Muslim shopkeeper threatened in late night incident

The news site Derry Now reports on an alleged case of racist abuse directed at a Muslim shopkeeper in Derry, Northern Ireland in which he was threatened with his having his face “punched down” his throat.

Mohamed Ali was at his shop in the city centre at around 1.30am on Sunday, June 26 when a man walked in. He was accompanied by a female who began squirting water at him inside the store when Mr Ali asked her to stop.

Mr Ali said the woman began verbally abusing him allegedly telling him to “go back to his own country” and calling him an “import”.

Mr Ali, who is Egyptian, said he stepped out of the shop and asked the woman to repeat what she said so that he could record her abuse on his phone. He said the woman started off on her abuse again and that a couple of boys began circling around him, observing the fracas.

Mr Ali said he heard one the boys say to him “Do you want your face punched down your throat’ and he then attacked me.”

Police Service Northern Ireland have confirmed they are treating the incident as a “racially motivated hate crime.”

The news website notes that a youth was also assaulted in the incident.

The news website further notes that it is not the first time Mr Ali has been accosted when closing up his shop. Last November, a 21-year-old man was convicted of inflicting a serious eye injury on him.