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.

On an evening full of celebration and reflection, let us first focus on upon the former. In the last year alone, TELL MAMA took significant strides and was successful in a number of areas and these are included below. We were involved in:

•  Assisting over 1,000 victims of anti-Muslim prejudice (both online and offline). Many victims are visible and non-visible Muslim women.

• Ensuring the arrest of over 120 individuals who promoted or disseminated anti-Muslim hate material. Over about 90 individuals were successfully charged and prosecuted.

• Providing training to police forces on understanding the language of anti-Muslim hate.

• Ensuring a multi-agency approach which ensured that over 300 victims of anti-Muslim abuse received the necessary support.

• Undertaking outreach work across the UK to help the victims of anti-Muslim prejudice report crimes and receive the necessary victim support.

• Helping Twitter reconsider how it works with hate crime third-party reporting centres in England and Wales.

The importance of the TELL MAMA project is best reflected in the victims it supported. A short video featured a female victim who described the organisation as her ‘lifeline.’ Another victim of online abuse recounted her harassment by the Far-Right on Twitter; an abuse that spiralled into threats and a greater sense of fear. But TELL MAMA’s  intervention helped spur the police into stopping the abuse.

Other notable speakers included Liberal Democrat MPs Vince Cable and Simon Hughes. Both spoke of the necessity of access to victim support and in tackling anti-Muslim bigotry.Yet, many do not report abuse to the police, and that must change.

Moving forward, TELL MAMA found inspiration from the Community Security Trust (CST).The CST provides security to hundreds of synagogues, Jewish schools and communal buildings. It also collates data on antisemitism and works alongside the police and governmental bodies.

Compared to the CST (who achieved charity status in 1994), TELL MAMA are in their infancy. But the ambition of the team is to develop a similar service within three years and with only 4 staff members, Richard Benson commended the dedication, tenacity and capability of the team who have built the foundations of the work, yet there is much more to be done.

To meet this ambition, it became important to frame anti-Muslim prejudice within a wider context.

Richard Benson (ex-Chief Executive of the CST), is now co-chair of TELL MAMA. At the dinner, he made a call for others to donate so the “pivotal” work of TELL MAMA continues to grow. Peter Tatchell’s patronage also serves a similar function.

The speech of Shazia Khan, daughter of the murdered Mohammed Saleem, brought a moment of reflection. Ms Khan spoke lovingly of a father who did his best not just for his family but the wider Muslim community. Mr Saleem’s murderer, Pavlo Lapshyn, was a committed neo-Nazi terrorist. A man who wanted to ‘purify’ Birmingham of Muslims. Their dignity and pursuit for justice remains a source of inspiration. The same is true of the family of Lee Rigby.

So what principle drives TELL MAMA forward? For Fiyaz Mughal, the answer is straightforward:

“The greatest asset to our work has been the British public, a public who inherently dislike hate, intolerance and injustice.”

It is on that principle that we aim to move forward when tackling the miasma of anti-Muslim bigotry.”

The post Mainstreaming Work on Countering Anti-Muslim Prejudice – the TELL MAMA Dinner appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Our father, Mohamed  Saleem, was brutally murdered just over a year ago whilst walking home from evening prayers. He was 82 years old. Why anyone would want to murder a defenceless old man is the question we often ask ourselves about that fateful night? Dad was a weak man, he had arthritis in his legs but would insist on walking to the mosque several times a day because he said it kept him fit. He was a stickler for routine, ate his meals on time, slept regularly and enjoyed his daily walkabouts in the community. Dad was a practising Muslim and he loved the peace and serenity he received from his faith, it encompassed how he lived his life. Dad was keen to advocate education, marriage and family life within Islamic values. He did not respect crime, drugs, or violence and he firmly believed his faith provided a bedrock for the future generations to thrive.

He would often say there was no point in being a Muslim if one did not educate themselves through school college and university, because without good prospects of employment and education a person cannot fully support their family. Tragically, he was singled out and murdered on the very road he had lived on for over 30 years, having worked so hard to provide for his family. The motive for his death was allegedly because he was brown and dressed like a Muslim. He was followed from the mosque on the 29^th April 2013 (after late evening prayers finished at 10.10pm), by a cowardly right wing neo-Nazi  terrorist who had only been in the country for less than a week. He was then stabbed three times from behind. Surprisingly the perpetrator was awarded a work placement in Small Heath – an area densely populated by Muslims for many years. A known racist neo-Nazis (in Ukraine) he was allowed enter this country unchecked to complete a campaign of terror and murder.

What did this person know about our father? Did he know he had 7 children and 23 grandchildren upon whom he doted. Did he consider the heartbreak that this has caused our family? Did he know that our father came to this country over 60 years ago to build a life for his family, worked hard and paid his taxes to put his children through university. Our father admired the educational system the UK offered and expected us to study and work in suitable employment. He found forced marriages reprehensible and hated the cultural misconception that children had to marry whom the parents chose using Islam as a justification. Dad advised many parents of such wrongdoings and when divorce became imminent within couples, he worked with families to ensure fairness was achieved for both sides.

A Great Role Model – Mohammed Saleem

A great role model for the youth of today in his old age, many looked up to him and told us of their confidential chats with dad about their wayward lives and how he helped them to see sense and seek refuge within their faith. The Muslim youth of Birmingham and other cities are disorientated, some are professionals, some are students and some are even, sadly, on the road to crime, receiving little support from their despairing families but all of them are our neighbours.  And yet there are those who prey on the misfortune of many of these people.

Unfortunately, some sections of Muslim communities have been tarnished in a very negative way because of a few bad eggs, and the rotten smell of Islamaphobia and hatred has developed into a full-on war by the British media and its campaign of anti-Muslim articles.

We are here tonight to address the pressing issue of Islamaphobia and its increase over the last few years, much of which has been perpetrated by the sensationalised media headlines and the general bias against Muslims in news reports and treatment within the legal system. Yesterday’s front page of the Sun reported on Pizza Express’ secret Halal food and this is a case in point. By using journalists with Muslim names, the papers incite the spreading of an innate fear of Muslims and their way of life, without looking like they are spreading prejudice since another Muslim as written up the piece. Malcom X said:

“The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.” This was said some 50 years ago and it is, ever more pertinent today.

Legal Processes

Now let me move onto the injustices within the legal system. It seems time has gone back to the 1980s and to the days of the National Front, frightening times where children were not let out because of  the marches and football riots were just another part of a Saturday afternoon. I remember growing up in a skinhead era, where my mother would not let us out when Birmingham City matches were on. We remember bricks thrown into passing cars and Asians were spat on by thugs who had tattoos and body piercings. Many of these memories become reality when we see the ugly face of the English Defence League. I for one truly believe that if things do not change, the future does not look bright. So take for example, the recent ripping up of the Holy Qu’ran at a football match. My children found it upsetting to read about the Quran being ripped up and desecrated at a football stadium down the road from where my father died. I find it upsetting when insignificant prison terms and fines are being handed out by sympathetic judges. Is this justice I ask?

Representation

We have no real representation for Muslims in this country , apart from self appointed leaders who do not reflect the reality of things on the ground. We do not need more blame put on us for the wrongdoings of those in power – we need a true representation of people that will challenge these political, judicial, and societal systems.

Our Treatment

From the experiences my family had in the past year, it seems not enough has changed since the Stephen Lawrence inquiry. The way we were treated with suspicion by the police and the surveillance we had placed on us by the Family Liaison Officers through to the Coroner’s failings in their judicial process, left us with a bitter taste and much more needs to be done to address some of these failings. We found the police complaints process disorganised and confusing since the IPCC placed local resolution as the only port of call so our complaints were passed on from the IPCC and time limits on responses were not met. In fact after a year we are still awaiting a response from concerns that we lodged. We have many letters to support this, yet no complaint was ever settled and we lodged 4 separate complaints with regards to the handling of the case, the police role in the releasing of the body and the Islamaphobic online abuse regarding our father’s murder and none of these were dealt with satisfactorily.

Counter- Terrorism Unit

However, on a positive note the Counter Terrorism Unit were a breath of fresh air when they took the case over once Pavlo Lapshyn was arrested. We found the officers to be extremely professional, polite and very reassuring and I felt that I could breathe again when they came round to see us.  I could trust them and my fear slowly dissolved whilst the case was being handled by the CPS. Nonetheless we have many questions that remain unanswered and we will never know what really happened that night and whether Pavlo was really a lone wolf or part of an organised gang. We accept our father’s death and hope that other families receive better treatment than we did initially, innocent until proven guilty they say, but this is not how the police treat families in some cases.

Dad was an amazing man, highly respected by his family and missed by his many grandchildren. He was a great role model in his values and ideals. His death was a shock to us all and a result of what he often feared would happen; knife crime and anti-Muslim hate were the sole reason for his murder.

 Islamaphobia has to stop and no person should be victimised or stereotyped because of their faith. Muslims should be embraced and respected like every other person in our inclusive society, we are the same and no different. The media has to stop this hate fuelled reporting and our judiciary needs to review its processes around dealing with cases of hate crimes and particularly when there is sustained targeting of people because of a part of their identity. Organisations like TELL MAMA cannot undertake their roles effectively, if the police, legal system and government departments are unable to make the changes required.

In honour of my father tonight, I hope we can make a difference and that lessons learnt are taken forward and acted upon.

The post Speech by Shazia Khan – Daughter of the late Mohammed Saleem, at the TELL MAMA dinner appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Mohammed Saleem, was, for all intents and purposes, a grandfather who doted over his grandchildren and a man who his daughters say, encouraged them to excel in all they did. According to one of his daughters, Islam for Mr Saleem meant enlightenment, education and gaining knowledge and his legacy is alive and well in his family who tirelessly fought for justice and to bring the killer of their father to book.

We have been honoured to get to know one of the daughters of Mr Saleem, albeit briefly, and what we have found has been a formidable, proud and tenacious campaigner for justice. Family members have discussed the traumas that they went through as police did not initially have any leads, (and this went on for some time), and family members also had to manage their information needs whilst being pushed and pulled between Counter Terrorism (CT) and the West Midlands Police. Yet, what has been the most touching has been the story of the life of Mohammed Saleem, a quiet, religious man who found solace and peace in his faith later in life. His family say that his wisdom and his love for people shone through and it is something that has touched us. We are therefore honoured to remember the life of Mohammed Saleem at our forthcoming annual dinner this coming Thursday. Within Islam, we say, ‘To God we belong, and to Him we will return.’

Drummer Lee Rigby

Let us also not forget that dark day on the 22nd of May 2013 when a young man walking the streets of Woolwich, lost his life in a pre-meditated murder by two extremists. The death of Lee sent a shudder through our nation not only in the callousness of it, but that it had been conducted by two people who lived in the UK. They had also carried out the murder in broad daylight and in the streets of the capital.

Let us also not forget that the anti-Muslim backlash after the murder could have been far worse if the family of Lee Rigby had not asked for calm and that no-one be harmed in the name of Lee. This single dignified act by a family in mourning, we believe, probably saved the lives of others as the English Defence League and extremists attacked mosques and Islamic institutions. In total, 8 weeks after the murder of Lee Rigby, over 30 mosques across England and Wales had been attacked.

We must also not forget the actions of the police in taking charge of the situation after the killing of Lee and ensuring that there was a heavy police presence in areas where there was the potential of flashpoints. Yet, in all of this, we must remember the family of Lee who live with the legacy of a loved one they cannot touch, and we must remember that extremism still remains a threat to us all, our cohesion and our long-term futures.

This Thursday, we will remember Lee and ensure that we hold a minute’s silence for Lee and for Mohammed Saleem. They may have been two people on parallel paths, yet in death, they bring us together. There can be no fitting a memorial than this.

The post The Life of the Late Mohammed Saleem & Remembering Lee Rigby appeared first on TELL MAMA.