Well so much for Labour.
Labour leader Ed Miliband has said his party will make Islamophobia an aggravated crime, toughing existing hate crime legislation.
Mr Miliband also said that his party intended to ensure that instances of Islamophobia were marked on peoples’ records, in an interview with The Muslim Times.
Although Islamophobia already falls under the Racial and Religious Hatred Act of 2006, whereby it is punishable by up to seven years imprisonment, Mr Miliband’s proposal would allow authorities to hand down tougher sentences for similar crimes.
“We are going to make it an aggravated crime. We are going to make sure it is marked on people’s records with the police to make sure they root out Islamophobia as a hate crime,” he said.
Labour wants to make it an aggravated crime to dislike Islam.
Since we know that Islamists like to pin the label of “Islamophobia” on every kind of criticism of and disagreement with Islam, the prisons of Britain will be overflowing if Miliband is elected.
I saw this via Maajid Nawaz, who commented
Ed Miliband favours a ‘ban’ on “Islamophobia”.
My take: No idea is above scrutiny. No people are beneath dignity.
Quite. Discourage anti-Muslim bigotry by all means, but do not forbid us to dispute or criticize Islam.