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Anti-Muslim assaults rising after election of Donald Trump: Expert

Tuesday, 29 November 2016 2:24 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 29 November 2016 2:28 PM ]

Virginia Gold Star father, Khizr Khan, speaks to people at the Masjid William Salaam in Norfolk, Virginia, October 26, 2016. (AFP photo)

American Muslim leaders have strongly condemned a stabbing attack at Ohio State University on Monday, which left 11 injured and led to the death of the assailant. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has said Muslim community is saddened and heartbroken by the attack. A third-year student at OSU, Artan, was a Somali refugee who was staying in the United States as a legal permanent resident. Some media reports have connected the 18-year-old student to the Daesh terrorist group.

Massoud Shadjareh, with the Islamic Human Rights Commission, told Press TV’s Top 5 that the Muslim community in the United States is suffering from growing hatred attacks by the American citizens who have been provoked by hatred speeches of the US president-elect during his election campaign.

The anti-Muslim attacks are “rising due to the election of US President-elect Donald Trump” and innocent Muslims are being targeted in the country on a daily basis, Shadjareh said on Tuesday.

The activist also warned, “The fact that someone like Trump could become president and get so many votes, it’s actually a testimony to the environment of hate, which has been created in the United States and elsewhere in the West.”

He went on to say, “We need to actually address this environment of hate which is being strengthened day by day and [is] actually enabling people like Trump and others to ... go out and preach hatred and then get elected.”

In California, which is one of the most liberal states, the number of Muslims who are attacked physically has gone up 29 percent that’s a huge number, he added.

According to Shadjareh, when a person from a community or a minority commits a crime, others should not put the blame on the whole group and target people affiliated to the same community under the pretext of taking revenge on them.

He also complains the situation in the United States, noting that “one individual gets involved in the acts of barbarism and criminality and then the focus comes on whole of the Muslim community and forces the Muslim leaders to respond in the way that they really shouldn’t have to.”

The United States has witnessed numerous criminal acts including gun attacks at schools, universities and other public places, but when a Muslim commits a crime, Americans point to his/her religious affiliations. Such an attitude toward the Muslim community has caused a major hike in the number of hate crimes against Muslims in the United States.

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