Closed petition Islamophobia Act

Closed on 13 September 2012

To make Islamophobia, active discrimination against Muslims, a criminal offence.

Islamophobia is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Muslims for reasons connected to their Islamic heritage. Islamophobia is "hatred toward Muslims—individually and as a group—that can be attributed to the Islamic religion and/or ethnicity." In its extreme form, it "attributes to the Muslims an exceptional position among all other civilizations, defames them as an inferior group and denies their being part of the nation[s]" in which they reside. A person who holds such views is called an "Islamophobia". Islamophobia may be manifested in many ways, ranging from expressions of hatred of or discrimination against individual Muslims to organized violent attacks by mobs, or even state police, or military attacks on entire Islamic communities. Extreme instances of persecution include the ethnic cleansing seen in Bosnia 1995.