On the 29th of April 2013, a grandfather and family man Mohammed Saleem, was returning back home after prayers at the local mosque. On his way home, he was targeted by the Ukrainian neo-Nazi sympathiser Pavlo Lapshyn, who subsequently killed the harmless grandfather, thereby robbing a family of the precious time they had with him.

Three years have passed to the day since his killing by Lapshyn, who was convicted to a life term and with a minimum sentence of 40 years to be served. Lapshyn had also gone onto place explosive devices in 3 mosques in the West Midlands area with one of the devices spraying nails within the bounds of the Tipton mosque.

We were honoured to have Shazia Khan, (the daughter of the late Mohammed Saleem), to speak at our annual dinner in 2014. Details of her speech can be found here.  A second daughter, Maz Saleem, has gone on to become an anti-racist campaigner and gives talks up and down the country on the need to tackle racism and anti-Muslim prejudice.

Three years have passed since the murder and little is talked about regarding this targeted killing on the streets of Birmingham.

Next time someone says to you that anti-Muslim prejudice is not a reality, do mention the names of Mohammed Saleem and Mushin Ahmed. Their names deserve to be remembered and their families live with the loss every day. May their lives inspire us all to tackle hatred, racism and intolerance with a greater impetus.

The post Mohammed Saleem – Three Years Have Passed Since His Killing appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Dale Jones, 30, was found guilty of the murder of Mushin Ahmed, 81, at Sheffield Crown Court yesterday.

During the trial, a probation officer noted that Jones had a deep hatred of ‘P*kis’ – who he believed were all rapists.

Drunk and high on drugs, Jones had racially abused a taxi driver before the fatal assault on Mr Ahmed.

The co-accused, Damien Hunt, 30, told the court that the enraged Jones had ‘circled’ Mr Ahmed and called him a ‘groomer’ on multiple occasions. Mushin Ahmed ignored the taunts as he continued on with his journey to his local mosque.

The court heard of Jones’s history of violence, against strangers and his ex-partner.

The attack proved so vicious that the imprint of his trainer was left on Mr Ahmed’s fractured skull. The DNA of the co-accused were found on his broken dentures.

Mushin Ahmed lay on the grass for two hours until a member of the public flagged down a police car. He died 11 days later.

As the trial ends. The family and wider Muslim community in Rotherham have justice. But this situation should never have happened. No person should ever face the violence Mr Ahmed did, especially at his age. He was no threat to anyone, let alone a racist and murderous thug like Dale Jones.

It’s no accident that Mr Ahmed suffered the indignity of being called a ‘groomer’. Some are exploiting the horrific abuse of young girls in the area to pursue racist agendas. We’ve seen traumas sensationalised and reduced to a simplified blame game of ‘PC culture’. In truth, these criminal gangs continued to exploit vulnerable young girls due in part to a wider culture of indifference and victim blaming.

Others throw these slurs at Muslim men, who are mythologised as sexual deviants and paedophiles. This toxic climate is enabling the far-right to broaden their appeal and speak to, or at least exploit sentiments of individuals.

A man is dead. A family and community mourn. Yet we are no closer to overcoming the bigotry that inspired such violence. Anti-Muslim hate can lead to murder. We saw that in 2013 with the murder of another pensioner, Mohammed Saleem, at the hands of a Ukrainian terrorist who had a deep hatred of Muslims. The circumstances were different. But the consequences of their hatred proved fatal.

How did we get here? These incidents are rare but remain increasingly of concern.

The post ‘A Deep Hatred of P****’ and Taunted with the term ‘Groomer’. The Murder of Mushin Ahmed appeared first on TELL MAMA.