Latest news with #fatwa
Daily Mail
17-05-2025
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Exposed: NHS manager accused of Rushdie-style fatwa death threat over 'insult to Mohammed'
An Islamist extremist working at one of London 's most famous hospitals has been suspended after being accused of issuing a fatwa-style death threat for blasphemy. The Mail on Sunday can reveal that NHS employee Omar Abdallah Mansuur, 39 – an influential imam – faces claims that he decreed a fellow Muslim should get the death penalty for insulting the Prophet Mohammed. His broadcast was made to tens of thousands of followers and is thought to be the first time a cleric in Britain has made such a threat. The terrified victim, now in hiding in Europe, has been warned by police that it is too dangerous for him to visit the UK. 'It is a living nightmare,' he said last night. 'My life is at risk and I am constantly looking over my shoulder.' But last night, Mansuur denied issuing a death threat, saying he merely stated the Islamic punishment for blasphemy. In some of his inflammatory diatribes, Mansuur appears on video from inside St Thomas' Hospital – directly across the Thames from the Houses of Parliament – where he works in procurement. One sequence shows him going into the hospital via an underground entrance and walking along a corridor before sitting down in an office. Staff describe bespectacled Mansuur, a British national of Somali origin who lives in North London with his wife and children, as unassuming and polite. But his social media profiles tell a different story. Mansuur, who works in procurement at St Thomas' Hospital – directly across the Thames from the Houses of Parliament – denied issuing a death threat, saying he merely stated the Islamic punishment for blasphemy Using TikTok, Facebook and X, he reaches millions of followers with his hate-filled videos and live broadcasts. On Friday, after the MoS passed on its evidence, the hospital said Mansuur had been suspended pending an investigation. Yair Cohen, a lawyer representing the victim, said: 'I am calling for immediate and decisive action to protect my client. 'Police forces seem able to swiftly arrest people for far less serious social media activity.' The National Secular Society said: 'It's appalling that here in the UK, Islamists are calling for the death of supposed blasphemers or those who leave Islam. The police and counter-extremism authorities must take this threat seriously, and people who incite murder against those who they see as offending their religion must face justice.' In one broadcast, Mansuur says of the 32-year-old moderate imam, whom he accuses of making offensive remarks about the Prophet: 'When he repents, he will be put to death in the manner Muslims are killed. If he refuses to repent he will be caught, killed, then thrown in a hole like a dog.' The death threat victim vehemently denies insulting Islam and insists comments he made on social media were doctored. The Metropolitan Police said it had referred his complaint to police in the country in which he is hiding. The target of the 'fatwa' told the Met in a statement that he fears he will suffer the same fate as French teacher Samuel Paty, who was beheaded near his school in Paris in 2020 after hate campaigners accused him of showing a cartoon of the Prophet to students. Hadi Matar was sentence to 25 years in prison on Friday for the attempted murder of Salman Rushdie. Pictured here at Chautauqua County Courthouse for his sentencing in Mayville, New York on May 16, 2025 He said: 'Mr Mansuur…issued a fatwa against me and that my punishment for insulting the Prophet is death…My life is at risk and I fear for my safety.' In other videos, Mansuur defends child marriages, saying girls as young as 11 can be married off by their parents without their consent as long as they are virgins. The death threat follows a disturbing rise in anti-blasphemy incidents in the UK. A Government report last year explained violence was promoted by 'the availability of jihadist propaganda online'. Experts say Islamists are being radicalised and then taking it upon themselves to resurrect the 'crime' of blasphemy in Britain. The report was commissioned by the Government's counter-extremism tsar following flashpoints including the RE teacher forced into hiding after he showed pupils a cartoon of Mohammed at a school in Batley, West Yorkshire. Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini imposed a fatwa on British author Salman Rushdie in 1989 for his novel The Satanic Verses. Mr Rushdie, 77, lived in hiding for almost a decade and was blinded in one eye when he was attacked by an extremist in New York in 2022. His attacker was last week jailed for 25 years. Mansuur broadcasts and posts videos in his native Somali language, which appears to have shielded him from the sort of attention authorities have paid to other firebrand preachers. He first accused the moderate imam – whom we are not naming for his safety – of blasphemy in 2022 when he was preaching on an app called Clubhouse. At the time he had several hundred followers. By the time the video re-surfaced on social media in March it had garnered thousands of views. Mansuur later took part in a live TikTok broadcast with other preachers, and accused the moderate imam of blasphemy. As a photo of the preacher appeared on screen, Mansuur said: 'His sentence is death, even if the person repents, the repentance cannot stop the will be executed for the insult.' The moderate imam complained to local police and was given security advice. He said: 'I was told to avoid mosques and areas with large groups of people. My life is in danger. I am always scared. His followers would take his video as a fatwa.' In his complaint to the Met, he said: 'Mr Mansuur... issued a 'fatwa' against me that my punishment for insulting the Prophet is death. Threats of death, violence, intimidation and harassment against me have increased and intensified in the last month which has left me living in fear, feeling distressed, worried and anxious.' In another live broadcast on TikTok in June 2022, Mansuur says the sharia punishment of death for blasphemy must be carried out on a Somali woman he accused of insulting the Prophet. Other speakers, however, urged restraint as she had repented. The following month, Mansuur issued a video, again on TikTok, against an unidentified man, whom he accused of committing blasphemy. In the shocking video, the caption in Somali reads: 'This filthy man insulted our Beloved [Prophet]. He is an infidel, and his blood is halal.' Mansuur then says: 'Action is required, bravery is required... Each of you should bring forth your capability.' Last night, campaigners accused Mansuur of inciting murder, but he told The Mail on Sunday his speeches had been 'taken out of context,' adding he has never advocated violence. Of his videos on the moderate imam he said: 'I was talking about one who insults the Prophet Mohammed. I was giving the opinion of scholars. I didn't say, go and do this. This is b*******. 'I haven't done anything against the law...I was only telling that we will take him to court. Anyone can take your words and twist it. My words are not against the law.' Asked why he accused others of blasphemy and said their punishment was death, Mansuur said he was just repeating Islamic law. The National Secular Society said: 'We're extremely concerned by the apparent lack of action by authorities on this case. Extremists who promote Islamic penalties for supposed blasphemy pose a serious threat to people's lives.' The NHS trust that runs St Thomas' said: 'We can confirm Mr Mansuur has been removed from duties pending an investigation into allegations about his behaviour.'
RNZ News
16-05-2025
- RNZ News
Assailant who stabbed author Salman Rushdie sentenced to 25 years
This combination of pictures created on 11 February 2025 shows Hadi Matar (left), the man accused in the attempted murder of author Salman Rushdie (right). Photo: Angela Weiss / Tobias Schwarz / AFP The man who stabbed and partially blinded novelist Salman Rushdie onstage at a Western New York arts institute in 2022 was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Friday (local time) for an attack that also wounded a second man, the district attorney said. Rushdie, 77, has faced death threats since the 1988 publication of his novel "The Satanic Verses," which Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Iran's supreme leader, denounced as blasphemous, leading to a call for Rushdie's death, an edict known as a fatwa. Hadi Matar, 27, a US citizen from Fairview, New Jersey, was found guilty of attacking the author in the Chautauqua County Court in Mayville, New York, in February. He faced a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison on the attempted murder charge. This combination of pictures created on 11 February 2025 shows Hadi Matar (left), the man accused in the attempted murder of author Salman Rushdie (right). Photo: Angela Weiss / Tobias Schwarz / AFP Video that captured the assault shows Matar rushing the Chautauqua Institution's stage as Rushdie was being introduced to the audience for a talk about keeping writers safe from harm. Some of the video was shown to the jury during the seven days of testimony. "He's traumatised. He has nightmares about what he experienced," Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said after the sentencing hearing, referring to what Rushdie suffered. "Obviously, this is a major setback for an individual that was starting to emerge in his very later years of life into society after going into hiding after the fatwa." Also hurt in the attack was Henry Reese, co-founder of Pittsburgh's City of Asylum, a nonprofit that helps exiled writers. He was conducting the talk with Rushdie that morning. Schmidt said Matar was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the second-degree attempted murder charge stemming from the attack against Rushdie and seven years for a second-degree assault charge for the stabbing of Reese. The sentences will run concurrently. Rushdie, an atheist born into a Muslim Kashmiri family in India, was stabbed with a knife multiple times in the head, neck, torso and left hand. The attack blinded his right eye and damaged his liver and intestines, requiring emergency surgery and months of recovery. Matar did not testify at his trial. His defence lawyers told jurors that the prosecutors had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt the necessary criminal intent to kill needed for a conviction of attempted murder, and argued that he should have been charged with assault. Matar's attorney Nathaniel Barone said his client will file an appeal. "I know if he had the opportunity, he would not be sitting where he's sitting today. And if he could change things, he would," Barone said. Matar also faces federal charges brought by prosecutors in the US Attorney's office in Western New York, accusing him of attempting to murder Rushdie as an act of terrorism. Prosecutors accuse him of providing material support to Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group, which the US has designated as a terrorist organisation. Matar is due to face those charges at a separate trial in Buffalo. -Reuters
CNA
16-05-2025
- CNA
Assailant who stabbed author Salman Rushdie sentenced to 25 years
The man who stabbed and partially blinded novelist Salman Rushdie onstage at a Western New York arts institute in 2022 was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Friday (May 16) for an attack that also wounded a second man, the district attorney said. Rushdie, 77, has faced death threats since the 1988 publication of his novel "The Satanic Verses," which Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Iran's supreme leader, denounced as blasphemous, leading to a call for Rushdie's death, an edict known as a fatwa. Hadi Matar, 27, a US citizen from Fairview, New Jersey, was found guilty of attacking the author in the Chautauqua County Court in Mayville, New York, in February. He faced a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison on the attempted murder charge. Video that captured the assault shows Matar rushing the Chautauqua Institution's stage as Rushdie was being introduced to the audience for a talk about keeping writers safe from harm. Some of the video was shown to the jury during the seven days of testimony. "He's traumatized. He has nightmares about what he experienced," Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said after the sentencing hearing, referring to what Rushdie suffered. "Obviously this is a major setback for an individual that was starting to emerge in his very later years of life into society after going into hiding after the fatwa." Also hurt in the attack was Henry Reese, co-founder of Pittsburgh's City of Asylum, a nonprofit that helps exiled writers. He was conducting the talk with Rushdie that morning. Schmidt said Matar was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the second degree attempted murder charge stemming from the attack against Rushdie and seven years for a second degree assault charged for the stabbing of Reese. The sentences will run concurrently. Rushdie, an atheist born into a Muslim Kashmiri family in India, was stabbed with a knife multiple times in the head, neck, torso and left hand. The attack blinded his right eye and damaged his liver and intestines, requiring emergency surgery and months of recovery. Matar did not testify at his trial. His defense lawyers told jurors that the prosecutors had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt the necessary criminal intent to kill needed for a conviction of attempted murder, and argued that he should have been charged with assault. Matar's attorney Nathaniel Barone said his client will file an appeal. "I know if he had the opportunity, he would not be sitting where he's sitting today. And if he could change things, he would," Barone said. Matar also faces federal charges brought by prosecutors in the US attorney's office in Western New York, accusing him of attempting to murder Rushdie as an act of terrorism. Prosecutors accuse him of providing material support to Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group, which the US has designated as a terrorist organization. Matar is due to face those charges at a separate trial in Buffalo.
South China Morning Post
16-05-2025
- South China Morning Post
Man who stabbed Salman Rushdie sentenced to 25 years in prison
The man who stabbed and partially blinded novelist Salman Rushdie onstage at a Western New York arts institute in 2022 was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Friday for an attack that also wounded a second man, the district attorney said. Rushdie, 77, has faced death threats since the 1988 publication of his novel The Satanic Verses, which Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Iran's supreme leader, denounced as blasphemous, leading to a call for Rushdie's death, an edict known as a fatwa. Hadi Matar, 27, a US citizen from Fairview, New Jersey, was found guilty of attacking the author in the Chautauqua County Court in Mayville, New York, in February. He faced a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison on the attempted murder charge. Video that captured the assault shows Matar rushing the Chautauqua Institution's stage as Rushdie was being introduced to the audience for a talk about keeping writers safe from harm. Some of the video was shown to the jury during the seven days of testimony. 'He's traumatised. He has nightmares about what he experienced,' Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said after the sentencing hearing, referring to what Rushdie suffered. 'Obviously this is a major setback for an individual that was starting to emerge in his very later years of life into society after going into hiding after the fatwa.'
Reuters
16-05-2025
- Reuters
Assailant who stabbed author Salman Rushdie sentenced to 25 years
May 16 (Reuters) - The man who stabbed and partially blinded novelist Salman Rushdie onstage at a Western New York arts institute in 2022 was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Friday for an attack that also wounded a second man, the district attorney said. Rushdie, 77, has faced death threats since the 1988 publication of his novel "The Satanic Verses," which Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Iran's supreme leader, denounced as blasphemous, leading to a call for Rushdie's death, an edict known as a fatwa. Hadi Matar, 27, a U.S. citizen from Fairview, New Jersey, was found guilty of attacking the author in the Chautauqua County Court in Mayville, New York, in February. He faced a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison on the attempted murder charge. Video that captured the assault shows Matar rushing the Chautauqua Institution's stage as Rushdie was being introduced to the audience for a talk about keeping writers safe from harm. Some of the video was shown to the jury during the seven days of testimony. "He's traumatized. He has nightmares about what he experienced," Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said after the sentencing hearing, referring to what Rushdie suffered. "Obviously this is a major setback for an individual that was starting to emerge in his very later years of life into society after going into hiding after the fatwa." Also hurt in the attack was Henry Reese, co-founder of Pittsburgh's City of Asylum, a nonprofit that helps exiled writers. He was conducting the talk with Rushdie that morning. Schmidt said Matar was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the second degree attempted murder charge stemming from the attack against Rushdie and seven years for a second degree assault charged for the stabbing of Reese. The sentences will run concurrently. Rushdie, an atheist born into a Muslim Kashmiri family in India, was stabbed with a knife multiple times in the head, neck, torso and left hand. The attack blinded his right eye and damaged his liver and intestines, requiring emergency surgery and months of recovery. Matar did not testify at his trial. His defense lawyers told jurors that the prosecutors had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt the necessary criminal intent to kill needed for a conviction of attempted murder, and argued that he should have been charged with assault. Matar's attorney Nathaniel Barone said his client will file an appeal. "I know if he had the opportunity, he would not be sitting where he's sitting today. And if he could change things, he would," Barone said. Matar also faces federal charges brought by prosecutors in the U.S. attorney's office in Western New York, accusing him of attempting to murder Rushdie as an act of terrorism. Prosecutors accuse him of providing material support to Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group, which the U.S. has designated as a terrorist organization. Matar is due to face those charges at a separate trial in Buffalo.
