Scottish Labour was last night embroiled in a fresh racism scandal after a Facebook account linked to the party suggested “there is no such thing as Islamophobia”.
The Argyll and Bute Labour account also claimed Islam is “responsible for more terror attacks than any other” and treats women as “second class citizens”.
The hateful post came just days after a high-profile Muslim MSP questioned his party’s commitment to tackling prejudice.
Former deputy leader Anas Sarwar slams Labour race row hearing after MSP barred from giving evidence hit out after a Labour councillor was cleared of making racist comments towards him after a 15-month investigation.
The racist message was posted on Tuesday afternoon, alongside the question: “Any disagreement with this meme?”
Anas Sarwar slams Labour race row hearing after MSP barred from giving evidence
It said: “There is no such thing as Islamophobia. It is the right of every individual to question a religion which claims to be peaceful, and yet is responsible for more terror attacks than any other.
"In the Islamic world, women are treated as second class citizens and bound by ancient laws that have no place in a modern world. If anything, Islam has a phobia about anything not Islamic.”
Sarwar, chair of Holyrood’s Cross-Party Group on Tackling Islamophobia, was furious at the content. He said: “This is a shocking and disgraceful post that demonstrates why the campaign to tackle all forms of hatred and prejudice is so important.
“We have made great strides over the past year to expose the extent of Islamophobia in Scotland, and political parties have adopted an agreed definition of Islamophobia.
“But this shows there is so much more work to do, and I hope the Labour Party – an anti-racist party rooted in the principle of equality – takes immediate and meaningful action in light of this post.”
Labour last night claimed the account is “unofficial”, despite it regularly publicising details of constituency meetings and promoting local Labour politicians. They said: “This post is disgraceful and we will be making inquiries about who operates this local, unofficial account.”
Sarwar has said he was left “deeply hurt and demoralised” when the allegation he made against a councillor was thrown out last week.
Anas Sarwar made up racism claim says former Labour chief at centre of slur probe
He condemned Labour’s complaints process and said he was barred from giving evidence at a hearing into the claims.
It came after Sarwar, then a Scottish leadership candidate, alleged last year that councillor Davie McLachlan had told him “Scotland wouldn’t vote for a brown, Muslim P***”.
McLachlan, who had been leader of the Labour group on South Lanarkshire Council, denied the claims and the case was dismissed by Labour’s National Constitutional Committee last Monday.
Labour has also been embroiled in a long-running row about claims of institutional anti-Semitism.
