Right-wing newspapers accused of stoking anti-Muslim sentiment in foster case

Right-wing newspapers including The Times have been accused of stoking anti-Islam sentiments after they reported the case of a girl who was mistakenly believed to have been placed with a Muslim foster family.

In the report, The Times claimed that the English-speaking child was placed with a family whose use of Arabic confused her, and said she had been “very distressed” during her time with the family.

But Tower Hamlets council have now hit back at the ‘inaccuracies’ in the report – and said that the girl was in fact being cared for by an English-speaking family.

‘While we cannot go into details of a case that would identify a child in foster care, there are inaccuracies in the reporting of it. For example, the child is in fact fostered by an English-speaking family of mixed race in this temporary statement’, Tower Hamlets Council confirmed in a statement.

‘We would like to give more details but we are legally restricted to do so.’

They added: ‘We have always been working towards the child being looked after by a family member and we continue to do so.’

The report was also covered by MailOnline, who were accused of doctoring a stock photo to show a muslim woman with a full-face veil.

Miqdaad Versi, the assistant secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, slammed the reportage as “appalling”.

“Demonisation of the foreigner (especially the Muslim foreigner) is the clear undercurrent in this entire piece. It is appalling”, he said.