THE police will not record hate crime allegations made against Humza Yousaf or JK Rowling as “non-crime hate incidents”, it has been confirmed.
Since the Scottish Government’s new Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act came into force on Monday, Police Scotland has received numerous allegations against both the First Minister and the Harry Potter author.
The allegations against Yousaf refer to a speech he made in the Scottish Parliament four years ago about a lack of racial diversity in positions of power in Scotland.
While the complaints against Rowling relate to her social media posts in which she refers to transgender women as men.
Police Scotland had already said that neither of the incidents met the threshold for being considered a hate crime.
READ MORE: Top academics debunk viral claims about the Scottish Hate Crime Act
However, questions were raised about whether they would be recorded as “non-crime hate incidents” in the same way Tory MSP Murdo Fraser’s comments about non-binary people were.
A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: “The circumstances have been assessed and will not be recorded as a non-crime hate incident.”
Fraser previously threatened legal action against Police Scotland for recording his tweet as a “non-crime hate incident”.
Now, he has claimed the decision not to do the same for Yousaf and Rowling amounts to “political bias”.
“This decision means Police Scotland have not only breached their own policy on recording non-crime hate incidents, but now appear to be making it up as they go along,” he said.
READ MORE: Humza Yousaf writes to Rishi Sunak over Israel's aid worker killings
“They have taken a different approach to comments made by the SNP First Minister to those made by an opposition politician.
“This reeks of political bias.
“It is hard not to conclude that Police Scotland has been captured by the SNP policy agenda.
“I expect the Chief Constable to contact me urgently with an immediate apology for recording a hate incident against me and confirming all records in relation to it have been destroyed.
“They should also ditch their existing unlawful policy – as has been done in England and Wales – which I believe is a clear breach of people’s human rights.”
It comes after top academics in Scotland debunked a number of viral posts spreading misinformation about the new hate crime laws, including one by Rowling.
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