UK Racists Brutalize Muslim Grandfather

A gang of young racists brutally beat a Muslim elder almost to death in front of his granddaughter while returning from the mosque, triggering swift condemnation and calls for calm among the Muslim community.

"It was an attack on a defenseless man outside a church of God with his young granddaughter," Arfan Haque, the victim’s son told the Wandsworth Guardian on Monday, September 7.

“The point is the mindless violence,� he added speaking from near his dad's hospital bed.

Ekram Haque, 67, was waiting for a lift outside a mosque along with his granddaughter Miriam, 3, in Tooting suburb in the London Borough of Wandsworth when a group of some 20 teenagers ambushed him.

The gang ran up behind the former care worker and clubbed him around the head. He was battered to the ground in front of his granddaughter.

The attack happened a week ago in a London suburb, but the details were only revealed Monday after police said the old man is on life support after suffering serious head injuries.

"He is close to death," one police source said.

Doctors told the family Haque has no chance of survival.

Friends, who went to hospital last night to pay their last respects, described Haque as a very religious "gentle giant" who had been involved with his community for 25 years.

“My father loved living in Britain,� said his grieving son.

“He considered himself a Londoner.

“He was a kind, loving person, who always went out of his way to support anyone who needed support.�

Appalling

Police said they were treating the attack as racially motivated.

“I find it quite distressing how children can inflict terrible injuries on a man like that, especially with a three-and-a-half-year-old, who was with her grandfather, watching on,� said a police source.

Police linked Haque’s incident to two other attacks in the same area in which elderly Muslims were also assaulted.

“We are treating these attacks as racially aggravated.�

Tooting MP Sadiq Khan, who visited Haque in hospital, criticized the vicious assault.

"I am appalled and angry at the savagery of their actions and the mayhem they have caused," said Khan, a Muslim.

“Nothing can ever justify these sort of actions but if you look at the age of the victims it beggars belief that anyone could attack innocent older members of our community," he added.

"It could well have been any of our parents or grandparents being viciously attacked.�

Khan warned that such attacks create an atmosphere of fear and hatred.

“The devastating impact this group has had on the Haque family and local community is immeasurable."

Arfan, Haque’s son, urged all fellow Muslims to show maximum restraint.

"I want everyone to respect their religion,� he stressed.

“The Qur'an doesn’t condone revenge attacks."