Rotherham racial justice charity closes down after ‘hundreds of attacks’

Moorgate-based JUST Yorkshire said funding had dried up, forcing it to close after The Times ran a “blistering attack” last July over the charity’s Temperature Check report — which is still being scrutinised by the Charity Commission for compliance over complaints made about it.

The report published in March 2018, followed an online survey whereby 165 people were asked to describe the impact on the local Pakistani community after MP Sarah Champion wrote an opinion piece in The Sun.

Ms Champion’s August 2017 article called for more research into why men of Pakistani origin were over-represented among those convicted in gang-related child sexual exploitation.

The MP distanced herself from the headline used, which read: “British Pakistanis ARE raping white girls..and we must face up to it.”

In a statement explaining their reason for closing, JUST said The Times and other news organisations had wrongly claimed its report had resulted in death threats against Ms Champion.

Critics also claimed the charity’s report was part of a smear campaign to oust Ms Champion in favour of Cllr Taiba Yasseen. 

The charity believes The Times “fabricated” the story and was “in part motivated because of a perception that JUST was a Muslim organisation”.

The statement added: “The attack by The Times was so severe that it resulted in staff at JUST being subject to more than 100 death threats, that included threats of rape and that we were to be killed in the evillest methods possible.”

All the threats had “an Islamophobic and racist element” and “the attack resulted in the closure of our office, the charity and funding drying up”, the charity said.

The statement ends with calls for an independent inquiry into whether The Times is “institutionally Islamophobic”.

The Charities Commission for England and Wales said it was still examining the administration of the charity and trustees’ decision-making around its research work.

Last year, JUST interim director Nadeem Murtuja welcomed the report. He was unavailable for comment.

A spokeswoman for the Charities Commission confirmed its regulatory compliance case remained ongoing despite the closure.

JUST was set up by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust in 2003 and has received more than £550,000 in grants from the trust.