He and his interior minister dream of sending immigrants to Rwanda.. What does Sunak have in store for British Muslims?

In the United Kingdom, fears are escalating that Muslims will be subjected to further discrimination during the reign of the British Prime Minister of Indian origin, Rishi Sunak, who is the first to hold this position from an ethnic minority.

On October 24, Sunak, who is proud of his Hindu religion and was sworn in before Parliament on the "Bhagavad-Gita", one of the basic texts of Hindus, became the new leader of the ruling Conservative Party and Prime Minister, following the resignation of Liz Terrace 4 days earlier after 44 days in office.

The opposition and public opinion in Britain sharply criticized Sunak because of his discriminatory rhetoric against Muslims and irregular immigrants, in addition to his link between Islam and terrorism.

British public opinion is currently preoccupied with the steps that Sunak will take towards immigrants and refugees, especially since he included on his agenda before assuming office the "plan to send immigrants and refugees to Rwanda."

Returning to the history of Rishi Sunak's vote on immigration and refugee laws, he has always been a supporter of any law that reduces the number of immigrants to the country, as well as tightens the issue of receiving refugees.

Sunak did not issue any position opposing the controversial laws on immigration, such as the Nationality and Borders Law, which paves the way for the withdrawal of nationality from anyone without even informing him of the matter, or the project to deport immigrants to Rwanda.

And last April, Britain and Rwanda signed an agreement worth 120 million pounds sterling to send migrants, especially unaccompanied males, to the African country, where their asylum applications will be considered.

This project is still frozen pending the decision of the British Supreme Court.

Immigration and asylum policies

Muhammad Jagri Bellair, a professor at the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Leeds, believes that British governments have begun to look for ways to combat irregular immigration since the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union at the end of 2020. He stressed that Britain, after its exit from the European Union, deliberately discriminated in the protocol immigration.

Bilir continued by saying that in the Sunak government's approach to irregular migration, asylum seekers are classified and a distinction is made between those who have already come to escape human rights violations and those who have come for purely economic reasons.

The legality of asylum applications from those arriving by boat via France is being questioned.

And during Sunak's leadership of the Treasury under Boris Johnson - which is the second most important ministry after the premiership - he gave a lot of funding to all efforts to prevent the arrival of refugees through the sea channel.

According to the agreement with Rwanda, asylum seekers' claims will be scrutinized and strictly monitored.

"When we look at the statements about how the agreement with Rwanda will be implemented, we see that the applications of migrants and refugees will be examined one by one, especially the asylum applications of men between 20 and 40 years old," Bilir said.

And he added, "British Home Secretary Soyla Braverman (of Indian origin) described irregular immigration as an invasion, which shows how the government's policies will be towards immigration and immigrants."

Sunak re-appointed Braverman as Minister of the Interior a week after she submitted her resignation from the government of Liz Terrace, who is known for her anti-immigrant and strictness in the immigration file, despite her parents being immigrants.

In early October, Braverman stated that her dream is to see a picture of a flight carrying asylum seekers from Britain to Rwanda. The news made the front pages of local newspapers, vowing that she would fight to achieve this dream.

hostility to Islam

Bilir said that Prime Minister Sunak put the concept of extremism on one side with Islam and launched anti-Islamic expressions before assuming office, which sparked an angry wave against him and "received angry reactions," explaining, "With regard to discrimination, Sunak won the wrath of the Muslim community because of his slips before he become prime minister."

He pointed out that when Sunak launched his campaign for prime minister, he used phrases such as fighting "Islamic extremism" and "equating Islam with terrorism."

He added that Sunak "was criticized for ignoring the demands of Muslim MPs to take a clear stand against Islamophobia (hostility to Islam)".

Bilir said that discrimination and xenophobia have increased since Sunak took office, and it is likely that "Muslims will have a date with more discrimination during the Sunak era."

He reported the existence of prejudices among the British people towards Muslim immigrants and refugees.

He continued, "A poll revealed how different the attitudes of Britons towards Polish immigrants and their Nigerian counterparts are, and the strength of conservative voters' prejudices towards Muslims and terrorism."

He believed that the steps that Sunak would take to retain the support of conservative voters may be discriminatory and highly hostile to Muslims.

He added that the British anti-extremism program called "Prevent" causes "serious discrimination" against Muslims, and the law that combats extremism has turned into a hunt for Muslims.

He explained that the program is applied even in schools. If you suspect a student or his family, you can interrogate him in the presence of the police and report him to the intelligence services.

This generated great discontent among Muslims in Britain.