LONDON: Nearly 70 percent of people detained at British ports under anti-terrorism laws since 2021 were from Asian, Black and minority ethnic backgrounds, according to the new figures released on Sunday.
The UK media also revealed fewer than one in five who were stopped were white.
Campaigners have condemned the statistics, saying they prove the British anti-terrorism laws are disproportionately affecting Asian, Black and minority ethnic groups and not being used effectively enough to control the rise of far-right white extremism.
According to the data of the 8,095 people detained at UK ports since 2021 under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000, 5,619 were from Asian, Black and minority ethnic backgrounds as compared with 1,585 recorded as white British, Irish or white stopped under the same law.
The head of public advocacy at the anti-Islamophobia group Cage International has also pressed UK police to release data on the religious background of those stopped under the Terrorism Act.
Islamophobia, racism impacting minorities
Anas Mustapha said the new data confirms what we already know about its Islamophobic and racist impact. However, despite clear evidence showing that the majority of those stopped are Muslim and that the government has so far resisted demand to release a religious breakdown of those harassed at the international borders.
He said Schedule 7 is one of the most discriminatory and intrusive of all police powers.
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A spokesman from the British counter-terrorism police said the law was a major tool in gathering evidence to support convictions of terrorists.
He said the use of Schedule 7 powers regularly features in some of most complex and high-risk prosecutions and investigations of the police.
He noted that the country is facing an enduring terrorist threat from overseas.
