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Man Convicted of Brutal Attacks Against Jews Sentenced to Hospital Detention
by Andrew Bernard
Abdullah Qureshi, 30, who has been convicted of three assaults on Jews in the Stamford Hill neighborhood of London, on August 18, 2021. Photo: London Metropolitan Police.
A London court has sentenced a man responsible for a spree of antisemitic attacks in the London Borough of Hackney to be indefinitely detained in a secure medical facility until he is considered safe to be released.
Abdullah Qureshi, 30, of West Yorkshire traveled 200 miles in August 2021 to carry out a slew of attacks on Jews in Hackney’s Stamford Hill neighborhood, which has a large Hasidic population.
In the first of the incidents, which were carried out over the course of two hours, a 30-year-old man was struck on the head with a bottle, while the target of the second incident was a 14-year-old boy who was physically assaulted. The third victim was a 64-year-old man who was brutally punched in the face, causing him to fall and break a bone in his foot.
Qureshi was convicted in November of one count of racially or religiously aggravated grievous bodily harm and two counts of racially or religiously aggravated common assault after having already pleaded guilty to two other related assaults.
Under British law, a person found guilty of a crime that would otherwise include a prison sentence can instead be sentenced to a “hospital order” if the court believes that the defendant is mentally ill. In addition to the hospital order given on Thursday, Qureshi was also given a 10-year restraining order.
Detective Chief Inspector Yasmin Lalani from the local policing team said in a statement that the London police would not tolerate discrimination or abuse of minority communities.
“Abdullah Qureshi’s action caused severe distress to the victims, their families, and the wider Jewish community,” Lalani said. “I can only hope the victims in this case find some comfort in the fact that Qureshi has been sentenced after the ordeals they suffered.”
However, Jews in London are facing an alarming rate of antisemitic attacks, with law enforcement recording at least 396 such hate crimes so far this year, according to the Metropolitan Police.
