Justice for Zainab Hussein Campaign
Categories: Past Event Articles
Wednesday April 25 2018
MEND Leicester working group saw through one of our long term projects with the conviction of Paul Moore, for the attempted murder of Zainab Hussein and the attempted GBH of a 12 year old Somali girl.
The working group has, along with the wonderful brothers and sisters of Beaumont Leys Muslims (BLM), supported the family of Zainab Hussein with regular visits, since last September. From early on we spoke to the police and persuaded them to state that they should be dealing with this as a hate crime.
MEND Leicester also organised two community reassurance meetings with Leicestershire constabulary’s head of hate crime, in the local area.
Our pre-trial press release ensured the presence of local and national press at the trial, including the BBC, ITV, Leicester Mercury, the Press association, amongst others.
MEND staff were at the trial for the duration, accompanying Zainab’s husband Barre Duale.
Our Midlands regional manager was interviewed by both BBC TV and ITV and Mend were mentioned in articles in more than ten publications, including the Guardian, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph and Leicester Mercury. The Mend Leicester chair was interviewed on local radio, BBC TV and ITV where he linked this with other Islamophobic hate crimes, calling for legislation to reduce Islamophobia.
Our joint event, on the eve of the trial with BLM, was attended by eight City councillors, Nick Woodrow, Leicester Police’s head of hate crime and two hundred members of the Beaumont Leys Community. Following the event Councillor Sue Waddington circulated a statement against Islamophobia, which is being signed by Leicester City Councillors. The evening event was broadcast on both BBC and ITV news.