By: presstv.ir
Source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/06/07/307586/british-muslims-campaign-against-airport-harassment/
While most of these people are white a hugely disproportionate number are ethnic minorities and Muslims.
And the most intrusive and humiliating experiences – which might include strip searches, finger-printing and detention for up to 9 hours – tend to happen to non-whites.
This event in central London was organized by human rights group Cageprisoners to launch a website dedicated to telling the human stories of humiliation behind Schedule 7 and campaigning for the law to be reformed.
Speakers told the audience that Schedule 7 is morally and ethically bankrupt, discriminatory against Muslims and needs to be targeted at genuine terrorism suspects rather than whole communities.
The government says that Schedule 7 is one of the powers in their arsenal to confront the terrorism threat to mainland Britain. They deny that it’s targeted against any particular community but say they are reviewing possible improvements to it which would protect UK borders and respect human rights.
There’s a good deal of anger in the British Muslim community, especially, about the harassment that ordinary people face at airports and the stress, humiliation and resentment this causes. So much so that Muslims often joke to each other that the government has effectively introduced a new crime – that of travelling while being a Muslim.