As Britons mark the 10th anniversary of London bombing, rights activists say the deepening plight of British Muslims has gone unnoticed in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks.
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A minute of silence was observed in the UK to mark the 10th anniversary of the July 7th London terrorist attack.
Also, a memorial service was held at St Paul's Cathedral, attended by Prime Minister David Cameron and other British government officials.
The bomb attacks targeting people using public transport network in central London left 52 dead and hundreds more injured on July 7, 2005.
Now, the sole Muslim survivor of the worst terrorist attack the UK has ever seen, says something should be done to counter the growing threat of Islamophobia in the country.
Sajda Mughal says she has suffered death threats and online abuse because of her faith during the past 10 years. She says her friends, family and Muslim colleagues have had the same experience in recent years.
Official figures suggest that attacks on Muslim women wearing the veil, vandalism of Muslims’ homes, discrimination in applying for jobs and bullying in schools against Muslims, as well as social media abuse against them have been on the rise following 7/7 terror attacks.
Arzu Merali, a London-based human rights campaigner believes that Muslims have been targeted with racism and “rising demonization by the media” following 7/7 bombings.
“We have even more anti-terrorist laws that specifically targeted the Muslims… Sadly what we are seeing now 10 years later is slow realization of how much could the United Kingdom become a police state as a result of these laws ” head of the Islamic Human Rights Commission told Press TV’s UK Desk on Tuesday.
Since the bombings a decade ago up to 50 deadly terror attacks have been foiled according to Mark Rowley, the UK's most senior counter terrorism officer.
"Fifty is the order of the number of plots that have been confronted over the past decade. The plots are of different scales and sizes. You get the grand, complex plans that are organized often from overseas down to the lone actor," Rowley said.
Sajda Mughal says the UK should stand together against Islamophobia the way it did against terrorism a decade ago.
"When we speak to young Muslims they tell us they are experiencing a rise in Islamophobia and they are feeling disconnected from society because of that…Extremism to some degree is fueled by Islamophobia, young Muslims are telling us first hand they have experienced it or their family has and that is making them feel alienated and that leaves some vulnerable to radicalization,” she was quoted as saying by The Independent.
The UK's terror threat level was raised from substantial to severe in August 2014 due to the conflicts taking place in Iraq and Syria.
Estimates suggest the number of Britons that have gone to Syria to join ISIL is approximately 700 with about half returning to the UK.
