims were banned from traveling altogether...
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therebbe
08-16-2006, 06:09 PM
wouldn't be suprised if all muslims were banned from traveling altogether...
Would you really?
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brainiac
08-16-2006, 08:40 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Muezzin
...However, terrorists could easily circumvent such profiling simply by using agents of, basically, any ethnicity other than Asian or Somali, dressed in 'Western' clothing ...


It may not be 100% foolproof, nothing is, but it will help a lot. If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck.
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wilberhum
08-16-2006, 08:56 PM
I ask my self, “How much inconvenience am I willing to endure, how much harassment is too much, to stop 500 people from being blown up over the ocean”?
Let’s see, I fly about 4 trips a year. If I loose an hour each time I travel, in a year I will lose 8 hours. Four years, a day.

Those 8 hours I’m going to lose this year, how many lives is it worth?
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