UK Muslims Live in "Police State"

"It's a police state for Muslims," Abu Bakr told the BBC News Online on Thursday, February8 .

"It's not a police state for anybody else ... These terror laws are designed specifically for Muslims," complained the man who was released without charges Wednesday, February7 .

"That's quite an open fact because the people who have been arrested under terrorism law, the groups for example that have been banned under the terrorism law, the people that have been affected by terrorism legislation, have been Muslims," said Abu Bakr.

"We are feeling the brunt of it all. We are the ones who are being locked up, detained, and then told go back to our lives."

Abu Bakr was among nine people arrested during high-profile anti-terror raids in Birmingham last Wednesday on charges of planning to kidnap, torture and behead a British Muslim soldier.

But after a week-long detention, he and another man were released without charge.

Many British Muslims accuse the police of unfairly targeting their community in their terror crackdown.

Muslims have been at the eye of the storm since the 2005 grisly London attacks which killed56 people, including four Muslim bombers, a crime vehemently denounced by Muslim community and religious leaders.

Since2000 , British police have arrested over 700 people – mostly Muslims — under tough anti-terrorism laws but have brought only a handful to court. The vast majority have been released without charge.

Tarique Ghaffur, Assistant Commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police Force, the country's most senior Muslim officer, had complained that laws were alienating the sizable Muslim minority and were running the risk of criminalizing ethnic minorities.

Nightmare

Abu Bakr, who is studying for a PhD in political Islam at the Birmingham University, said he was "stigmatized" by his detention.

More