A Muslim man in England won’t immediately report to prison even after he pleaded guilty to what a judge called “an outrageous public display of misogyny.”
Muhammed Hassan, 26, of Bradford, England, attacked three women he knew in broad daylight at a gas station because he disapproved of their makeup and clothes, local news outlet the Telegraph & Argus reported.
Prosecutor Ayman Khokhar said in court that the women had stopped to fill up their car at the gas station before going to dinner on May 25. That’s when Hassan approached the vehicle, grabbed the driver, and slammed her head on the dashboard. He then grabbed another woman by the hair and punched her in the head before also punching the third woman.
For this, Hassan was sentenced to six months in prison suspended for two years, meaning he won’t go to prison unless he violates a condition of his sentence. He must attend 35 rehabilitation activity requirement days “to address the underlying things that led to this otherwise inexplicable violence” and carry out 180 hours of community service while wearing an electronic tag to monitor his movements for the next four months. He must also pay a £500 fine.
“Whatever the motivation was for this it’s still utterly inadequate to justify the violence that you perpetrated against [the victims] when they were sitting in a car effectively cowering from you,” Judge Colin Burn said in court, according to the Argus. “The three people on the receiving end of your violence were women who were in a vulnerable situation.”
“[This was] an extremely abusive, controlling, and violent incident,” the judge added.
One of the women testified that Hassan had pulled up beside them at the gas station and began “refueling his car slowly on purpose.” The women said they decided to wait until he left because he had previously called them “slags” and “prostitutes” for not wearing traditional clothing and makeup. He had also previously demanded they dress conservatively.
Hassan still managed to gain access to them in their vehicle and beat them in a 51-second attack captured on CCTV. After the brutal attack, he drove away while the women called the police.
When interviewed by police, Hassan reportedly remained silent but later pleaded guilty to an affray charge, which is a disorderly conduct offense usually involving two or more people fighting in a public area.
Khokhar, the prosecutor, said in court that Hassan’s attack was motivated by misogyny.
“In broad daylight he has attacked three females at a petrol station,” she said, according to the Argus. “The offense appears to be motivated by sexist attitudes towards women.”
Fuad Arshad, representing Hassan, claimed his client’s behavior was “very much out of character” and said he was “very regretful.” Arshad also claimed that Hassan had believed the women had “played some role in how a marriage ended” but insisted his client knew that what he had done was “unjustified.”
The decision to keep Hassan out of jail comes barely a week after United Kingdom Home Secretary Yvette Cooper called misogyny an extremist ideology and vowed to crack down on it.
Cooper vowed to crack down on those “pushing harmful and hateful beliefs,” including extreme misogyny, in an attempt to fight extremism, The Guardian reported.
The Home Office commissioned a review that will inform a new government strategy to combat “the rise of Islamist and far-right extremism.”
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