Section:GDN 1N PaGe:14 Edition Date:190821 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 20/8/2019 19:05 cYanmaGentaYellowb
- The Guardian Wednesday 21 Au g u st 2019
(^14) National
Islamophobia
claim over
‘suspicionless
stops’ at ports
and airports
Dan Sabbagh
Muslims are being detained at ports
for up to six hours by law enforcement
offi cials who are using controversial
counter-terrorism powers so dispro-
portionately that the practice has
become Islamophobic, according to
the human rights group Cage.
The organisation also says there is
growing anecdotal evidence that Mus-
lim women are being forced to remove
their headscarves when stopped, even
though the rate at which such stops
lead to a conviction is 0.007%, accord-
ing to its analysis of 420,000 inciden ts.
Cage says it has made a compl aint to
the policing regulator, the Independ-
ent Offi ce for Police Conduct, on behalf
of 10 people , and ha s written to MPs on
the all- party group on British Muslims
to spell out the extent of its concerns
with so-called schedule 7 stops.
In the letter, Adnan Siddiqui, the
director of Cage , says tens of thou-
sands of people are being subject to
“suspicionless stops” and that “the
practice is a manifestation of structural
Islamophobia, which is experienced as
harassment”.
One Briton, Omer, who asked to be
identifi ed by his fi rst name only, told
the Guardian he had been stopped 40
times since 2005 when returning to
the UK, but ha d never been convicted
of any off ence.
Omer said: “I get stopped 95% of
the time, coming back from Belgium,
France and Italy .” He had become so
fed up with being repeatedly ques-
tioned that he often used one-word
answers to reply. The former medical
professional was stopped at Heathrow
on returning from Lahore, Pakistan,
after a fl ight during which he had
helped a teenager having a seizure. But
on leaving the plane he was still ques-
tioned. “This is a law that is almost
impos sible to beat ,” he said.
Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act
2000 allows people to be detained at
the border for up to six hours if law
enforcement is concerned they could
be engaged in terrorist activities.
Detainees have no right to silence and
must surrender their phones, com-
puters and passwords, and provide
fi ngerprints and DNA on request.
One of Cage’s complaints is that
the Home Offi ce does not respond
to freedom of information requests
breaking down the number of people
stopped by their religion. But a study
conducted by Cambridge University
researchers in 2014 concluded 88% of
those stopped were Muslim.
Cage has complied a dossier
summarising its complaints about
schedule 7, which is partly based on a
string of case studies it has compiled.
Siddiqui said Cage had noticed that
recently “a number of Muslim women
had been asked to remove their hijab
at a schedule 7 stop”.
In his letter to the MPs, Siddiqui
says: “This request seems not to corre-
late with any appropriate investigation
in relation to any form of terrorism,
but seems to be a form of humiliation
which can amount to a breach of equal-
ities legislation.”
A woman returning from Mecca
was stopped and held at an airport
for fi ve hours, according to the Cage
dossier , despite having felt unwell on
the plane. She was separated from her
husband and son, and asked for fi nger-
prints and a DNA sample. Her luggage
was searched and her phone taken.
She was asked what she thought
about the 2017 Westminster terror
attack, and wars in Syria and Yemen.
“I said I didn’t agree with killing inno-
cent people,” she recalled. She was
released, having been told “you have
complied with the laws”.
Muslims that have been stopped
say that questions frequently focus on
their religious beliefs. They are asked
if they pray frequently, if they fast and
if they have been to Mecca.
“The whole thing is done in such a
way as to make you feel that you are
doing something wrong for simply
practising Islam,” said a fi lm-maker
who had previously worked for aid
organisations in Syria but on this
occasion was travelling to Amster-
dam via Dover.
Figures relating to the use of sched-
ule 7, which date back to 2010, show
there have been 419,472 stops since
then. In the year to March 2019, 11,
stops were conducted, down from
85,557 in the year to March 2010.
‘The whole thing is
done in such a way as
to make you feel you
are doing something
wrong for simply
practising Islam’
Film-maker travelling to
Amsterdam via Dover
Community nurses quitting
because of stress, says report
Steven Morris
Morale among community nurses is
low and many are leaving the service
as a result of stress and an increased
workload, according to a report.
The report, from a Welsh assembly
committee, says the changing nature
of healthcare, in particular the move to
provide more help in the home and the
ageing population, has made the role
of the community nurses increasingly
important. But it says many commu-
nity nurses feel they do not get the
support they need and that some see
themselves as the “invisible service”.
While the assembly’s health, social
care and sport committee focused on
Wales, its fi ndings will resonate across
many areas of the UK.
Members expressed concern that
despite the importance of the service
they could fi nd no accurate national
picture of the number and skill mix
of community nursing teams, or the
number of patients receiving care in
their own homes. They concluded
this was likely to have an impact on
the eff ectiveness of the service.
One of the biggest issues raised by
Welsh nurses during an inquiry led by
the committee was their inability to
access technology to enable them to
do their job eff ectively.
Community nursing is a collective
term for all nurses, midwives and
health visitors working within a com-
munity setting.
Half of the community nurses who
took part in the inquiry said they had
no access to a mobile phone or other
device. Nurses also reported that
many phones that were provided by
the employer had no software access
to offi ce calendars or e mails.
Dai Lloyd , the committee chair,
said community nurses were “unsung
heroes”. He added: “ We are concerned
to hear from nurses about low staff
morale and in some cases nurses are
leaving the service as a result of stress
and increased workload.
“For the service to improve and
thrive we need to make sure that staff -
ing levels are right, that nurses are
provided with the mobile technology
they need to do their jobs eff ectively
and that community nursing is seen
as an attractive career.”
The committee made 10 recommen-
dations to the Welsh government.
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