Dr Jonathan Githens-Mazer says that racist attacks like that recently on Exeter Muslim woman Hayat Kaddouri Roddy are becoming all too common.
Category Archives: Anti-Muslim violence
Murfreesboro Islamic Centre: CAIR calls for investigation into second act of vandalism
A Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization is calling on local, state and national law enforcement agencies to investigate the latest act of vandalism at the site of the proposed Islamic Center of Murfreesboro.
Local authorities were alerted to the second case of vandalism of a sign at the future mosque site on Veals Road near Bradyville Pike Wednesday, when a passing motorist reported the sign had been beaten with “an unknown object.”
The original sign marking the center was vandalized in January by a still-unknown person who wrote “not welcome” in spray-paint.
“A mosque official told CAIR that the latest incident of vandalism has been reported to local police and the FBI,” said CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper, via a press release on behalf of Washington based civil rights organization. “That same official said local law enforcement authorities have been very supportive of the Muslim community and have stepped up police patrols in the area of the proposed mosque.”
CAIR believes the planned expansion of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro is being opposed by individuals who “have made Islamophobic statements at recent public hearings concerning the mosque.”
A candlelight vigil for peace, tolerance and freedom of religion is scheduled for later this evening in Murfreesboro.
Mother and daughter left ‘heartbroken’ by vicious race assault
Racists launched a vicious attack on a Muslim woman who was struck on the head and almost had her headscarf torn off. They also hurled racial abuse at the mother and her young daughter as they walked through the city.
The shocking assault has been condemned by the city’s Muslim community, along with religious leaders across Exeter. Hayat Kaddouri Roddy, of Polsloe Road, Exeter, has spoken of the frightening attack in which she describes her attackers as “animals”.
The 37-year-old was with her 13-year-old daughter Huda when the assault happened in Edmund Street, in the St David’s area of Exeter, close to the subway, at around 12.30pm on Tuesday. Both were wearing hijab head-dresses, and Hayat also had on a traditional Muslim jilbab – a long dress.
Moroccan-born Hayat, who has lived in the UK for 17 years and in Exeter for several years, and her daughter were stopped by two teenagers, a boy and girl aged around 17 to 18, who refused to let them pass. They racially abused the woman before a man aged around 27 joined in the attack.
Police are investigating the incident and are appealing for witnesses to contact them.
Hayat said: “This couple stopped us and said they weren’t going to let us pass. They said ‘you don’t belong to this country’. I kept really calm and there was a man behind me and I told him the couple wouldn’t let me pass.
“I thought maybe he would be supportive and help but all of a sudden, he stopped next to me and hit me on the head and tried to pull off my headscarf. He didn’t manage to pull it off completely but he really pulled it hard. And he was saying nasty words to me.”
Via London Muslim
Bristol: two jailed over Panorama race abuse probe
Two men who racially abused two Asian reporters working undercover for a BBC Panorama programme have been jailed.
Sean Ganderton, 23, and Martin Durnell, 18, admitted racially-aggravated harassment during various incidents in Southmead, Bristol, last year. Bristol Crown Court was shown footage which revealed Ganderton verbally and physically abusing the men.
Sentencing them Judge Michael Roach said their behaviour was “cowardly and not to be tolerated”.
The programme featured the two undercover Asian reporters posing as a couple living in the Southmead area of Bristol. Tamanna Rahman and Amil Khan spent two months living on an estate to find out if racism was still an issue in 2009.
The programme was broadcast on BBC One in October 2009.
Racial slurs used during attack on Iowa Muslim
The Iowa chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-IA) today called on local state and national law enforcement agencies to investigate an allegedly bias-motivated attack on an Iowa Muslim as a possible hate crime.
CAIR-IA said an 18-year-old Iraqi refugee and his mother were reportedly assaulted following a recent softball game at Cedar Rapids‘ Tait Cummings Park by a member of the opposing team.
During the game, supporters of the opposing team allegedly shouted racial slurs at the victim and his team members. After the game, the victim was allegedly hit in the jaw by an assailant from the opposing team who shouted slurs such as “raghead,” “terrorist” and “camel jockey.” The victim’s jaw was broken in the alleged assault. The victim’s mother was allegedly assaulted by the same person when she tried to defend her son.
Gang members admit killing Ekram Haque
Two teenage members of a “happy slapping” gang have pleaded guilty to killing a pensioner in front of his granddaughter in south London.
Ekram Haque, 67, a retired care worker, was attacked in August 2009 in Church Lane, Tooting, as he left a mosque. He died a week later from injuries which included a wound to the head.
The boys, aged 15 and 16, pleaded guilty to manslaughter at the Old Bailey. Another 15-year-old youth admitted causing actual bodily harm. So-called “happy slapping” attacks refer to violence which is recorded by the perpetrators on mobile phones.
The attack on Mr Haque on 31 August was witnessed by his three-year-old granddaughter.
The boys were charged with his murder but the lesser charges of manslaughter and assault occasioning actual bodily harm were accepted by prosecutors.
All three teenagers also pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm to two other men, Atta-ul Hassan Mir and Imdad Bukari, on the same day as the attack on Mr Haque, as they too left the mosque during the Muslim festival of Ramadan.
The court heard that the teenagers were in a gang which called themselves Lane Gang Productions.
See also Wandsworth Guardian, 16 June 2010
CAIR calls on FBI to investigate hate crime against California Muslim
The San Francisco Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SFBA) today called on the FBI to initiate a hate crime investigation into an attack on a local Muslim allegedly beaten after being called a “terrorist.”
CAIR-SFBA said the Sunnyvale, Calif., resident was walking down the street Friday afternoon when he was approached by three young men who asked him if he was Jewish. When he said he is Muslim, one of the alleged assailants reportedly responded, “That’s worse, you’re a terrorist.” After the alleged victim tried to explain that Islam does not permit terrorism, he was reportedly punched multiple times in the face, resulting in lacerations. Police are searching for a young male suspect.
“Whenever racial, ethnic or religious slurs are used by alleged perpetrators, additional state and federal hate crime charges should be considered,” CAIR-SFBA Programs and Outreach Director Zahra Billoo. “This disturbing incident shows that Jewish and Muslim Americans must continue to work together to challenge bigotry and intolerance.”
Radio talk show host calls for ‘Ground zero mosque’ to be blown up
A Houston talk show host this week called for the bombing of a mosque if it’s built near the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City.
In comments Wednesday on KPRC-950 AM, Michael Berry said, “I’ll tell you this – if you do build a mosque, I hope somebody blows it up.” Berry added: “I hope the mosque isn’t built, and if it is, I hope it’s blown up, and I mean that.”
The remarks came in an angry exchange with a caller who insulted Berry and said Muslims should be able to build mosques wherever they want. They were discussing a pending proposal to build an Islamic Center just a few blocks from the attack site in Manhattan.
Muslim brutally beaten in Brooklyn
A Brooklyn man was savagely beaten in broad daylight last weekend.
“They used the bad word. ‘The mother bleeping Muslim, go back to you country.’ They started beating him and after that he don’t know what happened,” the victim’s nephew Abul Kashem said.
Kamal Uddin is in and out of consciousness at Brookdale Hospital after being savagely attacked by four young men.
It didn’t happen under the guise of nightfall or in a secluded area. He was beaten to a pulp at 3:00 Saturday afternoon on the sidewalk at the corner of Barbey and Worthman in East New York.
Why? His family says because he’s a Muslim from Bangladesh. “He has the money. He has the wallet. He was the watch and the cell phone. Nothing taken. Everything is there with him. It seems to me it’s a hate crime,” the victim’s uncle Mohammed Abul Hashem said.
Australia: Combat 18 members charged with gun attack on mosque
Police have charged two men believed to be part of a Perth-based extremist group who allegedly fired shots at a mosque. Police believe the men were responsible for the incident at the Canning Mosque on February 4, where shots were fired into the dome roof of the building. The men are allegedly involved with the national extremist group Combat 18.
Cannington Detectives charged a 24-year-old High Wycombe man and a 25-year-old Greenmount man with criminal damage, discharging a firearm and possession of an unlicensed firearm. A 19-year-old man from Kalamunda was also charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm.
Insp Rob Anderson from South East Metropolitan District Office said police believed the charges would spell the end of the Combat 18 group’s presence in the state. “As a result of today’s operation, we are confident that we have more or less eliminated that faction within WA,” he said. “It is a neo-Nazi organisation – its very title is based on the initials of Adolf Hitler. WA Police are committed to eradicating such hate crime within WA – there is no place for such crime here.”
Turkish Islamic Association of WA president Huseyin Aksakal said the incident had brought the local community “tighter and closer”. “It is a bit concerning, because WA shouldn’t have any hate crime at all, and I’m just happy they’ve eliminated one aspect of it,” he said.