Attack on community leader sparks outrage among Australian Muslims
Diana Abdel-Rahman assaulted in heart of capital while returning from peaceful Palm Sunday rally in support of refugee rights and Palestinian solidarity
CANBERRA, Australia (MNTV) – The Muslim community is reeling after a violent and racially motivated assault in the heart of Canberra on respected multicultural advocate and community leader, Diana Abdel-Rahman OAM, reports the Australian Muslim Times.
The attack has been widely condemned by community groups and advocacy organisations as yet another alarming sign of rising Islamophobia and hate-fueled violence, especially against Muslim women.
Ms Abdel-Rahman, President of Australian Muslim Voice and an Executive Committee member of both, the Canberra Islamic Centre (CIC) and Canberra Multicultural Community Forum (CMCF), was returning from a peaceful Palm Sunday rally in support of refugee rights and Palestinian solidarity when she was allegedly attacked.
According to reports, she was walking through the Canberra city bus interchange with a friend, holding a flagpole displaying Palestinian and Lebanese flags, and eating ice cream, when an unknown man violently struck her from behind.
He reportedly hit her in the head and body, forcibly ripped the flagpole from her hands, and threw it to the ground before fleeing the scene leaving the victim injured and shaken.
In a telephone interview with AMUST, Ms Abdel-Rahman recounted the incident, saying that although she did not get long term physical injuries, she was shaken to the core emotionally that this could happen to her in the capital of Australia.
“It was an unprovoked senseless attack, simply for holding a pole with both the Palestinian and Lebanese flags. I have provided the police a statement and they will look into the CCTV footage and hopefully be able to identify the assailant and prosecute him,” she said.
On a positive note, she expressed her feeling of great support from many diverse Australians of all backgrounds and faiths who overwhelmed her with emails, phone calls and statements of support from far and wide within Canberra and beyond.
The Islamophobia Register, which has documented a 568% increase in Islamophobic incidents since October 2023, strongly condemned the assault, calling it a “calculated” and “targeted” attack on a visibly Muslim woman expressing peaceful solidarity.
“This was not a random act,” said Dr Nora Amath, Executive Director of the Register.
“It appears to be a calculated assault — an attempt to intimidate and silence a Muslim woman who was visibly expressing solidarity with the Palestinian and Lebanese communities.”
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