Stabbed surgeon aided Arena victims
TERRORISM: A Muslim surgeon who treated Manchester Arena victims said he has forgiven a man who stabbed him in the neck in a hate crime attack. Consultant Nasser Kurdy was stabbed as he walked into Altrincham Islamic Centre.
A MUSLIM surgeon who treated Manchester Arena victims said he has forgiven a man who stabbed him in the neck outside a mosque in a hate crime attack.
Consultant Nasser Kurdy, who operated on those injured in the outrage in May, was stabbed from behind with a knife as he walked into Altrincham Islamic Centre in Hale, Cheshire just before 6pm on Sunday.
The 58-year-old victim suffered a 3cm wound to the back of his neck and was taken to Wythenshawe Hospital for treatment, where he works as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon, and where he treated some of the Arena bomb casualties in May.
Yesterday the father of three, from a Syrian Jordanian family, was preparing to go back to work to treat his patients as the police investigation continued.
He said: “God was merciful to me yesterday. It could be a nerve, an artery, a vein, the gullet. The neck is the contact between the body and your head, but fortunately it was just the muscle. As I entered the grounds of the premises, I felt that pain and the blow to my neck.
“I turned around and saw this gentleman in a threatening pose. I did feel threatened, I did feel vulnerable.”
He rushed inside and, fearing the attacker may follow, grabbed a chair and dashed outside, but his attacker had fled. Police later made two arrests and said they were treating the incident as a hate crime.
Mr Kurdy has worked as a doctor for four decades, after coming to Britain to study medicine in 1977 and working in Perth, Dundee and Northampton before settling in Manchester in 1991.
He was going to the Islamic Centre for mid-afternoon prayers and a committee meeting, as he is a lay imam, sometimes giving sermons, and vice chairman of Altrincham and Hale Muslim Association. Mr Kurdy said, ahead of giving a police statement, that he could not say what his attacker said to him, but was in “no doubt” he was attacked because he was entering the Islamic Centre.
But he added he feels no anger towards his attacker.
He said: “He is not representative of what this country stands for. I have absolutely no anger or hate or anything negative towards him. I have declared it, I have totally forgiven him.”
But Mr Kurdy said he felt hate crimes against Muslims were escalating on the back of terror incidents including the Arena bombing and the Parsons Green tube attack.
“The climate is very threatening, very worrying,” he said.
“People need to know there are Muslims like myself.
“I’ve worked hard, I’m a surgeon, I treat people. I have a wonderful community. My colleagues at work respect me and value my contribution.
Mr Kurdy said Muslims at the Islamic Centre were now frightened and security will be reviewed.
The centre has suffered a brick through its windows, graffiti and a rubbish bin set alight in the past.
Greater Manchester Police said two men, aged 32 and 54, were arrested within an hour of the attack. The force is treating the matter as a hate crime but not terrorism related.
Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson said: “This is a very nasty and unprovoked attack against a much-loved local man.”
Dr Khalid Anis, for the Altrincham & Hale Muslim Association, said: “It could have been very, very serious.”
The minister for countering extremism, Baroness Williams of Trafford, a borough which neighbours Hale, said: “There is no place for hatred in our society.”
He is not representative of what this country stands for. Consultant Nasser Kurdy who was knifed in the neck outside a mosque.