Muslim women in hijab more likely to be attacked in UK

<g data-gr-id="20">Muslim women,</g> especially those wearing ‘hijabs’ or headscarves, were far more likely to fall victim to hate crimes amid <g data-gr-id="12">alarming</g> rise in Islamophobic attacks, according to monitoring groups.

“We realised that at a street-level Muslim women who were visible, and wore the Hijab or the headscarf, were suffering more targeted abuse,” said Fiyaz Mughal, director of UK-based Tell 

Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks (MAMA), that monitors Islamophobic attacks. “We also realised quite early on that women who wear Niqab, the face veil, suffered more aggressive incidents –there was something about the face veil that in a way brought out the worst in the perpetrator,” he added.

Attacks on Muslim women may range from verbal abuse to violent assaults, including assailants tearing off ‘niqabs’ or veils, or threatening to burn them with lighter fluid. As many as 60 <g data-gr-id="13">per cent</g> of Islamophobia victims were women, the organisation claimed.

The news comes after a shocking video surfaced of an unprovoked violent attack on a hijab-wearing UK teenager, in which the victim was seen being punched in broad daylight while walking down 

the street.