UK home secretary criticized after saying ‘as a Muslim, I’ve never heard someone being called Jihad’
LONDON: The UK’s home secretary has been asked to clarify her comments about the name Jihad, after British Arabs with the name warned that they face hate attacks after Thursday’s attack in Manchester.
Shabana Mahmood said in the wake of the synagogue attack: “As a Muslim, I’ve never heard someone being called Jihad.”
She was referring to the 35-year-old attacker Jihad Al-Shamie, a British national of Syrian descent who was killed at the scene.
Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, called on Mahmood to issue an immediate clarification about her comments, which were widely reported in the media.
