Muslim Hate Crime Phone Line Aims to Help Victims

Faith crime victims Sabana Amod and her husband Salim kept a scrapbook recording their experiences

A first UK helpline for victims of Islamophobia is being set up amid concerns that incidents are not being reported or properly categorised.

Last year 2,000 hate crimes were recorded against different faiths in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Police say it is unclear how many were against Muslims as separate figures were not recorded.

Faith Matters, a non-profit group, hopes to show the scale of the problem and provide support for victims.

“Many people think that Islamophobic crime does not exist. They say: ‘Where is the data?’” said the director of Faith Matters, Fiyaz Mughal.

He is setting up the project Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks (MAMA) with the help of government funding.

“This is a chance for the Muslim community to say: ‘Let us present the case, in terms of the facts, let somebody collate it and present it to the authorities.’