Ex-MEP says he'll 'name names' if UK's Conservative Party opens Islamophobia probe: report

An ex-European parliament member for the UK Conservatives on Sunday called on his former party to conduct an investigation into an Islamophobic incident he says he suffered in 2013, promising to "name names".

Sajjad Karim, the first British Muslim elected to European parliament in 2004, told The Independent that he heard two Conservative parliamentarians plot to use his Muslim faith against him politically. He alleged that one of the MPs went on to become a minister and is currently serving in government.

Karim said he was "not at all surprised" by the conversation, and decided not to raise a complaint at the time.

He first went public with the allegation in September 2019, to the BBC. The office of the Conservative party's chairman invited Karim to make a complaint after he spoke to the British broadcaster.

The party launched an inquiry into the incident, concluding in May of last year that the party was not home to institutional Islamophobia. Karim said investigators had told him they would contact him about the inquiry but failed to do so.

Karim told The Independent he would "cooperate fully" if the party were to properly investigate his claim, and confirmed he would name the individuals involved.

"I will tell the party the full facts of what I experienced," he said.

The ex-MEP's comments to the British daily follow recent allegations by a Conservative MP who said she was subjected to Islamophobia by party members.

MP Nusrat Ghani alleged last month that she was told that she was sacked as a minister because of her Muslim faith. The Cabinet Office is probing Ghani's claims.

"I don't know Nus Ghani's case," Karim said. "All I know is in my case the discussion was about how my religious and cultural background could be engineered politically and used against me."