Reported hijab attack on 11-year-old girl ‘did not happen,’ Toronto police say

From CBC News Toronto and the Globe and Mail

Police previously said they were treating case as a possible hate crime. 

An 11-year-old girl’s report last week that a man tried to cut off her hijab as she walked to school didn’t occur, Toronto police said Monday. “After a detailed investigation, police have determined that the events described in the original news release did not happen,” police said. “The investigation is concluded.”

The girl reported Friday that a man attempted twice to cut off her hijab as she walked to school with her younger brother. Police said last week that the alleged attack was being investigated as a possible hate crime. 

The girl, along with her mother and representatives from the Toronto District School Board, attended a news conference inside her school Friday during which she detailed the alleged attack for media. “This is terrible and I do not like it,” Khawlah Noman, a Grade 6 student at Pauline Johnson Junior Public School, told reporters at a news conference at her school hours after the incident, with her mother and brother by her side. “I felt confused, scared, terrified.”

Khawlah Noman, 11, leaves Pauline Johnson Junior Public School with her mother
Saima Samad (R) and brother Mohammed Zakariyya

The story quickly blew up on social media, drawing responses from John Tory, mayor of Toronto, Premier of Ontario Kathleen Wynne and even the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Police said it was being investigated as a hate crime, and asked businesses or drivers in the area to check their security cameras and dash cams for footage of a man loitering in the area prior to the alleged assault.

Her story captured national attention, and drew public condemnation from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Toronto Mayor John Tory. In a new statement issued Monday afternoon, Tory said “it is good to know” that no attack actually took place.

Amira Elghawaby, a human rights advocate based in Ottawa, said she was saddened to learn that the girl’s story was not true, adding it will likely only serve to embolden “those who do hold discriminatory views of Muslims.”