Guilty plea over Asad Shah murder
● Travelled from Bradford to ‘punish disrespect for Islam’ court hears
A 32-year-old man has admitted murdering a Glasgow shopkeeper in a religiously motivated attack.
Tanveer Ahmed, from Bradford in Yorkshire, attacked Asad Shah outside his store in the Shawlands area on 24 March. Mr Shah later died in hospital.
Mr Shah was an Ahmadiyya Muslim, a group known for its peaceful interfaith beliefs.
However, Ahmed said he had “disrespected” Islam.
A Muslim taxi driver has admitted murdering a shopkeeper who claimed to be a prophet in messages he posted on social media.
Tanveer Ahmed, 32, travelled from Yorkshire to Glasgow and confronted Asad Shah at his store counter before pulling out a knife and stabbing the 40-year-old.
Ahmed, who did not know the shopkeeper, claimed to have been offended by clips Mr Shah posted online which the Bradford father-of-three said “disrespected the Prophet Muhammad”.
Popular businessman Mr Shah, described as a “pillar of the community”, suffered multiple wounds in the attack at his store in the Shawlands area of the city on 24 March.
CCTV footage of the murder was shown to Lady Rae at the High Court in Glasgow, who condemned the “despicable” crime.
The judge told Ahmed: “There’s no justification whatsoever for what you did.’’
The court heard he watched an interview with Mr Shah on his mobile phone as he travelled to Glasgow and was heard in a phone message to say “listen to this guy, something needs to be done, it needs nipped in the bud”.
When he arrived at the shop, Ahmed said he warned the shopkeeper he was there to kill him and asked him to stop claiming to be a prophet.
Mr Shah’s brother, who is a personal trainer, and a shop assistant tried to fend Ahmed off as he launched his attack.
The killer said afterwards: “If I had not done this others would have and there would be more killings and violence in the world.”
Members of Mr Shah’s fam- ily, who moved from Pakistan to Scotland in the 1990s to escape persecution, did not attend the court hearing due to fears for their personal safety.
They belong to the Ahmadi sect of Islam whose beliefs differ from the majority of Muslims, prosecutors said. The court heard their belief that Prophet Muhammad was not the final prophet was a view many consider blasphemous.
Ahmed will return to court for sentencing on 9 August.
Tucked among the vast number of floral tributes left outside Asad Shah’s shop was a note that read “This is not who we are.”
The brutal murder of the popular Glasgow shopkeeper on 24 March, motivated by his religious beliefs, stunned his community and sent waves rippling outwards well beyond those who knew him.
The 40-year-old, who was an Ahmadiyya Muslim, had posted hundreds of videos online about his religious beliefs, including a poignant Facebook message wishing people Happy Easter just days before he was stabbed by Bradford cab driver Tanveer Ahmed.
Ahmed was shown Mr Shah’s Facebook page by a friend in Glasgow and became incensed by the views he shared there.
After watching Mr Shah’s videos, Ahmed decided to return to Glasgow to commit the attack.
Lady Rae, sentencing the attacker yesterday, said this was “a truly despicable crime”, that was motivated “by your sense of offence at a man’s expression of his religious beliefs, which differ from yours”.
In the immediate aftermath of the crime, many people came together to reject the hate-filled sentiments of his attacker and to demonstrate that those views did not represent the people of Glasgow and beyond.
Despite this, Mr Shah’s family have decided they can no longer lead normal lives in Scotland and intend to leave.
It is heartbreaking that his wife, parents and six siblings felt that they cannot remain safely within a country that was supposed to provide them with a safe haven from the persecution they had repeatedly suffered in their native Pakistan.
The words on that note, and many others, must be kept in mind as the soul searching begins over what can be done to prevent this sort of atrocity happening again.
The concern is people will feel they are less able to voice their opinions, whether online or in their daily life, which can only serve to further polarise the narrative by stripping the conversation of more sensible views.
There is certainly a place for community action but it is important to consider how individual action can also serve to combat extremism and hatred of all forms.
As the nation prepares for an anxious summer, with tensions simmering in the background over Europe and conflicting views of nationalism, this is a moment to take stock on how to stop hatred from taking root.
This is not just about the complexities of Islam but the freedoms of speech and belief that British society holds so dear.
Finding a way to become more inclusive and respectful of other people’s views is the only way to navigate these choppy waters.
The answer has to be that each and every single one of us tries to be more tolerant of others’ views, more interested and engaged in narratives and worlds that are not our own.
As a society and as individuals we must try to promote this tolerance, putting aside our prejudices to build a better society.