Details about Ali’s motivations remain scarce, although the investigation into Amess’s death at his constituency surgery on Friday lunchtime is being treated by police as terror-related following initial questioning of the suspect.
Britain’s leading Muslim organisation is to issue new guidance to help British Somalis and other individuals and mosques deal with any incidents of hatred emerging in the aftermath of Sir David Amess’s death.
Zara Mohammed, the secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said that mosques in and around Southend were devastated by the killing of the local MP and “they had regarded him as a member of their family”.
“This is a heinous crime and we utterly condemn it,” Mohammed said. “Nobody in the local Muslim community could believe how anybody could brutally murder anyone, never mind Sir David, who was so engaged with them.”
But she added there was “definitely
an apprehension for Muslim communities at this time” after it emerged that Ali
Harbi Ali, the 25-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murder following the
fatal stabbing, came from a British Somali family.
There has been anecdotal evidence
of threats against some British Somalis since the tragic incident, Mohammed
said, particularly towards “visibly Muslim Somali women” – and against some
Somali organisations.
“Our own social media has been rife
with hatred,” Mohammed added, after the MCB released statements over the
weekend in support of the late Conservative MP and his family, and condemning
the killing as “an attack on democracy”.
As a result the MCB was working on
producing updated guidance on “reporting hate crime”, which would be also translated
into Somali and would be partly shared via WhatsApp, a popular means of
communication among the community in the UK.
Fresh guidance will also be sent
out to all mosques, Mohammed added, “reminding them of simple things like
making a risk assessment, ensuring CCTV are fully functional and working with
local communities and friends”.
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