The United Kingdom’s top Islamophobic figure says an outrageous attack on a Syrian refugee boy in a school in northern England was right because he had earlier assaulted a white girl.
Robinson claimed in a Facebook post on Thursday that Jamal, the 15-year-old Syrian boy who had been bullied in Almondbury Community School in Huddersfield, had suffered the assault because he had earlier attacked a white girl in the school.
Robinson said he had received a message from a mother claiming that her daughter was subject to an attack by Jamal.
However, others commenting on his posts on Facebook insisted the girl's mother has denied the boy was involved. The users also shared images of messages in which the girl's mother denied the Syrian boy was involved in the attack, saying Robinson had misunderstood the messages.
Many believe Robinson, a convict under various charges in UK courts, has influenced the attack on Jamal as he has done in many other hate crimes. The 36-year-old founder of the English Defense League recently escaped a prison sentence as judges decided to refer his case for contempt of court charges to UK attorney general. He is the number-one campaigner against Muslims and refugees in Britain and has staged several major demonstrations against Islam involving far-right in large British cities.
The boy who attacked Jamal has previously shared Robinson’s Facebook posts. A video of the attack, which reportedly took place in October, was circulating on the social media on Tuesday, showing the attacker pushing Jamal, already having one arm in cast, to the ground and forcing a bottle of water into his mouth.
Jamal, from a family of six who has fled war-torn Syrian city of Homs, later told the ITV that he had suffered numerous abuses in the school and felt unsafe going to the same school after the attack last month.
“I woke up at night and just started crying about this problem. They think I'm different - different from them,” said Jamal, adding “I don't feel safe at school. Sometimes I say to my dad, 'I don't want to go to school anymore'. I was just crying and I didn't do nothing because I respect the school rules.”
An online campaign to help Jamal’s family has drawn huge attention with reports saying that people have contributed more than £100,000 to help the family.
A video also emerged on Wednesday showing that Jamal’s 14-year-old sister had been attacked a day earlier in the same school in Huddersfield only because he was wearing hijab.