Cultural & social affairs Department OIC islamophobia Observatory Monthly Bulletin – December 2014 I. MANIFESTATIONS OF ISLAMOPHOBIA: I.I. In the United States and Canada: 1. US: FBI investigates man for hate crime after teen killed outside mosque–A sophomore at Staley High School was killed on 4 December after police said he was purposely hit by an SUV. The Federal Bureau of Investigation said they were working in conjunction with the Kansas City and Police Department to investigate any possible Federal Civil Rights violations and the potential of a hate crime. Police said 15-year-old Abdisamad Sheikh- Hussein had just walked out of the Somali Center of Kansas City at Admiral Boulevard and Lydia Avenue on that day at 5:23 p.m. He was standing outside a Toyota about to get in when a driver in an SUV appeared to have intentionally swerved towards the teen. Community members said they recognized the SUV as the one covered in anti-Quran graffiti, driven by a man who had since been banned from Somali markets and restaurants for his rants against Muslims. They showed KCTV5 a photo they took two months before. The writing on the back window read, “Quran is a virus disease woreste than Ebola.” One community member said people did confront the man in that SUV back then and it turned violent. In: http://fox2now.com/2014/12/07/fbi-investigates-man-for-hate-crime-after-teen-killed-outside-mosque/, retrieved on 08.12.2014 2. US: St. Cloud mosque vandalized for 4th time in a month– Leaders of the Central Minnesota Islamic Center in St. Cloud were expressing fears for public safety after the mosque was vandalized for the fourth time in December. Mosque spokesman Mohamoud Mohamed said: “No one was hurt when someone broke a window at the mosque on 15 December night…. In the past, vandals have thrown rocks and other objects at the mosque and dented windows.” The St. Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson said investigators did not have any solid proof that the incidents were connected, but he also did not believe that it was a coincidence. In: http://www.mprnews.org/story/2014/12/18/mosque-vandalized-for-fourth-time, retrieved on 19.12.2014 1 3. US: ‘Hate Crime’: Taxi Cab Driver Survives Brutal Attack–A 26-year-old man was arrested on 7 December after he called a taxi driver a ‘terrorist’ and beat him unconscious, causing the cab to drift out of control and strike several parked cars before slamming into an apartment building in Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood. Investigators labeled the attack a ‘hate crime’. Adam Gaal, the 34-year-old cab driver, told police the incident began when he picked up three men and a woman in Belltown just before 2am at that day, and drove them to the 4200 block of 27th Avenue West. The suspect then gave Gaal his credit card to pay for the trip and apparently became angry at how long the transaction was taking. Gaal told Seattle police that the man said to him: “You know where you are? You’re in America, this is not where you come from. You are an immigrant, this is not your country. You are terrorist. You are ISIS”. The passenger, later identified as Jesse Fleming, then leaned across the seat and repeatedly punched Gaal in the face. Gaal lost consciousness and his foot slipped off the brake, causing the cab to roll downhill, stroke several cars and eventually came to a stop after crashing into the stairs of an apartment building. In: http://www.islamophobiatoday.com/2014/12/10/hate-crime-taxi-cab-driver-survives-brutal-attack/, retrieved on 09.12.2014 I.II. In Europe: 1. UK: Men fined £600 for threatening to ‘torch’ and ‘blow up’ Astley Bridge mosque on Facebook–Two men had been convicted of making Facebook threats to ‘torch’ and ‘blow up’ a proposed new mosque in Astley Bridge. Leon Richmond, aged 18, wrote on the page that he would not be bothered if the mosque was built as he would ‘blow it up’ himself. A 23-year-old Darren Hubble posted: "Bolton people say no, Wigan says not a chance, I'll torch the place if I get half the chance". The posts related to the plan to build a large new mosque building in Blackburn Road, Astley Bridge. The plans, submitted by Taiyabah Islamic Centre, included a dome, minaret tower and 19 classrooms. This had prompted protests by objectors in the lead-up to the planning meeting set up since July, and protestors shouted abuse at councillors as the proposals were approved. Both men were fined £600 when they appeared before magistrates in Bolton on 3 December, as well as being ordered to pay £145 costs. In: http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/crime/11647850.Men_fined___600_for_threatening_to__torch__and__blow_up__Astley_Bridge_mos que_on_Facebook/, retrieved on 06.12.2014 2. UK: ‘Bigot’ Eric King who was spared jail for Islam hate mail says he will continue to share his views online–A man branded a ‘vile, reprehensible bigot’ by police after sending offensive photographs and social media posts to an Islamic community centre near Truro, had been spared jail despite saying he would continue to share his views on Facebook. 2 Eric King, aged 60, was handed a four-day-a-week curfew and a suspended sentence when he appeared before Truro magistrates on 16 December. King, of St Austell, smeared dog excrement on images depicting the prophet Mohammed having intercourse with a pig and of a naked woman squatting on an Islamic State flag with the letters “IS” scrawled across her buttocks and posted them to Tipu Choudhury, general secretary of the Cornwall Islamic Community Centre at Carnon Downs. At an earlier hearing, King admitted sending two indecent or grossly offensive messages to the centre via its Facebook page and sending an indecent or grossly offensive letter to Mr Choudhury. Gail Hawkley, for the prosecution, said when King was arrested he told officers he was a member of the English Defence League and the British National Party. When asked if he would stop after he had been to court he said: “I shouldn’t think so…I was hoping that whoever saw the letter would kill themselves’”. In: http://www.westbriton.co.uk/8216-Bigot-8217-Eric-King-spared-jail-Islam-hate/story-25727197-detail/story.html, retrieved on 18.12.2014 3. Austria: Pig’s head hung on mosque door in Vienna– In a barbaric affront to Muslim sensibilities, part of a pig’s head and some pork tripe were attached to the door of a mosque in Vienna’s 21st district on 25 December. The imam of the Kocatepe mosque spoke to the Andadolu Press Agency about the incident, condemning the vandalism as an unacceptable act. Fatih Karadas, the head of the Turkish Islamist Union in Vienna (ATIB), condemned the attack, by saying that “this is not an attack against Muslims but the whole of humanity. We, as Muslims, will preserve our calm and collective attitude.” This was not the first incident of its type, as Austria’s Muslim community had suffered several times during 2014 of the similar hate crimes: Not long before, an Imam Hatip school in Vienna that focus on religious education was vandalized; During Ramadan in October, a pig’s head was left in front of the school’s door; In August, a pig’s head was impaled on a fence at a construction site for a new Islamic school; Another mosque called Eyup Sultan, located in the town of Telfs, was repeatedly vandalized with graffiti; Recently, an elderly Muslim woman was attacked in a bank, apparently the victim of a hate crime motivated by religious intolerance; In September 2014, a Muslim woman was attacked by another woman on a train, apparently because the former was wearing a headscarf; a month earlier two elderly Muslim ladies wearing headscarves were attacked in Favoritenstrabe. Police were reportedly slow to respond to these incidents. In: http://www.thelocal.at/20141227/pigs-head-nailed-to-mosque-door-in-vienna, retrieved on 28.12.2014 3 4. Sweden: Five hurt in mosque arson attack–An arsonist set fire to a mosque in central Sweden on 25 December injuring five people, in the latest of a spate of attacks targeting Muslims. The mosque was located on the ground floor of a building in the city of Eskilstuna, some 90 kilometres west of Stockholm. Police said they were investigating the incident as a case of aggravated arson but had no suspects yet. In: http://www.thelocal.se/20141226/five-hurt-in-mosque-arson-attack, retrieved on 27 December 2014 5. UK: Anti-Muslim hate crimes on rise, says charity—The number of Muslim women reporting hate crime had risen by up to 10%, according to a UK charity. TELL MAMA, a British national project measuring anti-Muslim incidents, had told Sky News that over the last 18 months they had seen a 5-10% increase. The number of women wearing the niqab, the face veil, and reporting hate crime had also doubled since 2013. Fiyaz Mughal, director of TELL MAMA, said it was not clear whether incidents were rising or reporting of the problem was getting better. He said: “Over the last two years our data has shown that women suffer more incidents of hate and they also suffer more aggressive incidents of hate.” The research had also shown that Muslim women were subjected to verbal or physical attacks, mostly by men, on the street. The TELL MAMA project highlighted there was still ‘substantial under reporting’ by the Muslim community about hate crime.