Category Archives: Anti-Muslim violence

Arson won’t chase him from home

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Hilliard arson (2)Mohamed Soltan will always remember Martin Luther King Day. On the morning of Jan. 16, 2012, someone set fire to his parents’ home on Britton Farms Drive while he slept.

“I was sleeping and my roommate (Ahmed Mahmoud), thankfully, he’s a really light sleeper, he comes into my room and is waking me up,” said Soltan, a 24-year-old student at Ohio State University. He grabbed his cell phone and a sweatshirt and ran down the stairs of his parents’ home.

“We had already inhaled a wave of smoke,” Soltan said. “I was coughing, choking, calling the dispatcher. I was really worried that the fire was going to get out of hand, because we saw it coming from the side. I was really scared for my neighbors.”

No one was hurt, but there was a lot of damage to the structure, and most of the contents are not salvageable, Soltan said. However, the memories made over eight years – the longest Soltan has lived in any one place – remain.

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IDF soldier linked to ‘price tag’ attack in West Bank Palestinian village

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An Israel Defense Forces soldier is suspected of perpetrating a so-called “price tag” attack in a Palestinian West Bank village, Haaretzlearned on Friday, following recently intercepted security camera footage.

The Golani Brigade soldier and resident of the Itamar settlement was arrested along with two young women after footage indicated the three vandalizing the Palestinian village of Luban al-Sharqiya near Nablus.

According to a preliminary investigation, the three are suspected of entering the West Bank village on 1:30 A.M. Tuesday, where they sprayed the caption “Muhammad is a pig” on one of the walls and sabotaged a construction materials shop.

Security camera footage provided by Israeli NGO B’Tselem shows one of the young women stabbing sacks of building material piled up near the shop. Later, a confrontation ensued between the three and local residents who woke up following the ruckus, during which the IDF soldier threatened the Palestinians with his rifle, causing them to flee the scene.

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Carlisle EDL members jailed for racist attack

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Carlisle EDL racist attackEleven members of a drunken racist mob who terrorised two cafe workers in Carlisle are today behind bars. The senior judge at Carlisle Crown Court, Paul Batty QC, imposed sentences totalling nearly 15 years for their threatening racist behaviour which he described as “feral” and “disgraceful”.

One of the longest jail terms – 18 months – was imposed on 33-year-old former soldier Andrew Ryan, who played a leading role in the abuse.

The group targeted the Manhattan Cafe, on Botchergate, at the end a drinking session last May when they celebrated Ryan’s release from jail for another racist offence. He had served a 70-day term for burning a copy of the Koran holy book, stolen from Carlisle Library, in the city centre.

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One year on – still no arrests over Shotton arson attack

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Story - Kate. Shotton Lane Social Club fire on Friday Feb 4th 2011.A businessman who planned to turn a social club into a Muslim centre says he is unable to find a new site for his project – a year on from a suspected arson attack.

The spot where Shotton Lane Social Club once stood still lies empty and no-one has ever been prosecuted for the blaze that destroyed the community building on February 4 last year.

The shocking incident, which saw more than 100 people evacuated from their homes, happened just weeks after Monchab Ali – chairman of the Flintshire Muslim Cultural Society – announced his plan to turn the empty venue into an Islamic cultural centre.

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EDL member who burned Qur’an part of racist gang that threatened and abused Turkish takeaway workers

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Andrew Ryan2A former Carlisle soldier just released from jail for publicly burning the Koran was among nearly a dozen people who racially abused two takeaway workers.

The city’s crown court heard that Andrew Ryan, 33, and his brother Matthew Ryan, 27, were part of a group who threatened and racially abused two Turkish men at Manhattan Pizza in Botchergate last year.

The Ryan brothers, along with three other men and four women, pleaded guilty to two charges of using racially aggravated threatening behaviour. All admitted that their abuse of the two takeaway workers had been inspired by their mistaken belief that the men were Pakistani.

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Vigil at site of Hilliard arson

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Hilliard vigil

Heba El-Hosseiny passes out candles at a unity vigil outside the Hilliard home of Mohamed Soltan, who escaped with his roommate from a fire set there before dawn on Jan. 16. The Council on American-Islamic Relations-Ohio sponsored the event in response to what it views as a hate crime. The house had been painted with anti-Arab and anti-Islamic slurs months earlier. Hilliard police and the FBI are investigating.

Columbus Dispatch, 2 February 2012

Fire at Ohio Muslims’ house was arson

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Hilliard arson“One second I’m comfortable in bed, and the next second I’m running out of the house in the freezing cold, running for my life,” recalls Mohamed Soltan.

Soltan, a sixth-year in economics at Ohio State, and his roommate Ahmed Mahmoud, a third-year in finance, were victims of arson in their Hilliard home on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The FBI, along with the Hilliard Division of Police, have yet to identify the culprit of the arson that caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs.

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Virginia: mosque opening on hold after vandals smash windows

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Virginia mosque vandalismUnder the cover of darkness Sunday night, vandals downed alcohol, threw rocks and smashed the windows – along with over a decade of hard work, financial sacrifices and prayers – of a Chantilly mosque.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim community was reeling Monday after learning of the destruction at the construction site, which leaders estimated could cost up to $60,000 to repair. The vandals took out most of the glass windows and doors on the first floor, and even two windows high on the second floor.

“It’s kind of devastating to see,” said Usman Ghumman, the general secretary. “All the windows are smashed in, like in an insane way. Like somebody went systematically, door to door, to whatever’s reachable.”

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Arsonists attack mosque in Worcestershire

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Arsonists are believed to have started a fire outside a mosque in Redditch on Tuesday evening (January 24).

Firefighters tackled a small fire at the front door of the building in Jinnah Road at about 10.20pm. No-one was injured and there was no major damage to the building.

Police were also called and said they were treating the incident as arson. An investigation is now underway and officers said the exact circumstances surrounding the fire were not yet known.

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Arsonists attack mosque in Worcestershire

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Arsonists are believed to have started a fire outside a mosque in Redditch on Tuesday evening (January 24).

Firefighters tackled a small fire at the front door of the building in Jinnah Road at about 10.20pm. No-one was injured and there was no major damage to the building.

Police were also called and said they were treating the incident as arson. An investigation is now underway and officers said the exact circumstances surrounding the fire were not yet known.

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