A woman was caught on camera allegedly abusing a Muslim student who was wearing a niqab —a full-face Islamic veil that leaves the area around the eyes clear — as she was making her way out of university, calling her a “terrorist” and demanding that she take her veil off.
Ramzy Alamudi, the victim’s husband, posted a video of the incident on Facebook, expressing his shock and dismay.
According to his statement, he was picking up his wife from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia — where she studies medical science— after her final exam, and they were “quietly minding their own business” when a woman approached their vehicle and began pounding aggressively on the window.
The lady allegedly flipped out and started hurling abuse at Alamudi’s wife, screaming “F**k you! Take it off!”(referring to her veil) and “You Muslim Terrorist! Who the f**k are you?”
A witness by the name of Emily Grace Guff also posted a video of the altercation on Facebook.
“As myself and another bystander approach the two, we made the shocking discovery that this poor man was actually trying to fight off this woman from his wife, who was sitting inside their car behind him,” she posted, noting that the entire time the woman was ranting, her baby was sitting in her unlocked car, meters away from the scene.
“She was demanding this man show her some form of ID, calling out that she didn’t belong here, and that we shouldn’t let her walk around freely because we didn’t know what she could have hiding under her dress,” Ms Guff stated.
She claims she also heard the woman claiming she “didn’t feel safe” around the veiled woman.
“It makes me feel sick to know we coexist in a world where this happens so frequently, people thinking they have the right to belittle someone else because of their race or religion — to see what absolute shit some people actually have to deal with” she added.
Campus security ultimately intervened to separate the abusive woman and Mr. Alamudi.
The 35-year-old, who is also a student at Macquarie University, has since been charged with common assault and damage to property. She is due to appear before a court on March 13.
Explaining his motivation for sharing the video publicly, Mr Alamudi said he wanted “to identify racism/discrimination, not further it.” He also asked commenters to refrain from posting racist comments about the abuser’s ethnicity.
“Unfortunately, this type of Islamophobia isn’t isolated to this one individual and incident. Rather, it is an overarching systematic issue in our society that continues to be bred by the propaganda of the media and politicians. This is the problem,” Mr Alamudi said.
The incident occurred only days after an Australian man was charged with five counts of murder for driving a truck into pedestrians in Melbourne – ISIS-style – killing five people including a baby and injuring another dozen.
The attack is still under investigation. No details have been shared about the attacker’s motive however Victoria police have said the “incident is not related to terror related activity.”
This did not stop Australian politician Pauline Hanson — who has called for an immigration ban on Muslims and for banning the Islamic veil in public spaces —from prematurely linking it to Islamic terrorism.
She then went on to declare, wrongly, that all such acts in Australia “have been by Muslims.”
