UK police investigate hate mail sent to mosques

Rasa - British police have conducted an investigation into hate mail and suspicious packages sent to mosques in the United Kingdom and the United States.

News ID: 431647

Date: 13 August 2017 - 20:48

RNA - Hate mail and suspicious packages were sent from a location near Sheffield to mosques in London, South Yorkshire and the US, the Guardian reported on Saturday.

“Police received a number of reports of malicious communications and packages which have been received in recent days” by mosques, the North East Counter Terrorism Unit said in a statement. “Specialist officers have attended the addresses and the contents of the packages were examined. In all cases, the substances were found not to be noxious or harmful.”

“All the letters I have seen have similar drawings, handwriting, and originated from Sheffield,” Corey Saylor, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

“Whoever is behind these letters feels empowered to make people on the opposite side of the Atlantic feel afraid to go to their places of worship. Such religious intimidation is wrong in any context and I hope British authorities act to expose and bring appropriate legal charges against the sender.”

The letters contained offensive material and threats, saying the sender would be visiting the mosques.

Steve Rose, who is responsible for content at Faith Matters, a community action group working to counter extremism, pointed out that people should report any threats to the police.

“It could be one person sending them, it could be several people,” he said. “We need the mosques to report, and check their mail regularly. They should make sure they have hate mail policy in place for hateful mail.”

Rose urged people attending mosques to remain vigilant.

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