Bijan Ebrahimi: An innocent man thrown to the mob- Bijan Ebrahimi was beaten unconscious, dragged from his home and his body set alight. How could this happen on a British street?
In pale autumn sunshine, two small children on scooters rattle along uneven paving stones past the house where Bijan Ebrahimi once lived. The planters full of blooms and the hanging baskets that he tended lovingly are long gone. The front window that he had peered out of in terror as locals stood baying for his blood is now covered by a screen of corrugated steel.This bleak courtyard in inner city Bristol, surrounded by a block of council maisonettes and with an old trampoline rotting in the middle, was where, in the early hours of July 14, an innocent man became the victim of mob rule. In an act of savagery almost unthinkable in modern Britain, he was attacked in his home, beaten unconscious and then dragged out to a nearby front garden, his body doused in white spirit and set alight.
This week, the shocking details of the crime have begun to emerge after Lee James and Stephen Norley, both 24, who lived near Mr Ebrahimi, admitted their part in the attack at Bristol Crown Court. James has pleaded guilty to murder while Norley has denied murder but admitted assisting his co-accused.
What happened to Bijan (or 'Ben', as he was called) was unbelievably horrific. I don't believe in capital punishment but the scum that murdered Ben should bloody well hang.
That evil excuse for a 'community' is not isolated in its attitude to the most vulnerable members of society. There have been numerous cases like this that have taken place on English housing estates over the years. It shames us as a country.
02 Nov 2013, 11:49 am
