LONDON: Nearly 70 percent of people stopped at UK ports under anti-terrorism laws since 2021 were from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, new figures released on Sunday show.

The Guardian newspaper requested police data under freedom of information laws, which also revealed fewer than one in five who were stopped were recorded as white.

Campaigners have criticized the statistics, saying they prove the UK’s anti-terrorism laws are disproportionately affecting Black and minority ethnic groups and not being used effectively enough to arrest the rise of far-right, white extremism, The Guardian reported.

Of the 8,095 people stopped at UK ports since 2021 under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000, 5,619 (69.4 percent) were recorded as being from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, compared with 1,585 (19.6 percent) recorded as white British, white Irish or white other stopped under the same law.

The head of public advocacy at the anti-Islamophobia group Cage International has also pressed British police to publish data on the religious background of those stopped under the Terrorism Act.

Anas Mustapha said: “This new data reaffirms what we already know about its racist and Islamophobic impact. However, despite evidence demonstrating that the majority of those stopped are Muslim and that forces record data on religion, the government has resisted calls to produce a religious breakdown of those harassed at the borders.

“Schedule 7 is one of the most intrusive and discriminatory of all police powers. We’ve supported hundreds of British holidaymakers impacted by the policy and it’s clear that the power is abused and must be repealed.”

A spokesman from the UK’s counter-terrorism police said the law was a “vital tool” in collecting evidence to support convictions of terrorists, as well as helping with intelligence-gathering in the prevention of attacks on British streets.

“The use of Schedule 7 powers regularly features in some of our most complex and high-risk investigations and prosecutions,” the spokesman said.

“We face an enduring terrorist threat from overseas, and whilst we are seeing a much greater prevalence of online activity, travel remains an element of terrorist methodology that provides us with potentially crucial opportunities to act.

“Where the powers are used, there are a range of robust safeguards and measures in place to ensure appropriate usage.”

LONDON: The UK’s Foreign Office said on Sunday it was investigating a claim by Hamas that a British-Israeli hostage in Gaza had died from injuries sustained in an Israeli airstrike over a month ago.

Nadav Popplewell, 51, was captured along with his mother Channah Peri on Oct. 7 during a border incursion when the Palestinian group launched a surprise attack on Israel.

The Foreign Office said it was actively seeking more information on the matter.

Popplewell’s family has requested media outlets refrain from airing footage released by Hamas, showing him in captivity with visible injuries, the BBC reported.

The UK’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron, speaking to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, confirmed viewing the video but provided no further updates on the investigation.

Cameron said: “We don’t want to say anything until we have better information.”

He described Hamas as “callous” for releasing the video and playing “with the family’s emotions in that way.”

The Foreign Office added that the department’s thoughts “are with his family at this extremely distressing time.”

The Israeli military has not issued a statement on the matter.

Israel’s military campaign in Gaza to destroy Hamas has killed over 34,900 people, the majority of whom are women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Israel has reported that 128 hostages are unaccounted for.