MP Martyn Day called for a government debate or statement about what is being done to tackle crimes motivated by anti-apostasy, in the UK Parliament on 20 July.
Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom said in response: ‘Well, of course I think that all Members across the House would absolutely respect the right for any individual to choose to worship in the way that they want to do and so I think he would have a lot of support from all the Members, he may wish to apply for a Westminster Debate and I’m sure there would be a lot of interest in that.’
Hate-crime
MP Martyn Day said on his Facebook page that anti-apostasy is ‘a particular form of hate-crime where the victims are often the most isolated, in many cases having been ostracised by sections of their community and even family members.
‘Sadly however, anti-apostasy data is not recorded and this vulnerable group of hate-crime victims are at risk of being overlooked in government strategies.
Giving evidence
Mr Day had recently met with British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA) chairman Wilson Chowdhry, who conducted research and gave evidence about the issue.
He raised concerns with the MP about the rise in reported hate crime towards those who leave Islam in the UK and expressed his disappointment that the snap election resulted in the early closure of a Home Office Hate Crime Inquiry.
On a ‘Parliamentary Business’ page titled ‘Hate crime and its violent consequences inquiry’ within the UK Parliament website, a statement says: ‘Report published. Awaiting government response’. BPCA had submitted an ‘Apostasy Hatred’ report as ‘Written Evidence’ to the Inquiry that consisted of several case studies from victims of severe apostasy hate crime, who had bravely chosen to describe the threats, intimidation and persecution they had faced and the lacklustre response they had received from statutory agencies in the UK.
Persecution in Bradford
One of the testimonials within the BPCA report was the account of Nissar Hussain whose family suffered 17 years of persecution in Bradford. The family reported an average of six car vandalism incidents per year, they suffered fireworks being aimed at their house, incessant daily threats and in 2015 Nissar was hospitalised for ten days, narrowly surviving a brutal attack by two men using pick-axe handles – acts of violence that could be expected in Islamic nations like Pakistan or Somalia, but seem out-of-place and unexpected in the democracies of the West.
Yet despite the obviously huge sacrifice by victims of apostasy hatred to BPCA’s submitted written evidence to the Home Office Hate Crime Inquiry, the report was ignored.
Wilson Chowdhry said: ‘It is bemusing that despite a huge level of sacrifice by so many long-suffering victims, our paper on apostasy hatred for all intents and purposes was ignored by the UK Home Office. This only serves to uphold the belief held by apostates in the UK that statutory agencies are oblivious to their concerns, or just simply apathetic.
‘The positive response to Martyn Day's question in Parliament gives renewed hope that our initial aim, to bring the silent suffering of the UK’s many apostates into the mainstream, may still occur. However, simply knowing about the issue will not improve the quality of life for these victims.
‘The government simply has to rethink how they tackle the growing social malaise of apostasy hatred in Britain. I hope that they take note of the many recommendations we provide in our report and use some of these and other mechanisms to safeguard religious freedom in our nation.’
