The mother of a backpacker killed in Australia has slammed US President Donald Trump for including the stabbing death on a list of supposedly under-reported terrorist attacks, claiming the president was using her daughter to demonize Muslims.
Trump this week accused “dishonest” media of purposefully failing to report on attacks by radicals, for which he provided no evidence, in the wake of his contentious travel ban on people from seven Muslim-majority nations.
The White House distributed a list of 78 incidents it said were “executed or inspired by” the Islamic State (IS) group, saying most “have not received the media attention they deserved.”
Five Australian attacks were included, including a cafe siege in Sydney in 2014 that received global headlines and the stabbing deaths of British backpackers Mia Ayliffe-Chung, 21, and Tom Jackson, 30, last year.
Agence France-Presse filed five stories on the backpacker killings which were also widely covered by the British media, and other media in Australia and around the world.
In an open letter to Trump posted on social media, Ayliffe-Chung’s mother, Rosie Ayliffe, said it was wrong to connect her death with Islamic fundamentalism.
“The possibility of Mia and Tom’s deaths being consequent to an Islamic terror attack was discounted in the early stages of the police investigation,” she said.
Frenchman Smail Ayad has been charged with their murders at a backpacker hostel in Home Hill, a rural town in north Queensland State, Australia.
Police said they had found no signs of radicalization despite Ayad saying “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) during the attack, and ruled out any terror links.
“There has been no indication whatsoever that any radicalization or any political motives existed that caused him to attack the people that he did,” Detective Superintendent Ray Rohweder told a news conference in August last year.
Rosie Ayliffe said “any fool can shout ‘Allahu Akbar’ as they commit a crime” and said she had traveled extensively in Muslim-majority nations and “encountered nothing but respect and hospitality.”
“This vilification of whole nation states and their people based on religion is a terrifying reminder of the horror that can ensue when we allow ourselves to be led by ignorant people into darkness and hatred,” she added in the letter. “My daughter’s death will not be used to further this insane persecution of innocent people.”
Also on the Trump list of atrocities he claimed were under-reported were the Paris attacks on Nov. 13, 2015, the Nice, France, truck-attack on June 14, last year, and the San Bernardino mass shooting in California in December 2015.
All dominated global headlines for days.
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