The Controversy Over Islamophobia and Grooming Gang Investigations

[Social Media]

 

A new report by the Policy Exchange think tank has reignited debate over the use of the term "Islamophobia" in the context of grooming gang investigations. The report argues that accusations of Islamophobia have been used to suppress exposure of criminal activities, particularly in cases like the Rotherham grooming scandal.  

 

The think tank warns that the push for a national definition of Islamophobia could act as a de facto blasphemy law, limiting discussions about criminal behavior involving individuals from Muslim backgrounds. The report claims that the term has been "directly used to attack those who sought to expose the Rotherham grooming scandal," citing the case of investigative journalist Andrew Norfolk. Norfolk, who played a key role in uncovering the scandal, was accused by left-wing academics of amplifying Islamophobia in a report published by the Media Reform Coalition.  

 

The report also highlights the backlash faced by Sarah Champion, the Labour MP who advocated for the victims, and Dame Louise Casey, who investigated Rotherham Council’s handling of the crisis. Both were named "Islamophobe of the Year" by the Islamic Human Rights Commission.  

 

Authors Andrew Gilligan and Paul Stott argue that accusations of Islamophobia have been strategically used to shield wrongdoers from scrutiny. They state, “As in Rotherham, the charge of Islamophobia is often used by wrongdoers who are Muslim, or their allies, to smear or deter those who seek to expose them.” They warn that an official definition of Islamophobia would "make this problem worse" and create "special protections for one faith."  

 

The Labour Party has already adopted the definition put forward by the all-party parliamentary group for British Muslims (APPG), which defines Islamophobia as "rooted in racism and a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness." This definition has been criticized for discouraging the use of terms like “grooming gangs” in connection with Muslim offenders, arguing that such associations reinforce harmful stereotypes.  

 

The Policy Exchange report also points to the involvement of Muhbeen Hussain, a Yorkshire activist, in shaping the debate over Islamophobia. Hussain led a boycott of South Yorkshire Police in 2015, protesting what he described as the force’s failure to protect Muslim communities from far-right violence. He dismissed claims that police hesitated to arrest grooming gang members due to fears of being labeled racist, calling this a "pernicious lie."  

 

Hussain’s group, British Muslim Youth, accused the police of using the grooming gang scandal as a way to deflect from their own failures, a stance the report’s authors claim amounted to an accusation of Islamophobia. Hussain also criticized Sarah Champion in a BBC *Newsnight* appearance, arguing that her claim that Britain had “a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls” fueled discrimination.  

 

At the same time, Hussain and his group had spoken out against the grooming scandal in 2014, demanding prosecutions and accountability. “The council, the social services, and the police authorities have totally failed us… We want the investigations to go back to 1997, cases reopened and prosecutions made,” he said at the time.  

 

The report also draws attention to Hussain’s uncle, Mahroof Hussain, a former Labour councillor who resigned in 2015 after the Casey Report found that council staff believed he had “suppressed discussion” of grooming gangs to avoid harming community relations. Mahroof Hussain later denied being in denial about the issue but admitted that the council had failed to act quickly enough.  

 

Responding to the Policy Exchange report, Muhbeen Hussain maintained that his boycott of the police was not related to the grooming scandal but was instead a reaction to rising hate crimes against Muslims in Rotherham. “I have always condemned the actions of the vile perpetrators, but at the same time, I have condemned the vile racist and Islamophobic surge we saw in Rotherham following the Jay Report,” he said. He argued that entire communities should not be demonized for the crimes of a few individuals.  

 

The Policy Exchange report raises questions about the balance between tackling hate crimes and ensuring that serious criminal investigations are not hindered by accusations of Islamophobia. The all-party parliamentary group for British Muslims and the Islamic Human Rights Commission have been contacted for comment on the findings.

 

Based on a report by The Telegraph  2025-02-28

 

Related Topics:

Angela Rayner’s Plan for Islamophobia Council Sparks Free Speech Concerns

Labour’s Approach to Islamophobia and Migration Demands Belief in the Impossible

 

 

[blaze master]

11 minutes ago, Social Media said:

The Labour Party has already adopted the definition put forward by the all-party parliamentary group for British Muslims (APPG), which defines Islamophobia as "rooted in racism and a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness." This definition has been criticized for discouraging the use of terms like “grooming gangs” in connection with Muslim offenders, arguing that such associations reinforce harmful stereotypes.  

 

All that matters is any scum that commits a sexual crime receives the proper judicial process and subsequent jail time. 

 

If in that process someone who follows a certain ideology is offended.

 

Too bad.

[loong]

3 hours ago, Social Media said:

This definition has been criticized for discouraging the use of terms like “grooming gangs” in connection with Muslim offenders, arguing that such associations reinforce harmful stereotypes.

If there were not gangs of Muslim men raping young girls/women there would be no stereotype to reinforce!

[Cryingdick]

Islam is intolerant. They can't expect people to meet them with love when they want to slaughter all infidels. Eye for an eye. Why do you hate Islam so much, all we want to do is kill you and rule the world. Their only problem is they are too stupid to pull it off.

 

 

[blaze master]

8 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

Islam is intolerant. They can't expect people to meet them with love when they want to slaughter all infidels. Eye for an eye. Why do you hate Islam so much, all we want to do is kill you and rule the world. Their only problem is they are too stupid to pull it off.

 

 

 

Not too stupid to breed Europe out in the coming 50 years though.

 

Gaddafi tried to warn people.

 

 

[Cryingdick]

Just now, blaze master said:

 

Not too stupid to breed Europe out in the coming 50 years though.

 

Gaddafi tried to warn people.

 

 

 

That's not them being bright but Europe being dumb. Do you consider cockroaches smart if you leave food lying about and they infest your house?

[blaze master]

33 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

 

That's not them being bright but Europe being dumb. Do you consider cockroaches smart if you leave food lying about and they infest your house?

 

Why not. The roach finds a place with food and took advantage of it.

[JBChiangRai]

The issue I have with Islam is it preaches inequality and intolerance.

 

Islam translates from Arabic to Submission.

 

 

[Cryingdick]

9 minutes ago, blaze master said:

 

Why not. The roach finds a place with food and took advantage of it.

If you don't mind why should they? 

[hotsun]

4 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

The issue I have with Islam is it preaches inequality and intolerance.

 

Islam translates from Arabic to Submission.

 

 

The religion is incompatible with the west. America has figured it out, the others havent

[Cryingdick]

2 minutes ago, hotsun said:

The religion is incompatible with the west. America has figured it out, the others havent

You mean you don't want people moving next to you that are pretty nice but sometimes behead your children cut your wife's tits off and put you babies in ovens, before offering them   To you and putting a bullet in your head? 

[Social Media]

A post making disgusting false claims about the victims of grooming gangs and a troll post has been removed @MalcolmB

 

The topic here is:

 

 The Controversy Over Islamophobia and Grooming Gang Investigations

 

 

[blaze master]

17 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

If you don't mind why should they? 

 

Who said I don't mind ? 

[jvs]

15 minutes ago, hotsun said:

The religion is incompatible with the west. America has figured it out, the others havent

Really?

Others have also already and are doing a far better job.

 

[hotsun]

1 minute ago, jvs said:

Really?

Others have also already and are doing a far better job.

 

Last time i checked Trump is deporting all the hamas supporters in the country. Europe Australia and canada arent doing anything about it

[JAG]

The overwhelming coverage of this awful scandal has died back, so the "establishment" (whose policies and actions, or rather inactions allowed it to happen for so long) pushback has started. Soon it will be time for a BBC or Channel 4 documentary on the terrible affect of the white racist anger upon the Pakistani community.

[proton]

You groom horses, these are rape gangs preying on children. They are following the prophet who was also a rapist, his wife's once caught him raping his slaves. He was a child abuser also to his 9 year old 'wife'. The Quran condones raping captives who are non muslim. It's the religion which is to blame, not the nationality.

[JonnyF]

The over use of the word Islamaphobia is just an attempt to silence people. When the chickens come home to roost over continued government failures it is uncomfortable, epsecially when those "chickens" are in the form of dead and abused children. 

 

They don't want to hear it, so they label you an Islamaphobe to try to shut you up.

[Woke to Sounds]

Added a grooming gang to my list of business ventures (alongside my scam call centre and gambling den).

 

Imagine the revenue!

[soi3eddie]

"Grooming" gang is the wrong name. They only ever set out to do terrible things to those vulnerable children. 

 

[Antti]

Islomophobia is an oxymoron. Phobia means irrational fear. There is nothing irrational about resisting, disliking, despising, hating or even fearing islam. It is the single worst ideology to ever appear on the face of the Earth.

[jvs]

37 minutes ago, hotsun said:

Last time i checked Trump is deporting all the hamas supporters in the country. Europe Australia and canada arent doing anything about it

The world is a lot bigger then the US,look around and open your eyes.There are other countries that are

doing a lot more.

[mikeymike100]

There was a huge cover up, to try and stop the police and judiciary from doing their job in Rotherham and other places. It was done to stop the police and judiciary from being called racist and not offend the Pakistani muslim communities.

There’s also evidence of deliberate suppression to protect political or social interests. In Rotherham, Louise Casey’s 2015 report found a council culture of silencing whistleblowers and covering up abuse to avoid damaging the town’s reputation or sparking riots. A senior officer reportedly admitted the abuse had been ongoing for 30 years but was ignored because "with it being Asians, we can’t afford for this to be coming out." Similar patterns emerged elsewhere, suggesting a systemic reluctance to confront the scale of the problem.

Now somebody is going to ask 'what evidence' no doubt, so.......

1. Louise Casey’s 2015 Report on Rotherham
   • Source: The report, titled Inspection into the Governance of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, was commissioned by the UK government following the 2014 Alexis Jay report, which exposed the scale of child sexual exploitation (CSE) in Rotherham—over 1,400 victims abused between 1997 and 2013.
   • Findings: Casey documented a pervasive culture of denial and suppression within Rotherham Council and, to an extent, its police force. The report explicitly states that council officials and senior leaders were aware of the abuse but actively avoided addressing it due to fears of damaging the town's reputation and stoking community tensions.
   • Key Evidence:
     • Interviews with council staff revealed a "culture of silencing" where whistleblowers were discouraged or punished for raising concerns about grooming gangs. For instance, one unnamed official reported being told to "keep quiet" about the ethnicity of perpetrators to avoid "rocking the multicultural boat."
     • Casey cited evidence of files and reports on CSE going missing or being deliberately suppressed. A notable example was the disappearance of a 2002 draft report by a council researcher, which identified Pakistani heritage men as the primary perpetrators but was never published after senior officials intervened.
     • The report quotes a senior officer (anonymized but implied to be from South Yorkshire Police) admitting that the abuse was known for "30 years" but was deliberately ignored because "with it being Asians, we can’t afford for this to be coming out." This reflects a calculated choice to prioritize social cohesion over victim protection.
2. Testimonies from Whistleblowers and Victims
   • Jayne Senior: A youth worker in Rotherham who managed the Risky Business project, Senior provided evidence to both the Jay and Casey inquiries. She reported submitting detailed logs of abuse—naming perpetrators and linking them to Pakistani Muslim networks—to police and council officials from the late 1990s onward. She testified that her warnings were repeatedly dismissed, and she faced intimidation to stop her work. In her 2016 book Broken and Betrayed, she claims police told her explicitly that pursuing these cases could "upset the Pakistani community."
   • Victim Accounts: Survivors like "Emma" (a pseudonym used in media reports) told the BBC and The Times that police refused to act on their complaints in the early 2000s, with one officer allegedly saying, "We don’t want to cause a race riot." These accounts suggest a pattern of suppression driven by fear of public backlash.
3. South Yorkshire Police Admissions
   • Operation Stovewood: Following the scandal, the National Crime Agency’s investigation into historical Rotherham abuse uncovered internal police documents showing awareness of grooming patterns as early as the 1980s. A leaked 2010 memo from a senior officer acknowledged "systematic abuse by a small group of Asian males" but advised against public disclosure due to "potential community unrest."
   • Chief Constable Testimony: During a 2016 parliamentary inquiry by the Home Affairs Select Committee, former South Yorkshire Police Chief Constable David Crompton admitted that officers had been instructed to tread carefully around ethnicity issues, citing "reputational risk" to the force and the town.
4. Similar Patterns Elsewhere
   • Rochdale: The 2023 independent review into Rochdale grooming scandals found that Greater Manchester Police (GMP) shelved a 2009 investigation (Operation Augusta) into similar gangs despite identifying 97 suspects, many of Pakistani descent. GMP later admitted this was partly due to "concerns about community relations" during a period of heightened racial tension post-2005 London bombings.
   • Telford: A 2021 inquiry by Maggie Oliver, a former GMP detective turned whistleblower, revealed that West Mercia Police ignored intelligence about grooming by Pakistani men in the 2000s, with one officer reportedly stating, "We can’t be seen to target them—it’ll look bad." The inquiry estimated over 1,000 victims in Telford alone.
   • Oldham: A 2022 review found that council leaders instructed police to downplay abuse reports in the early 2000s to avoid "provoking the far-right," according to internal correspondence cited in the report.
5. Broader Context from Media and Investigations
   • The Times Investigation (2011): Journalist Andrew Norfolk’s groundbreaking exposé linked the cover-up to a "fear of racism" among authorities. He cited confidential police sources who admitted that political pressure from Labour-led councils—dominant in northern towns like Rotherham—pushed for silence to maintain voter support in diverse constituencies.
   • Home Office Suppression: A 2014 leaked draft of a Home Office report (later heavily redacted in its 2020 public version) allegedly contained a section on "political sensitivities" influencing police inaction, according to whistleblower claims reported by The Guardian in 2019.

This evidence collectively points to a systemic reluctance—driven by political and social interests—to confront the grooming gang issue head-on. The fear of riots, reputational damage, and accusations of prejudice created an environment where suppression became a default response, delaying justice for victims and allowing the abuse to persist unchecked for years. While some argue this reflects incompetence rather than a coordinated conspiracy, the pattern across multiple towns suggests a deliberate choice to prioritize optics over accountability.

 

[jippytum]

exisists on this forum also. Just mention opposition to Muslim immigration and the same nerds  scream racism. 

[SABloke]

6 hours ago, Social Media said:

British Muslims (APPG), which defines Islamophobia as "rooted in racism and a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness."

 

And here I thought Islam was a religion. You learning something new every day. 🤔

[ignore it]

Ah...

 

The rise of Radical Islamic Wokeism.

 

Seems Islamist groups are adopt social justice language and exploiting progressive narratives to gain influence.

 

 

[Merrill]

I live in Rotherham seen it all, the Iman of the Mosque next to me fled the country for fiddling with kids, expensive cars parked outside schools waiting for class closing. In all of this though I have never ever seen a Asian Pakistani girl or woman  married or molested by a white person. Can you imagine  the outcry. In fact in all the years living in a now Pakistani area I have never seen Pakstan girl have a white British boyfriend. It is not allowed. Instant family termination. 

[Grusa]

2 hours ago, Antti said:

Islomophobia is an oxymoron. Phobia means irrational fear. There is nothing irrational about resisting, disliking, despising, hating or even fearing islam. It is the single worst ideology to ever appear on the face of the Earth.

Agree, and there is nothing racist or wrong about calling a spade a 4king shovel!

[Social Media]

A bunch of off topic posts and a couple of replies to them removed from the usual suspect, repeat and you will also be removed.

[connda]

That fact that there is push-back by the UK government on dismantling grooming gangs engaged in the rape of UK girls tells you everything you need to know about the UK.  In a civilized country rape is considered abhorrent.  But now in the UK.  Rape is a protected act by government authorities under the cover of protecting so-called religious minorities.