Become informants or go to jail, MI5 tells Muslim men
Five British Muslim men accused the United Kingdom's security services of "blatant blackmail" and threatening them with jail if they did not agree to work as informants, press reports said Thursday, sparking outrage and concern over Islamophobia.
The community workers said they were given a choice of working for MI5, the U.K.'s counter-intelligence and security agency, or face detention and harassment at home and internationally, Britain's Independent reported.
"Orwellian society"
" When people are terrorized by the very same body that is meant to protect them, sowing fear, suspicion and division, we are on a slippery slope to an Orwellian society. "
Sharhabeel Lone
The men, three of whom said they were detained at foreign airports on MI5 orders, made official complaints to the police, the body which oversees the work of the security service and their local MP Frank Dobson, the paper said.
International News | UK uses "Orwellian" tactics on Muslims: report