A Muslim health worker from Cardiff has told how she alters her walk route to work every day because of the risk of Islamophobic attack.
Sahar al Faifi, a geneticist at the University Hospital of Wales (UHW), said she suffers so much verbal abuse she can’t report it all or she would “spend half my life in the police station”.
Giving evidence to the Citizens Commission on Islam and Participation in Public Life at its hearing in Cardiff on Wednesday she showed footage of a BBC Wales interview she gave last March when a passerby shouts “f****** bombers” as the camera rolls.
Although the police have investigated the Islamophobic abuse captured on film no prosecution has followed, she told the hearing in Cardiff.
“Because of the face veil I am wearing I have lost count of the verbal and physical attacks,” she said.
“If I report all of this I would spend half my life in the police station – this is how the situation is.
“I don’t go to UHW using the same route and change the route every time because I am expecting to be attacked every second.
“I am not exaggerating.”
The UK-wide commission, chaired by former Attorney General, QC and MP Dominic Grieve, was meeting in Cardiff as part of hearings around the country to hear from Muslims what barriers they face getting involved in the societies in which they live.
Seen as ‘other’ in society
The commission, run by the group Citizens UK, aims to encourage British Muslims to take a greater role in public life and counter barriers, tensions and fear in the wake of terror attacks and Islamophobia.
“We want to come up with useful, practical, suggestions not just report back,” said one of the commissioners, Professor Sophie Gilliat-Ray, founder and chair of Cardiff’s Islam UK Centre.
Ms al Faifi, who is assistant secretary general at the Muslim Council of Wales, said Islamophobia must be recognised as an offence by public figures.
“Someone with an obvious Islamic symbol like a face veil, Islamic women, are the first victims of these comments in the public eye.
“We are no longer seen as part of society but as ‘other’,” she told the hearing at Cardiff University.
“Muslims are the victims today but who was the victim yesterday? The Jews. Who will be the future victims?
“I want laws to protect me and my sisters and all people.”
Mosque youth worker Ameira Kukut told how teenagers she works with at Cardiff’s Dar ul Isra mosque in Cathays report being spat at and some no longer want to wear veils because of abuse.
“There are a lot of issues going out and being visibly Muslim,” she said.
