British tourist wearing hijab set on fire in New York

US: A 35-year-old British tourist, Dentist Nemariq Al- Hinai who was on holiday from Glasgow, was attacked on Saturday September 10, just hours before the 9/11 memorial ceremony in New York and set on fire while wearing a Muslim hijab headscarf.

 

Nemariq who was window shopping outside the Valentino fashion store on Fifth Avenue felt burning on her arm report The Sun.

Nemariq turned and found out that her blouse had been set alight and had to nervously put off the flames. Just then she saw a man beside her holding a cigarette lighter.

CCTV footage captured the man wearing a vest and baseball cap walking from the scene swinging his arms. The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is now investigating the incident.

Police say they believe Nemariq could have been targeted because she was a Muslim.


According to a source who spoke to The Sun:

“The victim noticed the sleeve of her blouse was on fire. She observed a man standing next to her with a lighter in his hand. The suspect did not say anything to her, he just swaggered off.

“The victim refused medical treatment. The hole in her clothing was about the size of a quarter coin. No arrests have been made.”

Spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Ibrahim Hooper, urged a full investigation into the incident.

“I would obviously be concerned because it’s symptomatic of the overall rise in Islamophobic sentiment in our society” he said.