Hawzah News Agency - (London - UK) - A Muslim charity is launching a legal bid to challenge “overt discrimination” by border police after its aid workers were stopped and subjected to “intimidation” at Heathrow Airport.

East London-based charity Human Aid said its delegates were stopped under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 on their way to deliver life-saving aid to the people of Gaza in July this year.

They were allegedly searched, their money seized, and the Charity Commission then launched a statutory inquiry on 2 August.

Human Aid is now mounting a legal challenge against the UK Border Police, arguing that “these actions take place in the context of a larger pattern of harassment of Muslim Charities at UK borders.”

Nur Choudhury, the charity’s chairman, told RightsInfo that it is “worrying” government agencies are used to “intrude and disrupt” charitable activities “in the absence of any suspicion of crime.”

He added: “This and the repeated Schedule 7 stops amount to harassment of our aid workers. It leads to the question: is it a crime to care for others?

“Humanitarian aid workers should be applauded for taking personal risk in the course of their work to assist those fleeing war or those struggling to survive.”

Human Aid UK provides food and healthcare provisions to a number of areas, including Syria, Yemen and Gaza.