A well-loved Muslim shopkeeper has been murdered in Glasgow, Scotland, shortly after posting messages wishing his Christian customers a Happy Easter.
See if you can work out what key detail is missing from the Guardian‘s coverage of this appalling crime.
Flowers and messages of thanks have been left on a street corner in Glasgow where a much-loved shopkeeper was stabbed to death in an attack that police are treating as “religiously prejudiced”.
The man, who has been named locally as Asad Shah, was described as a gentle man who cared deeply for his community and every year would print out his own Christmas cards with personal messages for customers.
Police Scotland announced on Friday evening that a 32-year-old man had been arrested in connection with the death of 40-year-old Shah, who was discovered with serious injuries in the Shawlands area of Glasgow, a few miles south of the city centre, just after 9pm on Thursday. The victim was taken to the Queen Elizabeth university hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Well, it’s quite simple. As pretty much every other newspaper to report on the affair has noted – The Express; The Daily Mail; The Sun – the killer was another Muslim.
At no stage, anywhere in the Guardian article are we told this. (Nor, shamefully, does the print edition of the increasingly liberal-squishy Telegraph report this detail; nor does the left-wing Independent).
This is worse than politically correct squeamishness. This is actively dangerous and irresponsible.
Anyone so-minded could read this report of the “religiously prejudiced” murder of a Muslim shopkeeper and draw the conclusion that his killer was a Christian seeking vengeance after Brussels.
In fact, there was never any question about the killer’s religious identity:
Mohammad Faisal, a family friend, said a bearded Muslim wearing a long religious robe entered Mr Shah’s shop and spoke to him in his native language before stabbing him in the head with a kitchen knife.
and
Mr Shah’s brother, who was working next door, rushed out to find the killer laughing while sitting on the Glasgow newsagent’s bleeding chest.
‘The brother dragged Mr Shah away but the guy continued attacking with the blade,’ said Mr Faisal. ‘They struggled up to the bus stop where Asad collapsed.
‘It was just a clear-cut revenge attack. For posting messages about peace, messages about greeting fellow Christians and Jews.
‘That man must not have been too happy about what he was doing, what he was preaching. It was a well-planned attack. He must have been an extremist.
Funny that the left-wing media decided to omit these details. Perhaps it feared we might draw unhelpful conclusions.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.