Sabina Nessa’s sister says outcry would have been greater if she were white

Jebina Yasmin Islam blames ethnicity for initial lack of headlines over murder, and also criticises Priti Patel.

This article titled “Sabina Nessa’s sister says outcry would have been greater if she were white” was written by Kevin Rawlinson, for The Guardian on Monday 11th April 2022 10.37 UTC

The murder of Sabina Nessa would have provoked a more intense public outcry if the primary school teacher had been white, her relatives have said, as they accused the home secretary of exploiting her death for publicity.

Nessa’s sister, Jebina Yasmin Islam, said there had been no support from the government, describing people in senior positions as useless, and saying the murder of Sarah Everard six months before that of Nessa had received more press coverage.

“My sister didn’t get as much headlines, I feel, at the start. Maybe was it down to her ethnicity?” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“She didn’t get the front pages on some of the papers and, in Sarah Everard’s case, she did. I think it’s just down to our ethnicity, to be honest. And I feel like if we were a normal British white family we would have been treated equally, I guess.”

She said the family had received the support of Clive Efford, the Labour MP in whose constituency the murder took place, as well as the local authority, the Royal Borough of Greenwich. But she said “higher-up people” had been “useless”, adding: “They’ve not said nothing. Priti Patel has done a tweet on Friday and I was not happy about it because all of a sudden she’s using my sister’s name for publicity reasons. And to be honest she has no right.”

On Friday, Koci Selamaj was jailed for life with a minimum of 36 years for the murder. He admitted travelling to London from the south coast to carry out the premeditated attack on a random woman on 17 September last year.

He targeted Nessa after happening upon her as she walked through Cator Park in Kidbrooke, south-east London, to meet a friend. CCTV footage captured the moment he ran up behind her and hit her over the head, before dragging her away and killing her by asphyxiation.

Selamaj refused to attend any of his two-day sentencing hearing at the Old Bailey and Islam said: “I was frustrated. We were like: ‘He is such a coward, not facing up to what he has done.’

“It made me angry because I wanted him to hear our impact statement to show how much hurt he’s caused my family.”

Asked if the court should have the power to force someone to attend, she said: “Definitely. I think it’s so important, the fact that they should be able to make the murderer, the perpetrator, come into court and listen.”

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