Better protection for Apostates in the UK
10 Downing Street, London, SW1A 2AA
Saturday 21st May 2016
10:00 – 12:00
Guest Speaker: Nissar Hussain
Awareness of the plight of apostates in the UK has intensified due to high profile cases such as Nissar Hussain and Sofia Hayat. Nissar has suffered 15 years of persecution in his current town of Bradford simply for rejecting Islam for Christianity He and his family have, to date, faced around 15 years of almost relentless persecution. This has taken many forms including: an arson attack which forced them to relocate; intimidation; a mob gathering outside their house; false accusations against Nissar; threats to the women; assaults; verbal abuse; stones through their living room windows; and countless cars destroyed. In November last year the hatred culminated in an attack by two men armed with pick-axe handles, leaving him hospitalized for two weeks.
Concerns have been raised over the manner in which Police have handled the case of Nissar treating his persecution as a neighbourhood dispute rather then a hate crime. Moreover, the attack on Nissar was completely ignored by his MP Naz Shah, who even when interviewed on ITV about the matter just before his attack, stated that she believed the attack was a neighbourhood dispute. A comment that Nissar Hussain believes undermined his campaign for justice and resonated with the apathy she had towards apostates.
At the protest the BPCA will be demanding the following action by the UK Government:
- A review of existing policy with regards to Hate Crime in particular to address Police and ASB Team response and categorisation of crimes.
- Insertion of apostasy hatred in the text of the Racial and religious Hate crime Act 2006. The current act does not define apostasy hatred. It
is believed Nissar’s attack was deemed a local argument, due to other local Christians being free of persecution. A naive lack of understanding
of the religious motivation that has ruined the lives of the Hussain family. - A home office inquiry into the number of apostates in the UK, the levels of persecution they face and ways in which this persecution can be reduced.
- A school program to be initiated that highlights the existence of apostates, the covenants of international freedom that protect them, and highlights
the principle of freedom that makes western culture so attractive.A clampdown on extremism with stiffer more appropriate penalties for those involved.A thorough investigation into the extent of extremism in our political sphere following the revelations of rife antisemitism within the Labour
Party.We are also asking the UK Government to investigate policing failures in the case of Nissar to ensure future victims do not suffer similar issues.
