Devout Muslim dies after savage beating by 'race-hate' gang

[Ibtisam]

A devout Muslim pensioner attacked by a race-hate gang of schoolboys died yesterday.

Ekram Haque, 67, lost his fight for life a week after he was battered to the ground in front of his three-year-old granddaughter, Marian.

As revealed in yesterday's Daily Mail, he suffered horrific head injuries in the assault outside a mosque in Tooting, South-West London, where he had just prayed.

 

As he and Marian waited for a lift, the gang ran up behind him and clubbed him around the head.

Two other worshippers chased the thugs away but Mr Haque - described by friends as a 'gentle giant' - had suffered horrific head injuries.

His granddaughter has been left 'very shaken and disturbed', said her father, Mr Haque's son Arfan. Graphic images of the attack were caught on CCTV.

 

Scotland Yard formally launched a murder inquiry after Mr Haque passed away at St George's Hospital, Tooting, where he had been on a life-support machine since the attack.

Police are linking the assault on the retired care worker to a series of other attacks on elderly Asian people near the mosque.

 

Three of the earlier victims were also pensioners. As local community tensions grew, police stepped up patrols near the Idara E Jaaferiya mosque where Mr Haque was attacked last Monday. Police say they are treating the attack on Mr Haque as racially motivated.

 

Arfan, 35, a consumer law adviser, described the incident as 'mindless violence' but urged people in the Muslim community to remain calm.

 

He said: 'I would urge people in our community to remember that Islam is a peaceful religion and does not condone revenge attacks. If you want to do anything, just pray.

 

'I have been very impressed how the police have dealt with the attack, and have full confidence in what they are doing.

 

'Obviously I am concerned for my daughter, who has given a very vivid account of what happened.'

 

Ekram Haque was born in Calcutta and moved to Belfast in search of work in 1972. He met his wife there and they moved to London in the early 1980s.

 

Mr Haque originally worked in textiles but later became a warden in a home for the disabled. He retired last year and was looking after Marian on weekdays.

 

At the time of the attack, he was making final preparations to take her to Pakistan and Australia on holiday.

 

His son said: 'My father loved living in Britain. He considered himself a Londoner. He was enjoying his retirement and seeing a lot of his granddaughter.

 

'He was a kind, loving person, who always went out of his way to support anyone who needed support. I just want justice.'

 

Detective Chief Inspector John McFarlane, from Scotland Yard's homicide and serious crime command, said: 'We urge people who may have been attacked, or who may know who these youths are, to come forward.'

 

Anyone with information is urged to call the police on 020 8721 4205 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

 

Two youths aged 14 and 15 have appeared before Wimbledon Youth Court accused of committing grievous bodily harm with intent on Mr Haque.

They and another boy, aged 12, are also accused of conspiracy to commit GBH and two counts of assault on victims in their 40s and 70s. Another 14-year-old has been charged over the attacks, but has yet to appear in court.

 

 

 

 

Source

 

Allah Yarxum

[Ibtisam]

Kidnapped by the BNP says British Muslim

 

On Monday 24th August, Mr Noor Ramjanally opened his front door only to be grabbed by two white males who dragged him at knifepoint and bundled him into the boot of their 4x4 car.They took him to Epping forest where they told him "Lets do it here". In his own words Mr Ramjanally was terrified for his life fearing he would never see his family again. The men told him in no uncertain terms that "we don't want the Islamic group in Loughton".

 

This appalling turn of events began with anti-Islamic leafletting by the BNP. It then moved to letters threatening him and his family where they told him" We know where you live and where your children go to school"delivered by hand to his home. The very next day his front door was doused in petrol and firebombed.

 

Having spoken to Mr Ramjanally today he sounds in good spirits. Despite all that has happened he wants to continue living in Loughton and says "I am adamant to continue Jumu'ah prayers here and no one will stop me"

 

While Mr Ramjanally says the local police and Dr Mohamed Fahim, the leader of the South Woodford mosque which was firebombed in 2000 have been very supportive and his local mayor has sent him a message of support.

The Muslim Safety Forum have only taken an interest in the case since the abduction and he has had no communication from his local MP Mrs Eleanor Laing (Cons).

 

When asking Mr Ramjanally what Muslims could do to help those in his situation, he replied "Gather together and support each other". He asks for Muslims to do just that by attending Friday prayers at 1pm tomorrow at Murray Hall 106 Borders Lane Loughton Essex IG10 3SB

 

MPACUK Comment Sadly this incident represents the growth of Islamophobia in the UK fuelled by right wing extremists such as the BNP and perhaps just as sad is the lack of a co ordinated response by the wider Muslim community organisations such as the Muslim Safety Forum.The question remains whether our organisations have the capability to defend us?

Racist attackers abducted a Muslim community leader at knifepoint, bundled him into a car and threatened his life unless he stopped running prayer sessions in a community hall that has been the target of a British National party campaign.

 

Police have confirmed they are treating the incident as a hate crime and are investigating links with an earlier firebomb attack on the same man's home.

 

Noor Ramjanally, 35, told the Guardian he had been the victim of a terror campaign which has also involved threats against his family after he began the Islamic prayer sessions in March. He said he fears for his life after the abduction at knifepoint, which happened at his home in Loughton, Essex, on Monday.

 

A BNP campaign has been blamed for rising tensions in the area. The party has been leafleting the area warning of "Islamification" which it says flows from the weekly two-hour prayer session, which it claims is a prelude to a mosque being built.

 

Ramjanally said he was abducted from his home in daylight by two white men who threatened him with a knife, bundled him into a car then drove him into woodland. They demanded he stop organising the Friday prayer sessions at Murray hall community centre. He said the words from his abductors matched the BNP propaganda opposing the Muslim prayers. The same demand was contained in hate mail he received last month threatening his wife and child, he said.

 

 

Vikram Dodd describes the case Link to this audio Councillor Pat Richardson, leader of the BNP group on the local council, said her party was not behind the attacks on Ramjanally. "Firebombing is not a British method. A brick through the window is a British method, but firebombing is not a way of showing displeasure," she said.

 

Ramjanally said: "I believe the BNP campaign has inspired the violence."

 

He said he was snatched at around 12.15pm and feared he would be murdered during his ordeal. "I was at home and the door bell rang. I opened the door and they grabbed my wrists, pulling me out by force," he said.

 

"It was two white men. They put a knife upon my stomach, and said do what you're told or you'll get hurt." He said he was then bundled into the boot of a 4 x 4 vehicle, with one of the men holding a knife to his chest.

 

Ramjanally said he was driven for 10 minutes to nearby Epping Forest, walked around, and then threatened: "They said 'We don't want your Islamic group in Loughton.' I was scared, I feared for my life. I was in a forest, a knife was held against me, how would you feel? They said, 'If you don't stop, we'll come back.'"

 

The attackers then left Ramjanally alone in the woods. Essex police said an investigation was under way into the incident and two earlier ones at Ramjanally's home.

 

"Police are treating the incidents as 'hate crime' and a possible motivation would appear to be a link to the use of the Murray hall, Loughton by the Muslim community for Friday prayers," the force said.

 

Superintendent Simon Williams of Essex police said: "We are treating these offences with the utmost seriousness and are putting considerable resources into the investigation.

 

"While that investigation continues we will be working with the whole population of Loughton to ensure that all members of the community are free to practice their religion and beliefs safely and freely."The prayer sessions at Murray hall began on 27 March, with nine people worshipping. Now up to 80 people attend.

 

On 2 July, Ramjanally received an anonymous threatening letter telling him to stop using the hall for prayers and stating the author knew which school his child went to and which car he drove. The next day his flat was firebombed. The BNP has four councillors in the area and its leafleting campaign in late July has been attacked as inflammatory and divisive.

 

Richardson said she had seen the leaflet before it was released last month. She was sceptical of Ramjanally's claims of a terror campaign. "I told the police we want to object that fingers were being pointed in our direction," she said.

 

She also denied that BNP members were behind any violence. She believes that the weekly Muslim prayer meeting is a prelude to an attempt to encourage more Muslims to move into the area, and thus to vote out the BNP. "I was wondering whether it was a ploy to attract more Muslims to the area to try and vote out the BNP councillors," she said.

 

Richardson said the Muslim prayer meeting did not fit in with the area's mainly white population: "It's not really natural for the area because there are so few Muslims," she said.

 

At Murray hall yesterday there was little sign of the building being turned into a mosque. The hall's caretaker said a children's group was using the premises.

 

Passing by was lifelong Loughton resident Paul Luton, 57, who said: "Who says [the hall] can't be used for different things. A community is a community. If there's a local community of Muslims, they're local people."

 

Mohammad Fahim runs the nearest mosque to Loughton which was firebombed in 2000. He said racists have used the fears of new mosques in the area to stoke racial and anti-Muslim tensions.

 

The BNP describes Fahim's mosque, in south Woodford, four miles from Loughton, as "notorious" and claims it has incited violence. In fact, Fahim works as a chaplain for the Metropolitan police.Loughton, which borders the eastern fringe of London, is affluent in parts, with a number of houses on its millionaire's row, called Alderton Hill, owned by British Hindu families. It is also a road, said Fahim, where women wearing headscarves are racially abused by passing white motorists. He advised one Muslim woman to remove her headscarf to avoid being a victim of hate crime. According to the 2001 census, just over 1%of the area's residents describe themselves as Muslim.

 

One owner of a takeaway, who said he would fear for his safety if either he or his shop were named, said he often faced racist abuse: "This area is rubbish. So many times there is trouble."

 

Last year a 20-strong white gang attacked his shop, leaving one Asian employee with head wounds.

 

He said often the abuse and violence happened when people were drunk. "Tonight they call you Paki and tomorrow they come in for food."

 

Abdurahman Jafar, chair of the Muslim Safety Forum, which advises the police, said: "The campaign of terror has followed a campaign organised by the BNP whereby they delivered hate literature to locals citing the small Friday prayer sessions as evidence of how 'the Islamification process is almost complete'." Recent months have seen a sharp rise in religiously motivated attacks against the Muslim community including attacks on outwardly Muslim appearing individuals, mosques and pogroms directed against the Muslim Community."

The Guardian

[Sophist]

Aloow noo gargaar, siiba gabdhaha xijaabka wata ugargaar!.

 

S.

[chubacka]

sad beyond belief.

[N.O.R.F]

Tragic. Allah yarxamhu.

[MAXIMUS POWERS]

This needs to be authenticated, too often moslims are quick to blame extreme right wing groups for their problems.

 

May Allah have mercy on this man. Our prayers are with his family at this difficult time. Ameen.

[Sophist]

Marx, this was on the London paper last night- he wasn't dead then but critical.

 

S.

[Ibtisam]

Also:

BNP are planning a massive demonstration outside Harrow Masjid in Harrow on the 11th Sept, this will fall on a Jummca prayer, and because of fast there will be a lot more people at mosque. Most likely these protest will not be friendly and they will be intoxicated, and likely to be trouble. Please, Please specially the brothers avoid getting into altercations with them and do not come intent on fighting them.

 

I know there are some Muslim groups who are urging all male able bodied young Muslim to defend Islam and the mosque and come prepared

 

We have already seen the Luton and Birmingham protest with over 90 people arrested last weekend. Try not to get arrested and try not to get hurt inshallah and don’t go there intending to fight, because it will only result in you getting a criminal record and bad publicity and back lash for Muslims, particularly the sisters. So please keep your cool if you do decide to go.

 

It is expected to attract about 1,000 BNP members and sympathizers.

 

Marx it is confirmed he passed away.

[chubacka]

:mad: talk about rubbing salt in the wound. In light of these events they should postpone their so called demonstration. Thats assuming these ppl have any common decency.

[Buuxo]

Allah yarham.

[Haatu]

Alla u naxariisto. the BNP are getting more powerful and out of hand.

[N.O.R.F]

^Elections next May.

[MAXIMUS POWERS]

^and... its not like you vote or believe in the power of democracy.

[N.O.R.F]

^I do vote (voted Green Party last time) but thats beside the point.