LONDON – In a shocking act of discrimination, a British Muslim’s charity donations for a food bank have been frozen after his name “Islam” was flagged on a US Treasury restriction list.

“This is beyond discrimination. I honestly don’t know how to explain in words. Just because of my name I am treated differently,” Mamunul Islam, who is a British citizen, told The Independent on Saturday, February 11.

Problems started after Islam raised £400 for a UK food bank and Eventbrite, a website which facilitates fundraising. His name, “M Islam”, was featured on a list created by the US Office for Foreign Assets and Control.

All the donations were made in sterling and all donors were from the United Kingdom.

Islam, who is an accountant from Bedford, said the laws had restricted his economic freedom.

“This was blackmail. They kept the money and they kept asking me to provide additional information even though they had my details,” he added.

“This was the eighth event with this organization and I have never had a problem. This is just another government restricting my economic freedom,” Islam said.

After several letters and threats of a legal action, the money was released by Evenbrite.

“We are dedicated to providing the highest level of service to every single one of our customers,” a spokesperson for Eventbrite said.

“We continually monitor and screen our event listings to ensure compliance with our legal obligations, and if issues arise, we work directly with the organizer to come to a resolution.

“As a US company, Eventbrite customers agree to comply with US law through the Eventbrite Merchant Agreement.  As part of compliance with the law, Eventbrite and its subsidiaries are subject to OFAC. In this instance, a payment to the organizer was temporarily held because of a potential OFAC name match.

“The payment to the organizer was released after we clarified some questions with him to make sure we comply with our legal obligations.”