By: Jenilyn Brhel
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

LONDON, England – A national counterterrorism investigation is underway after several people received letters targeting Muslims in England.

According to authorities, residents of at least six communities in England have received anonymous letters in the mail urging them to commit acts of violence against Muslims on April 3^rd. The sender seems to be targeting communities with large Muslim populations.

The letters arrived in plain white envelopes and designate April 3^rd as “Punish A Muslim Day.” The letters express anger at what the author considers to be lax immigration policies in Europe and Muslim immigrants in particular.

The letters go on to provide a chart indicating “points” to be awarded, for crimes committed against Muslims, with the number of points increasing as the violent acts escalate in nature. 25 points would be awarded for pulling a head scarf off of a woman. 500 points would be awarded for murdering a Muslim.

It is not known where the letters originated from or who is responsible for sending them. The country’s counterterrorism forces are investigating the letters. The North East Counter Terrorism Unit is coordinating the investigation and has indicated that the letters are presumed to be linked.

Iman Matta, the director of Tell Mama UK, an organization in the United Kingdom that tracks anti-Muslim activity, told reporters that the letters have “caused quite a lot of fear within the Muslim community. They are asking if they are safe, if their children are safe to play outdoors. We have told them to keep calm.”

There are approximately 4.1 million Muslims in England, comprising over 4 percent of the country’s population.

Attitudes towards Muslims in the country have worsened in recent years. In one survey, more than half of the respondents stated that they believe Islam poses a threat. A quarter of those surveyed call the religion “dangerous.”

Hate crimes against Muslims in England rose signficantly between the years 2015-2016, where 62,518 crimes were reported, and 2016-2017, where 80,393 crimes were reported, according to statistics. This represents a 29% increase.

Naz Shah, a member of parliament in Bradford West, one of the communities that received letters, said that the individuals sending the letters are “inciting violence against the Muslim community.” She went on to say that “we stand shoulder by shoulder, and stand side by side, because nothing will divide us.”

A police spokesperson for the North East Counter Terrorism Unit indicated that “anyone with concerns about a communication they may have received should contact their local police force.”

For more information, please see:

BBC News – ‘Punish a Muslim day’ Letters Probed by Terror Police – 11 March 2018

Newsweek – ‘Punish a Muslim Day’ Game Spreads Across U.K. in Letters Urging People to Burn Mosques and rip off Hijabs – 12 March 2018

The New York Times – ‘Punish a Muslim Day’ Letters Rattle U.K. Communities – 11 March 2018

The Washington Post – Anonymous Letters in Britain Urge People to ‘Punish’ Muslims by Bombing Mosques, Nuking Mecca – 13 March 2018

By: Jenilyn Brhel
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

LONDON, England – In response to mounting pressure, Facebook has banned the group Britain First, a far-right Anti-Muslim group that was promoted by President Trump on Twitter last year.

Facebook announced on Wednesday, March 7^th that it had taken down several pages associated with the group due to their repeated violations of the social media network’s community standards.

In a statement, Facebook said: “We are an open platform for all ideas, and political speech goes to the heart of free expression. But political views can and should be expressed without hate. People can express robust and controversial opinions without needing to denigrate others on the basis of who they are.”

Britain First is estimated to have about 1,000 members. To spread its belief that Islam is destroying Britain, members have used tactics such as confronting Muslims on the street and in mosques.

In November 2017, President Trump amplified the group’s hate-mongering rhetoric by retweeting several of the group’s anti-Muslim videos, a first for a modern American president.

The President’s behavior was condemned by British Prime Minister Theresa May as well as human rights groups. He cancelled a trip to Britain in January 2018.

The anti-fascist organization called HOPE Not Hate reported that the Britain First Facebook page has over 2 million likes, making it one of the most-liked political Facebook pages, second only to the royal family.

Two leaders of the group, Paul Golding and Fayda Fransen, were recently convicted of religiously aggravated harassment hate crimes and given jail sentences. The two posted videos online of them harassing Muslims at their homes in 2017.

Facebook says that this decision has not been made lightly. The platform is intended to be an open forum for ideas and beliefs. However, “there are times when legitimate political speech crosses the line and becomes hate speech,” the company said.

The group was given several warnings that its content was violating Facebook’s standards regarding hate speech. When it did not comply with the requests, the page was removed. The group may not establish a replacement page.

Matthew Collins, head of research at HOPE Not Hate, called Facebook’s decision to remove the group’s page “long overdue…We are delighted that Facebook has finally faced up to its responsibility as a publishing platform and removed this hate-preaching organization.”

“I call on social media companies to show a stronger duty of care so that they can live up to their promise to be places that connect and unify, not divide or polarize,” said Sadiq Khan, London’s mayor.

For more information, please see:

CBS News – Facebook Bans Anti-Muslim Group Retweeted by Trump – 14 March 2018

USA Today – Why Facebook Banned anti-Muslim group Britain First – 14 March 2018

The New York Times – Facebook Blocks Britain First, a Far-Right Anti-Muslim Group Promoted by Trump – 14 March 2018

The New York Times – Anti-Muslim Extremists Retweeted by Trump Are Convicted of Hate Crimes – 8 March 2018

NBC News – Facebook Bans Britain First for Inciting ‘Animosity and Hatred’ Against Minorities – 14 March 2018

The Washington Post – Facebook Removes Home Page of Far-Right Group Britain First – 14 March 2018

By: Jenilyn Brhel
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

OSLO, Norway – Almost seven years after the last mass shooting in Norway, the country is making moves to ban semi-automatic weapons.

If the new legislation is passed, semi-automatic weapons and other previously legal weapons will be reclassified as “military-style” and banned. Citizens would be required to surrender any semi-automatic weapons in their possession. Future sales would be prohibited.

The law has been in talks since 2011, when on July 22^nd  Anders Behring Breivik murdered 77 people, mostly children, in a bombing and mass shooting on Utoya Island. There has not been a mass shooting in the country since then. However, the incident led the country to review existing laws and propose tightened ones.

A 2012 report by a commission formed in response to the Utoya massacre recommended a ban on semi-automatic weapons as one of its 31 recommendations to combat gun violence.

Øystein Mæland, Norway’s police chief, called for stricter laws pertaining to semi-automatic weapons after the attack.

The legislation comes at a time when gun violence is a considerable problem in the world, especially in the United States of America. Norway has 1.11 gun deaths per 100,000, compared to 10.54 per 100,000 in the United States.

Norway is one of many countries wishing to strengthen their gun laws. In Australia, 57,000 citizens recently surrendered firearms to the government during a gun amnesty in the country. With the recent high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, activists are calling for heightened measures to combat gun violence.

Norway already has some of the strictest gun laws in the world, requiring background checks and secure gun storage, among other things. Certain categories of guns are banned altogether.

The country has a high rate of gun ownership, but boasts low levels of gun violence, thanks in part to the strict gun laws in place. Most residents use them for hunting and outdoor sports.

The ban is planned to take effect in 2021, a decade after the mass shooting.

Petere Frlocih, a Conservative member of Parliament’s committee on judicial affairs, said “today it has become clear that there is a parliamentary majority in favor of the government’s proposal. Semi-automatic weapons will therefore be banned in Norway.”

“This decision is a very good thing, even if it comes belatedly,” said Lisabeth Kristine Roynemand, the head of a support group for victims of gun violence and their families. Her eighteen-year-old daughter was killed in the 2011 massacre.

Not everyone supports the proposed legislation. Farmers and hunters in the nation are protesting the measures.

For more information, please see:

Chicago Tribune – Norway and Australia Move Forward With new gun Control Measures, as U.S. Debate Rages on – 1 March 2018

The Guardian – Norway set to ban Semi-Automatic Guns From 2021, 10 Years After Utoya Shooting – 27 February 2018

Huffington Post – Norway Ready To Ban Semi-Automatic Weapons Starting In 2021, Says Lawmaker – 28 February 2018

Reuters – Norway set to ban Semi-Automatic Weapons – 1 March 2018

Washington Post – As U.S. gun Debate Rages on, Australians Hand in 57,000 Firearms, and Norway is set for a Broad ban – 1 March 2018

By: Jenilyn Brhel
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

REYKJAVIK, Iceland – Religious groups are criticizing legislation being considered in Iceland that would ban male circumcision for non-medical reasons.

Iceland’s Parliament is debating legislation that would impose a six-year prison term for circumcisions performed for non-medical reasons.

The legislation was proposed in response to the country’s outlaw on female genital mutilation in 2005. It would outlaw circumcision on children and establish an age of consent after-which an individual could undergo the procedure.

Supporters of the legislation believe that children should be old enough to give informed consent before undergoing the procedure. They believe that the practice infringes on the rights of individuals who are not yet capable to make the decision on their own. They also point to potential risks of the procedure, which include bleeding and infection.

“We are talking about children’s rights, not about freedom of belief,” said Silja Dögg Gunnarsdóttir, a lawmaker who proposed the new legislation. “Everyone has the right to believe in what they want, but the rights of children come about the right to believe.”

Jewish and Muslim religious leaders are condemning the proposal as an attack on religious freedom.

Circumcision is a procedure where the foreskin is removed from the penis. It is usually performed shortly after birth or during childhood. Jews and Muslims perform circumcisions as religious rituals to mark a child’s relationship with God.

“Protecting the health of children is a legitimate goal of every society, but in this case this concern is instrumentalized, without any scientific basis, to stigmatize certain religious communities,” said Cardinal Reinhard Marx, president of the Catholic Church in the European Union.

“It’s… part of our faith,”said Imam Ahmad Seddeeq at the Islamic Cultural Center of Iceland. “It’s something that touches our religion and I believe that this is… a contravention [of] religious freedom.”

The practice is not limited to religious reasons and is commonly practiced throughout the world across all ethnicities. An estimate by the World Health Organization in 2009 found that one in three men in the world are circumcised.

The American Academy of Pediatrics conducted a review in 2012, finding that the benefits of circumcision outweigh any risks associated with the procedure and issuing the following statement: “The health benefits of circumcision include lower risks of acquiring HIV, genital herpes, human papilloma virus and syphilis. Circumcision also lowers the risk of penile cancer over a lifetime; reduces the risk of cervical cancer in sexual partners, and lowers the risk of urinary tract infections in the first year of life.”

However, the group also stated that the benefits were not enough to recommend universal circumcision.

Circumcision is currently legal throughout Europe.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Iceland’s Mooted Circumcision Ban Sparks Religious Outrage – 19 February 2018

CNN – Iceland’s Proposed Ban on Male Circumcisions Upsets Jews, Muslims – 20 February 2018

Huffington Post – Iceland’s Proposed Ban on Male Circumcision Alarms Religious Leaders – 19 February 2018

Newsweek – Iceland Angers Jewish and Muslim Leaders Over Proposal to Ban Infant Male Circumcision – 19 February 2018

USA Today – Iceland Could Become First Country to Ban Male Circumcision – 19 February 2018

By: Jenilyn Brhel
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

WARSAW, Poland – The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization, is considering issuing a travel advisory for Jews traveling to Poland.

The travel advisory is being considered in light of a recent spike in anti-Semitism in Poland following the passage of a new law imposing fines and prison sentences for individuals who suggest that Poland was complicit in the Holocaust. Over three million Polish Jews were murdered in the country during the genocide. Only ten percent of the Polish Jewish community survived. Several of the most deadly death camps run by the Nazi regime were constructed and run in Poland.

The “Holocaust Speech Law” has been condemned internationally and spurred a bitter feud between Israel and Poland.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the law, which takes effect on February 28^th, saying “One cannot change history, and the Holocaust cannot be denied.”

The travel advisory, if issued, would “urge Jews to limit their travel to Poland only to visit ancestral graves and Holocaust-era death camps,” the Simon Wiesenthal Center said in a statement issued on February 22^nd.

“In wake of the controversial new Holocaust Law in Poland and the anti-Semitism it has unleashed that has left the Jewish community shaken, the Simon Wiesenthal Center is considering issuing a Travel Advisory for world Jewry.”

More than 8,000 people in Poland, including many liberal Poles, troubled by the Holocaust Speech law’s passage and the rise in anti-semitism and hateful rhetoric,  have signed a letter to “our Jewish friends” denouncing the escalating wave of hatred.

Jews in Poland are fearful of discrimination and persecution in the wake of the bill’s passage. Many are worried the law’s passage could trigger violence against Jews in the country.

Matylda Jonas-Kowalik, a student at Warsaw University in Poland, worries for her safety. “This is my home. I have never lived anywhere else and wanted this to keep being my home… “But this makes me very anxious. I don’t know what to expect.”

An open letter posted to the Union of Jewish Communities website in Poland calls the Polish government to action. The letter states in part, “as representatives of Polish Jewish organizations, we call on public institutions, police, media outlets, schools, and members of the Polish public to combat anti-Semitism, and we are eager to cooperate with them in this critical mission.”

For more information, please see:

ABC News – Polish Jews Stunned, Scared by Eruption of Anti-Semitism – 17 February 2018

CNN – Poland’s Jewish Groups Say Jews Feel Unsafe Since New Holocaust Law – 20 February 2018

The Guardian – Poland’s Jews Fear for Future Under New Holocaust Law – 10 February 2018

Newsweek – Nazi Hunter Group Mulls Warning Jews Against Travel to Poland in Wake of Holocaust Law – 22 February 2018

Reuters – Jewish NGO Simon Wiesenthal Center Considers Travel Advisory for Poland – 22 February 2018