Washington, USA - Hate crimes against Muslims soared in the United States last year, according to a report by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
The number of hate crimes against members of the Muslim community jumped 52 percent last year, from 93 incidents in 2003 to 141 in 2004. And the number of violent acts, discriminatory incidents and cases of harassment against Muslims rose 49 percent between 2003 and 2004, to 1,522.
CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad called the figures alarming and urged President George W. Bush -- "whose statements after the (September 11, 2001) attacks were so important in helping to protect the well-being of the American Muslim community -- to once again speak out against Islamophobic attitudes."
The annual report noted that workplace discrimination against Muslims was less prevalent, while incidents involving police were on the rise, in the form of unjustified arrests and searches and abusive interrogations.
Among the factors contributing to the rise in incidents, CAIR said, were the "lingering impact" of fears following the September 11 attacks, heightened awareness of civil rights issues within the Muslim community and a "general increase in anti-Muslim rhetoric."
"These disturbing figures come as no surprise given growing Islamophobic sentiments and a general misperception of Islam and Muslims," CAIR's legal director, Arsalan Iftikhar, who authored the report, said in a statement.