A woman has spoken of how having a vile ‘Punish a Muslim Day’ letter posted through her door inspired her to show her caring Geordie spirit.
Born and bred in Newcastle, Irem Haq says over the past few years she has grown used to having anti-Muslim abuse hurled at her in the street.
But her determination to prove the racists wrong reached new heights in March when ‘Punish a Muslim day’ letters were distributed to homes throughout the UK.
Counter-terrorism police are currently investigating the letters, which urged people to carry out acid attacks against Muslims and bomb mosques, even publishing a point-scoring system of punishments.
But Irem, 47, decided to take the opportunity to continue her work showing that Muslims “aren’t what the media say they are”.
On Friday Irem will be holding her fourth annual ‘feed the homeless’ Ramadan event at Newcastle Civic Centre, run by Muslim volunteers with donated food from Asian shops in the West End.
“I started it in the wake of a terrorist attack when there just seemed to be a lot of negativity towards Muslims,” she said.
“Last year we had around 150 homeless people and 25 Muslim volunteers who were fasting, who all gathered to eat together.
“We just want to show that it’s a very small minority of Muslims that do these horrible things in the name of the religion.
“That’s not our religion, our religion is about helping people and being charitable.”
Irem, who works as a communications officer for Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, was inspired to promote the event even further after letters and posts on social media promising that April 3 would be ‘Punish a Muslim Day’.
“It was not very nice - someone put a letter through and it was all over Facebook.
“They were giving out points, like a competition, and it does make you worry walking down the street.
“I haven’t experienced any physical abuse but verbal abuse is very regular these days, and even if it’s not face-to-face it’s constant on social media.
“Sometimes I think if I don’t do anything it’s just going to carry on.”
But Irem added that the purpose of Friday’s event was to highlight the true Geordie spirit.
“The majority of Geordies are not racist,” she said.
“I love Newcastle - I’ve moved away so many times and I keep coming back because it’s home.”
