Hatun Tash, a former Muslim who is now preaching the word of Jesus Christ in London, was recently attacked by an armed man dressed in black in Speakers' Corner, a public debating spot in London's Hyde Park. The 39 year old evangelical woman who was linked to the ministry Defend Christ Critique Islam (DCCI), said that an unidentified man appeached her and repetitively stabbed her in the face and hands.
Despite wearing a face mask and dressed in inconspicuous clothes, the man was believed by Tash to be a Muslim. She was left bleeding and later collapsed. The attack occurred at Hyde Park in London, in a small area where open-air forums and debates often occurred, the Christian Post reported.
On most Sundays, Tash would go to Speakers' Corner and preach about Christ. On the day of her attack, she was wearing a t-shirt featuring Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical magazine at which several people were murdered by Islamic terrorists in 2015 for publishing cartoons of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed, CBN News reported.
"I can't believe this has happened in broad daylight at Speakers' Corner. You do not expect such things to happen in Great Britain," Tash exclaimed, as reported by Christian Today.
"I am upset and disturbed by what has happened to me. I am convinced I have not broken any law or incited hate...It is a shame that this has happened at the home of freedom of speech," she said to Christian Concern.
Tash argued that "police inaction led to what happened" to her at the park. She believes that the London police did not do enough because they thought they might be called out for being islamophobic. She said, "It is heartbreaking that we live in a society where police do not want to arrest a Muslim for fear of being called Islamophobic."
Tash alleged that the man was "not even afraid of the police as he did it right in front of them." While the London police said that they are not treating the attack as a terrorist-related crime, the investigation is already in the hands of the Metropolitan Police Service Counter Terrorism Command, which works with the national police response to counterterrorism intelligence and handles evidence collection for charging those suspected of terrorist-related crimes.
Detective Superintendent Alex Bingley of the Central West Command Unit said that they are in the "early stages" of the investigation and asked anyone who was able to capture mobile phone footage of the stabbing to come forward to offer evidence. The culprit remains at large. Detective Bingley asked people "not to speculate on the motive for the attack until we have established the full facts."
According to Newsweek, London's Christian Legal Centre (CLC), which represents Tash, has already filed a pre-action letter that sought damages on her behalf for "assault, false arrest, false imprisonment and harassment as a result of repeated failures to protect her." Tash had been arrested by police in December 2020 for "breaching coronavirus regulations" and in May 2021 for "breach of the peace" during a heated discussion concerning Muhammad.
