Possessing images of Muslim women without their hijabs should be made a criminal offence, a group of Labour MPs has said.
The Commons’ Women and Equalities Committee said pictures of a Muslim woman without a religious headscarf taken without her consent should be considered “non-consensual intimate images” – and treated as harshly as child sex abuse material.
At the moment, the committee says, English law defines an “intimate” image as one which shows its subject fully or partially nude, engaging in a sexual act or going to the toilet.
But now, the Labour-led group has claimed that “abuse can also include material that is considered ‘culturally intimate’ for the victim, such as a Muslim woman being pictured without her hijab”.
“The Government should expand the legal definition to include such images,” it said. “Non-consensual intimate image abuse is not always limited to sexually explicit content.
“For example, in some cultures, countries, or religions, sharing a photograph of someone without their religious clothing – or with their arm around another person – can be disastrous for the victim.”
David Spencer, of the Policy Exchange think tank, said: “Tackling the problem of ‘revenge porn’ is clearly important – but expanding this to so-called ‘culturally intimate’ images risks extending the criminal law too far.
“The police cannot be expected to wade into so-called ‘cultural’ issues when officers are already struggling to deal with the volume of stabbings, sexual assaults and thefts that occur every day.
“The Government should be cautious about creating yet more criminal offences.”
It comes as Angela Rayner is setting up a “council on Islamophobia” to draw up an official definition of the term – despite warnings that the word is so widely-drawn that it amounts to a de facto blasphemy law and blocks legitimate criticism of Islam.
The group will sit within Rayner’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), with ex-Tory Attorney General Dominic Grieve set to be appointed to lead it thanks to his history of working to combat “anti-Muslim hate”.
The committee which proposed the hijab rule change comprises seven Labour MPs, one ex-Labour MP who now sits as an independent, two Lib Dems and one Conservative.
Committee chairwoman Sarah Owen said: “Non-consensual intimate image abuse is a deeply personal crime which can have life-changing and life-threatening consequences.
“We welcome the Government’s proposals to make creating non-consensual intimate images an offence, but a legal gap remains.
“The Government should bring forward amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill to make possession as well as the creation… an offence.
“This ensures non-consensual intimate images receives the same legal treatment as child sexual abuse material.”