The United Kingdom has “de-banked” many Muslim account holders without telling them reasons, reported Al-Jazeera. The UK was closing up to 1,000 accounts a day.

The issue was highlighted after a British think tank, Cordoba Foundation, failed to pay for a forum organised in central London about the political tensions in Tunisia.

“Multiple attempts to pay the venue provider and suppliers kept declining while payments from donors into our NatWest account kept being rejected,” said Anas Altikriti, head of the group.

He added: “All of a sudden, we realised our business accounts have been shut. There was no notice or explanation whatsoever.”

Altikriti said he did not receive any letter from the bank and when he asked his customer representative they expressed an inability of access to provide details regarding account closing, it has told only the fact that the account had been closed.

He posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on July 27, 2023, that “almost to the day, nine years ago, I received this letter from my HSBC bank of 29 years, along with identical letters addressed to my then wife and two sons (aged 15 and 12).

Since then I’ve had my accounts closed down by NatWest Business, RBS Help, LloydsBank and Santanderuk, all without explanation, without notification, and without the right to appeal. Numerous others have either rejected my applications to open bank accounts with them.“

Altikriti’s personal accounts in the Royal Bank of Scotland, owned by the NatWest Group, were also being closed and once again the bank failed to provide the details.

“I’m always on the lookout for new accounts,” he told Al Jazeera. “I’m not even surprised any more when I get a notification that my bank account has been closed. Although it’s a shocking thing to experience, … it’s now run-of-the-mill.”

He said that his and his family’s personal accounts in HSBC have been closed in 2014, a year when several Muslim organisations were “de-bank”.

According to a research report by Al-Jazeera, “recent research found that the UK was closing up to 1,000 accounts a day.”

Banks call this “de-risking”, a term usually use for rejecting people, businesses and organizations deemed financially or legally risky.

Nigel Farage, the right-wing populist politician who won Brexit, went to war begun in July with British banks—ultimately set victory in the battle—after his accounts were closed.

While announcing the closure of his bank account he claimed: “Establishment is trying to force me out of the UK by closing my bank accounts.”

Though Altikriti and Farage could not be further apart in their political views, the think tank leader sees the scandal as an opportunity for the treatment of de-banked British Muslims.

“Yes, we [Muslims] have been targeted, absolutely, … but it goes beyond us,” Altikriti said, “if Nigel Farage gets his way and the whole board of NatWest steps down, I’ll be happy.”

At one point in 2014, Altikiriti was without an account for four months. The HSBC refused to comment on the closure of Altikriti’s accounts.

“In the end, it’s cutting off electricity from someone because you don’t believe in their faith or their political views. It’s absolutely ridiculous.”

Fadi Itani, head of the Muslim Charities Forum in London, told Al Jazeera that at least 50 organizations were facing the same situation. The Muslim Council of Britain also wrote a letter to UK PM Rishi Sunak, Labour Leader Keir Starmer and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt saying Muslim individuals and organizations have been “disproportionately affected by this issue”.

Mohamed Kozbar told the Qatari media outlet that it was a “very difficult” situation when the HSBC closed the accounts of Finsbury Park Mosque, a UK-based Ummah Welfare Trust that collects aid for more than a dozen countries, including Palestine and Afghanistan.

People start questioning our credibility,“ Kobzar said. “To them, if there is nothing to worry about, the banks shouldn’t be closing your account. And if they close it, that means that you’ve done something wrong, … and that’s the problem – we simply don’t have an answer.”

He blamed “institutional Islamophobia” in the UK for the banks’ actions.