London - It should come as little surprise that Donald Trump has earned the distinction of the year’s worst Islamophobe after he won the same accolade in 2016.
Trump, after being elected president of the US, issued an executive order that has become known as the ‘Muslim ban’.
The annual Islamophobia Awards by the London-based Islamic Human Rights Commission hosted the representatives of many NGOs and Muslims.
The winner in the Islamophobia Awards 2017’s ‘UK’ category is OFSTED who recently announced they would be quizzing young students who wore the hijab. The ‘News Media’ gong has gone to Fox News who has been fierce champions of Donald Trump and his discriminatory policies.
This year’s winner in the ‘International’ category is Burmese politician Aung San Suu Kyi who has faced fierce criticism for her inaction when it comes to the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people. Between 2,000 and 3,000 Muslims were killed in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in the last three months, according to the European Rohingya Council and more than 617,000 Rohingya Muslims were forced to take shelter in neighboring Bangladesh.
In the “United Kingdom” category, the Islamophobe of the year was announced as Tommy Robinson-the former leader of the fascist English Defense League (EDL)-who is infamously known by his anti-Islam views.
The other candidates in this category were TV presenter and columnist Katie Hopkins, former leader of the populist UK Independence Party (UKIP) Nigel Farage, far-right For Britain Party founder Anne Marie Waters and British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
The last honour is bestowed to the American television series Homeland in the ‘Book/Movie/TV’ category - a consecutive win after last year.
The event also recognised those who have fought against Islamophobia in the past year - usually against huge odds. This year’s honourees included Maz Saleem, Roshan Muhammad Salih and the Malaysian organisation MAPIM.