AUCKLAND (Middle East Eye) – Thousands have signed a petition seeking justice for a Muslim student in New Zealand who had her hijab ripped off in a hate crime.
Hoda al-Jamaa, 17, suffered a concussion last Wednesday when her hijab was removed by three girls at the Otago Girls’ High School in Dunedin.
“Two of the girls held me and one hit me and after I fell on the ground, she ... was still hitting my face and my body. I was waiting for the teacher to help me,” Jamaa told local publisher RNZ.
She said the girls took off her hijab and filmed her, and that the video had now been shared with boys and girls in the school. She added that the perpetrators attempted to do the same to two of her friends.
“My hijab... is my culture and my religion. My hijab is everything for me and I love my hijab and those other girls love their hijabs.”
Jamaa also noted that the incident was not the first violent attack she had experienced and that she frequently had the fingers pulled at her and called a terrorist by fellow students.
According to the report, the school released a lengthy statement saying it had “no tolerance for unkind comments, racism, bullying or any other form of discrimination.” It did not, however, explain how the teacher cited in Jamaa’s comments did not interfere to prevent the violent assault and filming of the incident, as well as sharing it with others.
“This altercation has caused significant disquiet and distress for the girls, their families, and the wider Muslim community,” police were further quoted as saying in local press reports.
“Violence or threatening behavior including any involving hate, hostility, or prejudice regarding race, faith, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or age is not acceptable,” police authorities also claimed as they commonly do following similar hate crimes.
The hate crime came nearly two years after the March 15, 2019 massacre of Muslim worshippers at two mosques in the city of Christchurch in New Zealand, when an Australian gunman opened fire on worshippers at al-Noor Mosque and the Linwood Islamic Center while broadcasting live on Facebook.
The latest anti-Muslim incident in New Zealand – a British Commonwealth nation – has also sparked local and international media attention, with a petition calling for justice in case, which has so far received nearly 60,000 signatures in two days.
Several social media users shared the hashtag #JusticeforHoda to highlight the hate crime and censure persisting Islamophobia in the country.