KavkazCenter - Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes Rising in the US

Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes Rising in the US

Violence targeting Muslims in the U.S., discrimination and harassment against them in the post-Sept.11 period, is reported to have risen dramatically.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), one of the leading Muslim NGO's in the U.S., issued a report titled "The Struggle for Equality," in which it asserted that 1,972 violent events targeting Muslims were recorded in 2005.

This figure is equal to an increase of 29.6 percent in the incidents of such events during the past year. A total of 153 racist attacks were officially recorded last year; 141 in 2004 and 93 in 2003. According to the report, the incidences of the violation of civil rights, written or verbal harassment and discrimination at work are being increasingly encountered.

CAIR Legal Director Arsalan Iftikhar said during a press conference he organized that African-Americans are far more likely to be subjected to racist attacks, adding that the number of violent acts against Muslims or Arab-American is also increasing at an alarming pace.

Iftikhar said, "We believe the biggest factor contributing to anti-Muslim feeling and the resulting acts of bias is the growth in Islamophobic rhetoric that has flooded the Internet and talk radio in the post-9/11 era."

Source: Zaman