Muslim taxi driver racially abused
A Palmerston North Muslim man doesn’t feel safe on the city’s streets after being abused and called a terrorist.
Saad Hishma, a 56-year-old taxi driver, was taking a prayer break on Sunday morning in a car park on the corner of Albert and Church streets when a man approached his taxi van.
Hishma noticed the man in his wing mirror sneaking along the side of the vehicle, so he locked the doors.
He said the man was a solidly built Mâori in his 40s. He asked Hishma through the open window why he was parked there.
‘‘When he asked me that I thought maybe he was drunk or under the influence of drugs. It’s a strange question.
‘‘Then he saw my prayer beads and said: ‘What are you doing?’... He said: ‘This is not your land it’s our land. You need to leave this country. It’s our country. You are a terrorist’.’’
Hishma believed the man wanted him to get out of the car and fight, but Hishma reversed on to the street, called the police and waited for their arrival. Officers soon arrived and arrested the man.
He said the incident might have affected him more following the mosque shooting in Christchurch on Friday.
‘‘It’s really shaken me. I’m very scared. Imagine if I was doing a night shift. I don’t know what he has in his pocket – a gun, a knife – I don’t know.’’
He said until now he hadn’t experienced racist attitudes or abuse in New Zealand.
Hishma is off work while he recovers and was too scared to go back. He said his boss at Taxis Gold and Black told him to take his time.
Hishma is from Baghdad, Iraq. But he and his wife Ayser, two children and two grandchildren are New Zealand citizens and call themselves Kiwis.
The family came to New Zealand in 2009, living in Auckland for seven years, before moving to Palmerston North.
‘‘I always thought that I’m lucky to live in New Zealand. It’s a beautiful country, friendly people, safe and secure.
‘‘All the people here are equals. There’s no difference if you’re Muslim or Jewish or Christian, you’re all equals.’’
The family believed they had arrived in paradise, he said.
This wasn’t his first brush with crime. He was working at a Palmerston North dairy, the Trenton Minimart, when it was robbed at knifepoint two years ago and he said both events scared him.
Hishma was in the Iraq army for 25 years and was a general.
‘‘I have the skills to defend myself in this moment [of racial abuse]. But I’m not in Iraq. I’m in New Zealand and I’ve got to follow the rules.’’
Police have been approached for comment.