When two Muslims travelled recently from the UK to Europe, they had a strange conversation before going to the airport. If one of them gets stopped by UK authorities at the airport, should the other proceed and board the flight anyway? They were not drug dealers, criminals or anything of that nature and their trip was on a British passport for a legitimate visit to another European country. Actually, the worry was more about being stopped at the UK end because this has happened several times. And they knew that other non-Muslim British passport holders were unlikely to suffer the same fate.

While the UK government tries to tell the world that people here are treated equally, it is clear that Muslims are now regarded by some as second-class citizens. While many in the Muslim community know this through experience, it was brought to light when an award winning Muslim Somali journalist wrote an article about his constant harassment over the last ten years. Jamal Osman wrote:

“I joined Channel 4 News as a reporter, largely covering Africa – a role that required frequent travelling. And that is when my nightmare at the hands of Britain’s security services began. I have been detained, questioned and harassed almost every time I have passed through Heathrow Airport. In 10 years, only one of my colleagues has been stopped.

During the past five years I have also been repeatedly approached by security services trying to “recruit” me.”

“If there is one thing I’ve learned from such encounters, it is that carrying a British passport doesn’t necessarily make you feel British. I came to this country to seek sanctuary. I am a multi-award winning journalist. I am an immigrant and a refugee – but I am still made to feel like an asylum seeker. I am a Muslim, an African and a Somali. And should the security services be reading this: I am a British citizen. Please treat me like one.”

Many Muslims would read that and wonder that if a prominent Muslim journalist gets treated like that, how can they be expected to be treated any differently. So whatever the claims of the UK government, the experience at airports leads many Muslims to conclude that they are treated as second class citizens – though they carry a British passport.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by

Taji Mustafa

Media Representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain