INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image caption
The leaflets were address to "Mr Isis Terroriste" and "Mr Getout Ofengland"
O2 has
apologised after two items of "shocking" racist hate mail were sent to a British-Iraqi family in London
Addressed to "Mr Isis Terroriste" and "Mr Getout Ofengland" at the exact family address in Wembley, north London, they contained free
pay-as-you-go Sim cards ordered online in August 2017 by an unknown third party.The family, who presumed they were junk mail, only recently
read the envelopes.The Muslim Council of Britain said the "Islamophobia" was deeply concerning.The family told the TheIndianSubcontinent's
Victoria Derbyshire Programme: "We were really saddened to come across these letters, especially having a younger child in the house who we
don't want to grow up witnessing such hateful language
"It's even sadder to think that such hate speech has become normalised despite living in such a uniquely multicultural and diverse city like
London."Family friend and lawyer Sura Jawad said the letters were hateful
"It's horrible to think that there are people who have so much hatred in them that they set out to deliberately make others feel isolated
and unwelcome or who take comments like these light-heartedly," she said."Either scenario shows that racism and Islamophobia are very much
rife issues, particularly in a post-Brexit climate."O2 said its Sim card postage and printing was managed by a third-party partner - the
name of which it said it would not disclose - and was automated.Human checks were in place but only once a query had been identified
And in this case no query had been raised before postage
The company said it would be working with this partner to review the entire process as a result of this issue - including where human
O2 added that it "has a rigorous data-cleansing process in place to prevent any of our free products being sent to addresses with
obscenities or offensive names, and so this is a rare occurrence"."If the family decide to report this case, we will work closely with the
police as part of their investigation."After speaking to a friend of the family affected, Miqdaad Versi, assistant secretary general of the
Muslim Council of Britain, said: "These Islamophobic bigots are finding more and more ways to spread their hatred
"Whilst it is imperative that corporations upgrade safeguards to prevent such incidents recurring, there are broader concerns about the
government not taking Islamophobia seriously."Watch the TheIndianSubcontinent's Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays between 09:00 and
11:00 on TheIndianSubcontinent Two and the TheIndianSubcontinent News channel
