Zara Mohammed, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, said “Our view is that the Islamophobia in the Party is institutional, tolerated by the leadership and seen as acceptable by great swathes of the party membership.”
The Muslim Council of Britain is the organization pushing for the British government to accept its restrictive definition of Islamophobia. The group has consistently promoted the definition produced by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Muslims in 2018–2019. That definition states: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.”
When the U.K. government released its own definition in March 2026, using the term “anti-Muslim hostility” rather than “Islamophobia,” MCB Secretary General Dr. Wajid Akhter called it a “diminished version” of what the government’s own working group had recommended and declined to endorse it.
Working from a restrictive definition of Islamophobia, the British government has been cracking down on free speech in order to appease Muslim groups. In 2025, Hamit Coskun was handed a criminal conviction for burning a Quran outside the Turkish Embassy in London, shouting “F–k Islam” and “Islam is a religion of terrorism.” He was convicted of religiously motivated harassment, alarm, or distress and received a fine of approximately $300 plus a surcharge of $120.
Coskun was attacked by Moussa Kadri, who came at him with a knife, beating and slashing at him. Kadri pleaded guilty to assault and possession of a bladed article and received a 20-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, with 150 hours of unpaid work. The judge spared him jail because he had “lost his temper” and was of previously “exemplary character.”
Another recent case involved online speech targeting Islam. Pete North was arrested in 2025 on suspicion of a public-order offence after posting a meme that read “F*** Palestine, F*** Hamas, F*** Islam.” He was later released without charge.
Hellbound and Down 