There're urgent calls to add hate crimes to the New Zealand Crimes Act after a racial attack on a Kiwi Muslim, whose brother was killed in the Christchurch mosques attack, has gone viral.
Aya Al-Umari and her mother were shopping at the Farmers store in Rangiora when they say they were targeted by another shopper.
“Me and my mum were speaking in Arabic,” Al-Umari told 1 NEWS.
“It was at that moment when she said, ‘Oh, it's OK, it won’t be long until they leave our country.'"
That last comment prompted Al-Umari to start filming the woman, leading to a confrontation.
“I had to analyse in my head, ‘OK, if I shrug it off, chances are she's going to do this to someone else and she needs to be stopped,'” she said.
After the recordings started, she was told, “Going home overseas would be a good idea,” by the woman before a store employee finally intervened.
Anjum Rahman from the Islamic Women’s Council of NZ told 1 NEWS enough is enough.
“Incidents like this continue to happen and this one just happened to be filmed,” Rahman said.
“I'm sure there are many such incidents happening all the time where people haven't whipped out their phone and recorded what's happening.
“This incident shows why hate crime needs to be added to the Crimes Act and it's a long time coming. It should have been done before now but it is urgent.
“This is one of those simple and easy pieces of legislation. The work has been done — there's no reason to delay it. They can go ahead and pass this early in the new year.”
Rahman was referencing the release of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch mosque attacks, which recommends improvements of police management of hate crime complaints and laws against hate crime be introduced.
Al-Umari’s brother, Hussein Al-Umari, was one of those killed in the terrorist attack and says the issue needs to be addressed.
“Hate can brew into something a lot bigger, like we saw in March 15 last year where I lost my brother,” she said.
Al-Umari added she was grateful for the messages of support she's received since posting the video and for the staff who dealt with the situation.
She plans to report this incident to police and hopes by telling her story attitudes will change.
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