ANTI-Islamic hate crimes in Scotland have doubled in the last year, according to statistics released by the Crown Office yesterday.

There were 581 charges with a “religious aggravations” reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) in 2015-2016, just a three per cent increase on the year before.

However, although attacks targeting Catholics make up the majority of reports, the number of charges where “Islam was noted” has jumped from 71 charges in 2014-15, to 134 charges in 2015-16.

Human Rights lawyer Aamer Anwar said: “The rise in attacks are extremely alarming but hardly surprising when sections of the media and politicians have deliberately smeared a whole community, giving the green light for such racist attacks to take place. Sadly they have created an atmosphere where Muslims are seen as fair game.’”

The government published statistics on hate crime, religiously aggravated crime and the contentious Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications Act (OBFA).

Other findings in the reports include increases in the number of people being attacked for their sexuality and their disability. There were 201 charges relating to disability, an increase of 14 per cent, and 1,020 reports of aggravation of prejudice relating to sexual orientation, up 20 per cent.

Alastair Pringle, director of the Equality and Human Rights Commission in Scotland, said the statistic should actually be welcomed: “It might seem odd to be welcoming an increase in hate crime against LGBT communities but I think this reflects an increased confidence in reporting homophobic incidents to the police rather than necessarily a rise in homophobia in Scotland.”

There was some good news with racial crime charges decreasing on last year – they are now at their lowest since 2003-04. It does, however, remain the most commonly reported hate crime with 3,712 charges reported in 2015-16.

Under the OBFA the number of charges reported under that act had jumped by 49 per cent on the previous year, to 287 charges, taken over 177 games across 29 stadiums, this was up from 54 games played at 21 stadiums the year before.

Of those charges, 98 per cent were male, and 46 per cent were aged 20 or under. Although around half of the charges made were at football grounds, there was a substantial increase on the use of the act for breaches on public transport.

The statistics mention the Livingston v St Mirren match on the 17th October 2015 where there were 19 charges. Passengers on the 5.47pm service from Edinburgh Waverley to Glasgow Central had complained to police about “chanting and singing religiously offensive and illicit songs”.

Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said the recent violence at the end of the Hibs v Rangers cup final showed that the “unacceptable behaviour of a minority of football fans continues to be a problem.”

He continued, launching a strong defence of the controversial act: “An increase in the number of charges under the Offensive Behaviour Act shows that the legislation continues to be an important tool in tackling all forms of offensive behaviour, including sectarianism, and sends a clear message that such behaviour has no place in a modern, open and inclusive society. I have asked Scottish football to take further steps to address this long-standing issue and I expect to see progress on this imminently.”

Tory MSPs accused the Government of hypocrisy, pointing out that last year, ministers had praised and defended OBFA after charges had fallen, and now they were praising and defending the act when numbers had increased.

Scottish Conservative shadow justice secretary Douglas Ross said: “From the SNP’s perspective, this is a brilliant law whether the number of charges is high or low.

“But the truth is it’s unpopular with fans and has been criticised by the courts. The Scottish Government can’t have it both ways.”