Hoax terror letter targets British Muslims

11/26/2004 7:16:00 AM GMT

Dehavilland.co.uk, webindia123.com

Police in south-east London have started investigation after finding a letter with the logo of the Greater London Assembly (GLA), urging local residents to check up on their Muslim neighbours.

The letter calls on "people of Arab origin" or "Islamic belief" to report to their local police station to provide their fingerprints and give a retina scan.

Moreover, the hoax letter, which also claimed to have Southwark Council and the Metropolitan Police’s support, gives false information about a major terrorist threat.

Mayor Ken Livingstone condemned the letter and described it as "a cruel hoax" designed to "whip up ill-feeling" against Arabs and Muslims living in London.

"The people behind this deserve only contempt," he said.

Southwark Council and local police started sweeps of local housing estates to track down copies of the letter.

Over the past three years and since the Sep 11 attacks, Britain's ethnic communities have often found themselves persecuted as a result of the so-called, war on terror.

British Muslims suffer discrimination

Statistics showed that about 80 percent of the British Muslims have suffered discrimination as a result of Islamophobia that swept the Western societies after the September 11 attacks.

According to a newly released report: "The high number of stop-and-searches, and the gap between the number of searches and actual arrests, charges and convictions, is leading to a perception among British Muslims of being unfairly policed, and is fuelling a strong disaffection and sense of being under siege."

Between 2001 and 2003, the number of Asian people stopped and searched under the Terrorism Act rose by 302 per cent, compared with 230 per cent for black people and 118 per cent for whites, the report added.