Political Correctness Gone Awry? Muslim Women Get No Jail Time After Attack Caught on Tape
A trial in the U.K. involving an unprovoked attack on a white woman by four Somalian Muslims ended with the attackers getting no jail time and 150 hours of community service. Many Britons who consider the sentence far too light for the severity of the crime, blame reverse-racism and have been expressing their outrage online.
In addition, much of the outrage is because it has been reported that the judge accepted the Muslim women's defense that they attacked the victim because they were drunk and were not used to the effects of alcohol because of their religion, according to the Daily Mail.
“They’re Somalian Muslims and alcohol or drugs isn’t something they’re used to,” said Gary Short, mitigating for one of the women, the British newspaper reported.
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However, whether or not that was a factor in the judge's decision is not clear. Judge Robert Brown also mentioned that the women suffered “unreasonable force” when the victim's boyfriend retaliated in her defense.
In the June 2010 attack, sisters Ambaro Maxamed, 24, Ayan Maxamed, 28, Hibo Maxamed, 24, and their 28-year-old cousin, Ifrah Nur chased down 22-year-old Rhea Page and her boyfriend, Lewis Moore, in the center of Leicester, in central England. The women ran around Moore and pounced on Page. Moore came to the defense of his girlfriend, but had trouble fending off the attacks of the four women for several minutes, until the police arrived.
According to Page, the women also yelled “Kill the white slag” and other racist obscenities during the attack.
After the judge decided to give the women a 6-month, suspended sentence and 150 hours of community service, Ambaro Maxamed tweeted: “Happy happy happy!,” “I’m so going out,” and “Today has been such a great day.”
Ironically, Twitter is where some of the most outraged comments toward the girls have come from, with many observers blaming the women's religion for the special treatment.
@ajstafford said, “Reading about the #rheapage story. Justice had not been served. Total miscarriage and leniency served because they were Muslim.”
@juankerr was angry that the attack was not considered race-based. "UK left & judiciary think 4 Somalis attacking an innocent white girl while shouting 'kill the white slag' isnt a racial attack #rheapage,” he said.
Video of the attack: (No Audio)
With Twitter's 140-character limit, people are sometimes more restrained in what they can say. But on the Daily Mail website, commenters let loose, and blamed everything from “liberals” in the British judicial system to the growing power of Muslim groups in British society.
“I've been seeing it for years. In this country there's a two tier system. That is, the Judicial system and the Police only know how to deal with 'white' British over here,” said one commenter. “They are scared and don't know how to deal with ethnic minorities. You saw that in the riots. The police only go in hard when the crowd is predominantly white. If it's predominantly black they just stand there, afraid they'll upset them even more. This is the result when liberal minded idiots work their way to the top.”
Many people said that had the races of the attackers and victim been reversed, the outcome would have been far different.
“Absolutely disgusted,” wrote Spankthe Dj. “If this was a group of white girls or lads, and a Muslim had been attacked, you can bet your bottom dollar that the racism card would have been played...I wouldnt be [surprised] if the judges actions lead to more violence, as the British public are visibly getting sick to the back teeth of these double standards!”
A great deal of the outraged comments were from people who claimed to be British minorities and Muslims, as well.
“I'm Indian and experienced racism my entire life. This is a load of rubbish from the judge!” said a commenter named Tony. “Was the judge afraid of some backlash from the Muslim community? Was he just chicken to hand out a jail sentence?”
“I am a Muslim and I am thoroughly disgusted by this,” said Not Fair. “Surely someone must have asked the judge two questions by now. 1. Was he drunk? 2. Is he used to drinking? It is really pathetic that a group of ladies (scratch that...these are yobs) who were clearly out to harm other people while being racially abusive are allowed to go virtually scot free. What's more....they get this strange justice because they are not used to drinking. Hmm...I am an African and I think Political correctness is officially doing more harm than good now.”
Although the trial is over and the sentence has already been handed out, online petitions have begun and Facebook pages, and Twitter accounts have been created in support of Page.
The Facebook petition, titled “Justice Petition for Rhea Page,” tells supporters: "join us and let's try to get justice and show Rhea Page and other people we really care. This could happen to you – would you want them to walk free?”
