A Racist Killed My Father and Islamophobia Has Worsened Since

Thirteen years ago this month, Birmingham grandfather Haji Mohammed Saleem was stabbed to death while walking home from Green Lane Mosque in Small Heath. His killer was Pavlo Lapshyn, a white supremacist from Ukraine who had arrived in the UK only days earlier with a clear mission: to kill Muslims.

This heinous act was not merely racism—it was an act of Islamophobic terrorism.

Mr. Saleem’s murderer died in jail last year. Yet, the threat of right-wing extremism remains very much alive, spreading in ways that leave his grieving family deeply disturbed and anxious.

In an open letter to BirminghamLive, Maz Saleem, the daughter of Haji Mohammed Saleem, voiced her frustration over how extremist and hateful rhetoric has become increasingly mainstream. She calls for urgent action against the rising Islamophobia that continues to poison communities nationwide. Here are her words:

I forgave the man who murdered my father. But Britain still hasn’t confronted the truth behind his killing.

My father was not just the victim of “racism.” He fell prey to an Islamophobic terrorist attack. This distinction is crucial.

Pavlo Lapshyn wasn’t acting in isolation. He was part of a wider campaign of terror aimed at Muslim communities—planting bombs outside mosques and spreading fear through targeted violence. This was terrorism.

Yet, more than a decade later, the truth is often softened or ignored. Meanwhile, Islamophobia is surging.

Today, Muslim women face harassment on the streets. Sikh women are attacked. Bangladeshis and other minority communities endure increasing public abuse. This is no accident.

It stems from a political and social climate growing more hostile, more divided, and more dangerous.

When figures like Nigel Farage gain prominence, it signals that some groups are acceptable targets. These dangerous messages don’t stay confined to politics—they manifest in everyday violence and discrimination.

I speak from personal experience. I was attacked on the London Underground for wearing a keffiyah by someone motivated by hate. Instead of protection, I faced a justice system that failed me.

This is a reality many endure daily.

Why did I forgive my father’s killer? Because I refuse to let hatred define me. Forgiveness was not weakness—it was resistance.

However, forgiveness doesn’t mean silence. It certainly does not excuse ignoring today’s realities.

The rise of Islamophobia, normalization of hate, and deepening divisions are exactly what my father’s murder foreshadowed—and we failed to heed the warning.

Let me be clear: I oppose all forms of hatred. I stand firmly against anti-Semitism and support Judaism, but I do not support Zionism or any form of oppression.

We cannot fight hatred selectively. Justice must protect everyone—or it protects no one.

Globally, divisions deepen—from Palestine to Iran to Syria—pushing people into opposing camps.

But division is not the answer. Unity is.

My father’s death should have been a turning point. Instead, it became a tragedy we moved past too quickly. The consequences are now visible.

Ignoring Islamophobic terrorism, downplaying racism, and allowing political narratives to divide us means failing victims and enabling history to repeat itself.

I forgave my father’s killer. But I will not stay silent while the conditions that led to his murder persist.

Pavlo Lapshyn was a Ukrainian neo-Nazi terrorist and a highly-educated engineering student with a history of far-right extremism. He secured a temporary work placement at a software company in Small Heath after winning a science competition. Within days of arriving in the UK, on April 29, he stabbed Mr. Saleem, a 73-year-old grandfather using a walking stick due to poor health, as he returned from evening prayers.

The murder was described as a random but brutally opportunistic act of racial hatred.

Thousands attended Mr. Saleem’s funeral at Green Lane Mosque, mourning the loss and condemning the violence.

Lapshyn evaded capture for three months, during which he planted three homemade bombs near mosques in Wolverhampton, Walsall, and Tipton—pipe bombs filled with nails, screws, and explosives intended to cause mass casualties. Fortunately, timing errors prevented greater harm.

His goal was to incite racial conflict between white supremacists and Muslim communities. Using his engineering skills, he built these devices alone.

West Midlands Police later connected the bombings and murder through CCTV and forensic evidence.

Lapshyn died in prison last year, aged 37. In a statement at the time, Maz Saleem expressed forgiveness for his crime:

“As a matter of respect—to my father’s memory, to justice, and to humanity—I have chosen to forgive Lapshyn after many years.

“This is not to excuse his actions, which were gravely wrong and caused immense pain. But holding onto hatred serves no one. He was someone’s son, with elderly parents in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine. My thoughts are with his family in this difficult time.”