News has come to light that 5 people who were involved in an attack on the Edgware Road on a young Shia man in early May 2013, have been found guilty. Four were found guilty of violent disorder and one was found guilty of affray.
TELL MAMA visited the victim and we spoke to the young man who had been quite severely assaulted on multiple occasions. Humble and seeking some form of justice, he kept re-iterating that he did not hold all Sunni Muslims accountable for what he suffered and that there should be and must be no division that leads to violence on the streets of Britain. In fact, his words came from a place of hope rather than anger.
There had been a protest on the 10th of May 2013 by members of the now banned Al Muhajiroun who had just finished demonstrating outside the Egyptian Embassy and they had made their way to the busy multicultural Edgware Road carrying a range of banners. What ensued was the terrible attack on a Shia man going about his business on the Edgware Road.
We have previously written about events that have targeted or sidelined minority Muslim communities. The individuals found guilty cannot be named for legal reasons and some of the individuals are well-known to the police. Which brings us onto our final point. We need to remain vigilant against all forms of hate and this also means intra-faith hate. Hate material against Shias or Ahmaddiyas for example, is not acceptable and such material can, sadly, have an impact on vulnerable minds. In fact, in many cases of individuals involved in crime and extremism, there are multiple vulnerabilities in their backgrounds that can easily be traced.
There is a high likelihood that the individuals involved will get a custodial sentence and we salute the courage of the victim and many others who supported him. We also support the police for diligently working with Muslim communities to reduce any tensions and ensuring that they arrested those responsible. We hope that this saga is now over and that a strong message is sent out that such behaviour will not be tolerated by the courts.