Russia-Ukraine war: British Muslim MP reports 'death threat' after misreporting

Zarah Sultana, a British Muslim MP with the Labour party, said on Friday that she had received "a death threat... filled with racist abuse" linked to her misreported views on Ukraine.

"I am in no doubt that this horrific and absurd attack is the direct result of inaccurate media reports and deliberately misleading press comments," she wrote in a Facebook post.

A local BBC radio station apologised to her earlier in the week, she said, for falsely stating she had "suggested Nato is responsible for the crisis in Ukraine".

Meanwhile, a Conservative in Coventry, where Sultana is an MP, called her an "agitator for Putin's Russia," she wrote.

UK MP criticised for comparing Ukraine crisis to Israeli occupation of Palestine

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"I must make clear at this stage that these accusations have crossed the line from false to dangerous," she added.

"As an MP, it is impossible to forget that two of my colleagues have been assassinated in recent years.

"As a young Muslim woman, I am acutely aware of risks to my safety. I have been open about the Islamophobic abuse and threats I regularly receive, with racist portrayals of me as a 'foreigner,' a 'traitor,' and an 'enemy' of Britain.

"I stand with the people of Ukraine."

Sultana was one of 11 left-wing Labour MPs asked to retract their signatures from a Stop the War statement criticising Nato expansionism.

Another Labour politician was criticised on Thursday after likening the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, and urging that international law be respected in both situations. 

"My heart goes out to the Ukrainian people," said Labour MP Julie Elliott during a Commons debate on the recognition of Palestine, as she pressed the government to consider recognising the state of Palestine alongside Israel in pursuit of a two-state solution. 

"Quite rightly we talk about international law. In fact, I listened to the minister [Amanda Milling] only a few minutes ago on the vital importance of the sovereignty of states. Yet when Palestinians hear that, how must they feel? They have endured 54 years of occupation, which in itself is an aggression.”