Press Release: Racial Profiling will only Create Further Alienation

18 August 2005

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Islamic Human Rights Commission
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The Islamic Human Rights Commission condemns the results of statistics revealed today which showed that people of Asian appearance were five times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people.

IHRC notes that such discrimination was only to be predicted following recent comments by the transport police’s chief constable Ian Johnston and Home Office Minister Hazel Blears which supported racial profiling.

IHRC notes that those suspected of carrying out the bombings were of a variety of ethnicities – Pakistani, Afro-Caribbean, and East African and even White English in the case of the shoe-bomber Richard Reid. Consequently, racial profiling of any sorts is extremely limited in its workability.

IHRC Chair Massoud Shadjareh stated:

“Racial profiling is oppressive, unjust and has always been proven to be racist, xenophobic and completely counterproductive. The only thing it achieves is to target innocent people and thus further alienate a specific community.”

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Note for Editors:

For more information please contact, info@ihrc.org.

Islamic Human Rights Commission
PO Box 598
Wembley
HA9 7XH
United Kingdom

Telephone (+44) 20 8904 4222
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Email: info@ihrc.org
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info@ihrc.org