Iaslamophobia in Australia: Muslim couple racially abused on a train by an elderly woman

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The Muslim couple who were abused by a middle-aged woman on a Sydney train said they intend to press charges over the verbal attack.

Hafeez Bhatti, 33, and his wife, Khalida, are a 'hardworking, honest and kind' parents of a little baby boy who moved from Pakistan several years ago seeking a better life in Australia.

The couple were in Sydney for just a day when they were abused by an unknown woman on an Airport Line train on Wednesday afternoon. Stacey Eden, 23, overheard the ranter insulting the Muslim couple as 'ISIS terrorists' and was recorded on video standing up for the couple.

The abusive woman has not been identified despite the video of the attack going viral.  
NSW police sources told Daily Mail Australia a formal investigation is 'definitely' under way into Wednesday's incident.

Mr Bhatti said he will be preparing a statement for Queensland police so charges can be pressed as soon as the woman is identified.

'She touched my wife's head, that is one issue that I will raise,' he said during a 7:30 Report interview.

'Then she was verbally abusing my wife.

'That's what I will ask, police to charge her once she will be identified.'

The ABC reported that the couple were still quite shaken up by the incident and have been extra cautious when they leave the house.

'We take very special care, especially when we have to go out,' he said.

'I always look around that if somebody is noticing us.

'I should be very careful that no-one comes close to us or tries to hit us.'

While Mr Bhatti would like to put the negative experience behind him he said he has received several threats online.

One comment from a Facebook profile called 'Christian Soldiers' read: ' I am a Christian I met you, I would have killed you a terrorist. F*****g Islamic Propaganda'.

Mr Bhatti said he wouln't 'engage' in a conversation like that, instead deciding to show the comment to police.

He said he has also faced criticism for not standing up for his wife, despite English not being his first language.

'People are saying I'm not a brave man for not standing up for my wife,' he said.

'In my local language, people are calling me a coward person.

'I came to Australia but I don't know how to speak English, if I could have speak up.'

Mr Bhatti said he didn't want to misrepresent his religion by reacting angrily to the abusive commuter.

'That was my respect for that old lady that I wasn't engaging aggressively and with bad language,' he said.

'I tried to educate her and at the same time I was calm.'  

Friends of the Islamic couple painted a picture of them as 'committed' members of the community in Brisbane.

The family regularly attend the Holland Park mosque, community spokesman Ali Kadri said, and they are raising a newborn baby son, Mohammad, in the country which they are grateful to call home.  

Now, in an extraordinary act of gratitude, the Brisbane couple's mosque in Holland Park has offered Ms Eden and her partner an all-expenses-paid trip to visit the Gold Coast for a night and to see their mosque.   

Ms Eden, a blood collector for a pathology company who was born and bred in Sydney's eastern suburbs, said she was planning to consider the 'lovely' offer after the overwhelming wave of international media attention passes.

Mr Bhatti told Daily Mail Australia he was shocked by the ugly incident, which occurred on the Airport Line train around 1:40pm on Wednesday.

'She asked my wife why she was wearing a scarf when it was hot outside - when my wife answered her I thought the woman was asking to be friendly,' Mr Bhatti said.

'Then she started saying Muslims like us are trying to conquer Australia and behead everyone here. We were absolutely shocked.

'It was just very disappointing.'  

'She said all Muslims should be kicked out of Australia - I tried to calm things down by telling her we love everyone,' Mr Bhatti said.

'This sort of thing has happened before, but you try to ignore it and the ignorant people behind it; there are lots of very good people in Australian and only a few bad ones,' he said.

'God bless Stacey Eden who supported us.'

Mr Bhatti reached out to Ms Eden on his Facebook page after the story emerged.

'Stacey thanks again for your support for us on that day...I generally believe that you and many other Australian do respect all religions,' Mr Bhatti posted.  

In her recording of the incident, Ms Eden is heard fuming:  'She wears it (her hijab) for herself, OK!'
'She wears it because she wants to be modest with her body, not because of people like you who are going to sit there and disrespect her.'  

Ms Eden said she became really upset after the woman allegedly branded 'all Muslims ISIS supporters' and insulted the woman's husband and headscarf.

Ms Eden was not having a bar of it. 'That is not her doing it. That is a minority of people. Not a majority of people OK?

'It doesn't matter what they're doing... Have some respect, have some respect,' she said, as the woman continued on her tirade.

'It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. What's that got to do with this poor lady? What's that got to do with her?'

/129