SUSPECT SOUGHT AFTER IRAN PROTEST RELATED HATE GRAFFITI PAINTED ON TORONTO MOSQUE

Fri 21 October 2022:

The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) said on Thursday that vandalism at a mosque in the Toronto area reflects a “frightening escalation of Islamophobia” brought on by unfounded claims that the mosque is an agent for the Iranian government, Anadolu Agency reported.

The vandalism last week at the Imam Mahdi Islamic Centre in Thornhill took the form of hate-motivated graffiti written in Farsi. The mosque has also received bomb threats and worshippers have been threatened, according to the NCCM.

Islamophobia is a challenge for all those with goodwill to unite against.

Thank you to @frankscarpitti for standing up unequivocally against the string of Islamophobia attacks against Thornhill’s Imam Mahdi Islamic Centre in recent days. pic.twitter.com/Fkmif5SEFo

— NCCM (@nccm) October 20, 2022

But it is just one of the hundreds of examples of anti-Muslim incidents across Canada sparked by anti-government demonstrations in Iran after a woman was arrested for allegedly violating the country’s dress code and died in police custody, said the Muslim group.

“The Muslim community in Canada has been victim to over 1,000 Islamophobic messages on Twitter alone in just these past few days,” NCCM wrote Thursday on Facebook. “These include death threats, threats of violence, and consistent harassment. Enough is enough. This must stop.”

The group held a news conference Thursday to “address recent Islamophobic vandalism and threats directed at the community” and to demand that officials help curb the hate that is wrongly directed toward Canadian Muslims because of ongoing protests in Iran.

“Once again, the Islamic community is being pushed into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons,” said Nadia Hasan, Chief Operating Officer at NCCM.

Police learned a male suspect spray painted three areas the night before at around 11:45 p.m. with derogatory language that was written in Farsi and aimed towards the Iranian government.

The crime is being treated as a hate-motivated incident.

The suspect, who left the property afterwards, is described as about 5-foot-10 with a thin to medium build and was wearing a short jacket, baseball cap, jeans and light-coloured shoes. His face was covered with possibly a bandana.

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