Press Releases

Response to a joint statement by Stand Up To Racism Scotland and the STUC about their planned anti-racism march in Glasgow on 16 February 2024.

SACC regrets that it is unable to support or participate in the march organised in Glasgow by Stand Up to Racism to mark the UN's International Day For the Elimination of Racial Discrimination ("Anti-Racism Day")

SACC pledges to support Mick Napier, charged with supporting a banned terrorist group in a speech made at a Glasgow protest against the Gaza genocide.

 

 

Dr Issam Bassalat, a Palestinian Scottish doctor who is facing terrorism charges in Northern Ireland as a result of what his lawyer calls "entrapment", will be appearing at the Court of Session in Edinburgh on Friday 10 June to fight for his right to practise medicine.

SACC supports the proposal to twin Edinburgh with Gaza City but we not affiliated with the newly-formed Edinburgh-Gaza Twinning Association.

Dr Issam Bassalat, a Scottish Palestinian man facing terrorism charges in Northern Ireland, has issued an appeal for human rights organisations to monitor his case.

Letter to the Northern Ireland Executive and the Irish Government calling on ministers to take urgent steps to facilitate medical treatment for Dr Issam Hijjawi Bassalat, a Scottish Palestinian prisoner in Maghaberry Prison.

A Palestinian man held on remand in Maghaberry Prison has been in severe pain for weeks and now needs crutches as a result of the prison's neglect of his medical needs. A friend has described his treatment as tantamount to "torture."

SACC and other concerned groups and individuals have written to the Governor of Maghaberry Prison in Northern Ireland, urging him to arrange specialist medical attention for Dr Issam Hijawi Bassalat.

SACC is becoming increasingly concerned for the welfare of Dr Issam Hijjawi Bassalat, an Edinburgh man who has been on hunger strike in Maghaberry Prison, Northern Ireland since 16 September

SACC is dismayed at the prosecution of Palestinian doctor Issam Hijjawi Basalat under a controversial provision of the UK’s anti-terrorism legislation.

SACC gives a cautious welcome to the forthcoming public inquiry into the death of Sheku Bayoh. But we believe that the inquiry’s remit is only just wide enough for the task it must confront. If the inquiry is to succeed it will need to exercise its remit with boldness and determination.

The Coronavirus (Scotland) Act contains measures that cause us serious concern. We are also remain gravely concerned over Scottish Government proposals, not included in the Act but potentially still in the pipeline, to abolish jury trials. SACC is calling for 5 steps to be taken to set the situation right.

The Coronavirus (Scotland) Bill contains measures that will alleviate the pressure on hundreds of thousands of ordinary people. It also contains measures intended only to relieve the pressure on government and governmental machinery

As organisations opposed to all forms of racism, we regret that we are unable to support the march organised in Glasgow by Stand Up to Racism to mark the UN's International Day Against Racial Discrimination

The sixth annual IHRC/SACC Islamophobia Conference will take place on Saturday with concurrent events in London and Glasgow. This year's conferences will focus on the relationship between Islamophobia and the widely-noted shrinkage of civil society space.

SACC is asking the Scottish Parliament's Cross Party Group on Tackling Islamophobia to look into the detention and questioning of Muslims at Scottish ports and airports under controversial UK anti-terror powers.

SACC supports the working definition of Islamophobia put forward by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Muslims but cannot endorse the APPG report "Islamophobia Defined"

As organisations opposed to all forms of racism, we are dismayed that Stand Up to Racism Scotland will be allowing organisations that actively support Israeli apartheid and racism to participate in its annual anti-racism march in Glasgow. Under these circumstances we cannot support the march. 

We regret that this year we cannot support SUTR’s anti-racism march, to be held in Glasgow on 16 March, as we understand that it will include representation from Glasgow Friends of Israel (GFI) and the Confederation of Friends of Israel, Scotland (COFIS).

SACC shares the distress of Sheku Bayoh's family at rumours that no charges will be brought against police officers involved in the events that led to Sheku's death. Now, more than ever, there needs to be a public inquiry

Campaigners met with the Cabinet Secretary for Education, John Swinney, yesterday to urge the Scottish Government to take action to tackle Islamophobia in schools.

SACC will on Friday 2 June launch a new report on experiences of Islamophobia amongst Muslim students at schools in Edinburgh.

Scottish charity Amina MWRC has recently acknowledged that it received Prevent funding in 2015 and has apologised for "any inconvenience and distress this has caused." It still has some way to go before it can be said to have earned the trust that it needs.

SACC is appalled by the chemical attack at Khan Sheikhoun on Tuesday and deplores last night's cruise missile strike by the US against a Syrian government airbase at Shayrat. These events risk escalating the Syrian conflict still further, with potentially calamitous consequences for the Syrian people and for regional and world peace.

The Scottish Information Commissioner has upheld the Scottish Government's refusal to name charities and NGOs that it is funding under the controversial Prevent strategy. SACC says that secrecy will damage the confidence of Scotland's minority communities

Statement on behalf of SACC by Richard Haley (Chair) in response to the murders outside the Westminster Parliament on Wednesday 22 March

SACC calls for the rights of EU citizens living in the UK to be protected. We oppose any measures that reduce people’s freedom of movement in the EU or globally.

SACC supports efforts in the US and around the world to oppose and resist the racist, reactionary and authoritarian policies taking shape under the Trump administration.

Whitehall has for the first time released a confidential Cabinet Office paper outlining the "Contest" counter-terrorism strategy developed in early 2003

According to Glasgow City Council, nearly 5000 Glasgow teachers have been given Prevent training this year.

Responsibility for the operation of the Government's Prevent policy in Scotland has slipped into a constitutional black hole. SACC will be holding a meeting at Glasgow Science Centre on Saturday to draw attention to the issue.

SACC gives a cautious welcome to the Early Day Motion tabled this week by Alistair Carmichael MP calling for Prevent to be scrapped. We remain opposed to any move to replace Prevent with alternative schemes for monitoring and manipulating Muslims.

Teachers in Glasgow schools received training last week in the controversial Prevent strategy. SACC is dismayed that this training has been delivered in the face of opposition from human rights organisations and trade unions. Prevent is a snitchers' charter that turns educators into informants.

SACC is calling for a moratorium on the Scottish roll-out of controversial counter-terrorism training for teachers following a damning report on the programme by the charity Rights Watch UK.

Resistance to state repression and institutional racism is more important than ever in the aftermath of the EU referendum

The death of Jo Cox MP was an appalling personal tragedy and our deepest sympathies go out to her family and friends. It is also a political matter.

SACC does not support calls for the murder of Jo Cox to be treated as terrorism. We campaign for the terrorism laws to be repealed and for crimes of violence to be prosecuted under the ordinary criminal law. We also campaign for the widest possible political forces to work together in the fight against fascism.

SACC statement in solidarity with everyone affected by the mass murder at Pulse nightclub in Orlando. We will resist any attempt to exploit this tragedy to promote violence, repression, surveillance and war

Scottish universities implementing Prevent are complicit in a policy that is widely thought to be damaging to democratic society, that may increase the risk of terrorism, and that may violate or stand on the brink of violating fundamental human rights. They must take a stand against Prevent.

SACC condemns the continuing airstrikes on Aleppo by Syrian Government and/or Russian forces. The airstrikes are producing a humanitarian catastrophe. They shame all the governments represented in the International Syria Support Group and the UN Security Council.

SACC is deeply shocked at the killing of Asad Shah in the Shawlands area of Glasgow on Thursday. We stand in solidarity with the Ahmadiyya community and we call on the communities affected to work to eradicate tensions.

The Scottish Government is now proceeding rapidly with the implementation of Prevent. Despite the importance of Prevent and its potential impact on Scottish Society it has not been on the agenda for this weekend’s SNP conference.

SACC has expressed over the possible involvement of Amina MWRC in the Prevent strategy. Amina's response reinforces our suspicions.

Our 7 policy demands for the Holyrood 2016 election

The Scottish Government says that it gives "anti-terrorism" funds to community groups, but it refuses to disclose which ones.

SACC has no collective view on whether Britain should stay in the EU or leave it, but we are appalled at the reactionary views being put forward by some opponents of the EU

SACC has written to the Scottish Government urging disclosure of funding given to Third Sector organisations in connection with the Prevent strategy.

A Scottish charity may be secretly receiving funds from the Government's controversial 'Prevent' anti-terrorism programme, despite having pledged not to do so.

SACC is increasingly alarmed at the international, domestic and public response to the terrorist attacks in Paris on 13 November.

The resolution passed by the UN Security Council last night, calling for the eradication of ISIL safe havens in Syria and Iraq, is a cynical attempt by member governments to bypass domestic opposition to further escalation of the wars in the Middle East. It is also a betrayal of the UN Charter.

SACC calls on MPs to reject any move by the UK Government to gain parliamentary approval for further military intervention in Syria

A new documentary about the Bosnia War of the 1990s will receive its Scottish premiere at Strathclyde University on Saturday, presented jointly by IHRC and SACC. The film 'Forgotten Genocide' uses expert testimony to argue that the entirety of the Bosnia War constitutes genocide.

The investigation by the PIRC (Police Investigations and Review Commissioner) into the death of Sheku Bayoh demonstrates that the organisation is not fit for purpose and must be reformed. It's time for the Scottish Government to acknowledge the problem

SACC urges great caution over claims that an unidentified Glasgow woman is planning to carry out a terrorist attack in the UK.

The Scottish Government's response to our Open Letter on Prevent is disappointing. The Scottish Parliament must now debate Prevent, and people in Scotland must take a stand against it.

The PIRC investigation into the death of Sheku Bayoh has become a fiasco. PIRC evidently lacks either the resources or the will to do its job, which is to investigate the most serious incidents involving the police. There must now be a re-think of the way that these incidents are dealt with in Scotland (SACC statement).

The death of Sheku Ahmed Tejan Bayoh while in police custody in Kirkcaldy on 3 May appears to have disturbing similarities to the deaths of black people at the hands of police in England and the USA. What happens next will be a litmus test for Scotland's legal and political institutions and for Scottish civil society.

The STUC Annual Congress for 2015 will be held on 20-22 April. Here's our view on some motions being debated at the Congress that are particularly important for our campaign.

Following new legislation that gives statutory force to the Government's Prevent programme, SACC re-affirms its longstanding view that people should not cooperate with Prevent, and that organisations and individuals should not accept funding linked to Prevent.

SACC is dismayed by the continued failure of the Scottish Government to create a clear statutory framework for Stop and Search in Scotland.

Candidates in the UK Election must commit to standing against racism and Islamophobia, including the institutional Islamophobia of Britain's anti-terrorism laws. And they must commit to standing up for civil liberties.

SACC is extremely concerned over the news that terrorism charges have been brought against an 18 year-old Kurdish woman, Silan Ozcelik. We fear a new wave of persecution against Kurdish people who attempt to act in solidarity with Kurdish communities in Syria and Turkey.

SACC Chair Richard Haley says "I stand with Cage."

Police Scotland are refusing to disclose the basic parameters of their probe into the use of Scottish airports by CIA torture flights. Their response follows a decade of official stone-walling. It is therefore impossible to place any confidence in their investigation.

The Scottish Government has once again ducked its responsibility to deal with the uncontrolled use of stop and search by Police Scotland.

SACC condemns the recent murderous attack at the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo magazine. However, we do not support the publication of material that depicts Islam and Muslims in the derisive way favoured by Charlie Hebdo.

The Lord Advocate has asked Scottish police to include the US Senate's torture report in their ongoing investigation of rendition. But the investigation has so far been a charade.

The Westminster Parliament has voted for the third Iraq War. SACC is dismayed by the decision of the UK's three main political parties to support this reckless action. We will campaign for the cessation of British military action in Iraq and we will continue to oppose any British military action in Syria.

Claim that the Islamic State (ISIS) threat against hostage David Haines is intended to "drive Scots to embrace independence" is "pure fantasy" says SACC

SACC calls for humanitarian and political support for the people of Kurdistan and North Iraq - our message to the demo in Glasgow (Saturday 30 August) organised by Scottish Friends of Kurdistan and Scottish Kurdish Human Rights

SACC welcomes the announcement by the Scottish Government that it "strongly discourages trade with companies active in Israeli settlements which are recognised as illegal under international law" and that such companies could be excluded from public contracts in Scotland.

SACC is disappointed by the Scottish Government's stance over the Israel-Palestine conflict and calls for it to take steps to ensure that it is not complicit in human rights abuses by Israel

SACC says that the review by the Scottish Police Authority into Stop and Search in Scotland isn't fit for purpose and sets out 4 steps to rectify the problem

The fascist Britain First party "visited" Glasgow Central Mosque and a mosque in Cumbernauld at the weekend. SACC believes that police are not taking the incident serious;y enough.

SACC urges all its supporters to work to prevent the election of UKIP, BNP and Britain First candidates to the European Parliament, and to put our campaign for human rights on the EU agenda.

SACC calls for a clean-up of stop and search practices in Scotland, following a police admission that figures are partly "made-up"

SACC statement on the decision to charge Moazzam Begg with "terrorism"

SACC calls for the immediate release of Moazzam Begg and the three other people arrested in the West Midlands on Tuesday

SACC condemns the jailing of Margaretta D’Arcy over her protests at the abuse of Shannon Airport by the US armed forces. Stand with Margaretta D’Arcy!

Scottish police are conducting extra-legal stop and searches that have been banned in England and Wales and potentially violate the European Convention on Human Rights. The Scottish Government should ensure that police stay within the law and that people in Scotland have at least the same rights and protections as people south of the border.

SACC welcomes the emphasis on human rights that runs through the Scottish Government's White Paper on Independence, published this week.

SACC welcomes the recent announcement that Scottish police are to look into the involvement of Scottish airports in "extraordinary rendition" but we are concerned that the police lack the will to pursue criminal charges.

The Scotsman reported yesterday, 5 June, that almost a third of the children due to take part in a primary school trip to Edinburgh Central mosque were pulled out of the trip by their parents. The paper links the incident to heightened tensions in the aftermath of the murder of Lee Rigby in Woolwich. Regrettably, it has covered this important story in a way that seems calculated to fuel community tension and has paid no heed to the efforts being made to build understanding and harmony.

The brutal killing of British soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich on 22 May was murder, not war. Just like the drone assassinations of supposed Taliban and al Qaida figures who are not actively engaged in combat. All actions of this sort are indefensible.

The Times reports that the Commons Defence Select Committee are to investigate the use of drones in Afghanistan. But the inquiry already has all the hallmarks of a whitewash.

SACC calls on the British Government, the Scottish Government and civil society organisations to demand an immediate halt to Israel's assault on Gaza.

The decision to block Gary McKinnon’s extradition to the US is welcome, but the Government's double standards show contempt for human rights, justice and Britain’s Muslim

Home Secretary Theresa May has a duty to suspend the extradition of Babar Ahmad, Talha Ahsan and others until she can make arrangements to guarantee that they will not be subject to long-term solitary confinement.

Monday's decision by the European Court of Human Rights not to allow the appeal of Babar Ahmad and others against their extradition to be heard by its Grand Chamber is a stunning setback for international human rights law

A peace activist will be appearing in Glasgow Sheriff Court tomorrow, accused of refusing to answer questions in last year's census

SACC welcomes the news that lawyers acting for Abu Hamza have asked for his appeal against extradition to the US to be referred to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights. Abu Hamza's request provides an opportunity for the court to look again at an earlier decision that risks giving international legitimacy to the abhorrent US practice of holding prisoners in solitary confinement for years or decades.

The trial of Barbara Dowling, a Glasgow woman accused of failing to send in a properly completed census form last year, has been adjourned until 25 September

SACC welcomes the announcement that Phillip Harkins, a Scot accused of murdering a man in Florida, has lodged a request for the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights to consider his appeal against extradition to the US.

Babar Ahmad case a "travesty of justice " says lawyer Aamer Anwar

A judgement due to be handed down by the European Court of Human Rights on 10 April is likely to be a landmark in the development of international human rights law

The Crown Office says that it has brought proceedings against just 5 people for not complying with Scotland's 2011 census.

Revised 30 Jan - In a surprise development that could undermine census trials throughout the UK, the trial of a Glasgow woman was adjourned at the request of the Procurator Fiscal

The first person to be tried for non-cooperation with Scotland's 2011 census will be appearing in Glasgow Sheriff Court on Thursday.

SACC says it is disappointed by the decision earlier this week by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to allow the extradition of a Scottish man, Phillip Harkins, to the US to face a murder charge