SHAFAQNA (Shia News Association) — A British man, returning to the United Kingdom refused to allow a Muslim woman civil servant to check his passport.
“I don’t want to be seen by that,” Anthony Holt, 65, was quoted by local British news sources as saying of the woman, who wears a hijab
Holt has been fined 145 British pounds and ordered to pay another 100 for compensation over the anti-Muslim tirade and abuse directed at the customs official.
He pleaded guilty of using “religiously aggravated threatening words or behavior.”
According to his lawyer, the 65-year-old had become upset up after reading an article in the Daily Mail about the “victimization of Christianity” on a flight into Manchester.
At immigration, the retired consultant then refused be checked through by Sayima Mohammed.
Holt said he did not “want to be seen by any Muslim in a position of authority. I want to be seen by someone who’s English. This is England. This is my country. I’m not into all this Islam.”
As Mohammed burst into tears, her colleagues refused to check Holt’s passport and ordered him to calm down.
When police arrived, Holt turned his attention to a police officer, saying: “That’s Islam. I’m not going to that. This is my country.”
During a police interview Holt claimed the abuse was not “personal.”
He said: “The problem I have is with Islam as a whole. It’s threat to the British population and the British way of life. I wanted to take a stand.”
But Muslims in the UK are concerned that Holt is simply a result of the anti-Islamic rhetoric being spouted by conservative newspapers and tabloids in the country that are fomenting anti-Muslim sentiment across the country.
In a statement to police, Mohammed said she “felt threatened, shocked and humiliated to be treated in that manner for no apparent reason.” —www.shafaqna.com/english/
