New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday vowed never to utter the name of the twin-mosque gunman, as she opened a somber session of parliament with an evocative “as-salaam alaikum” (peace be upon you) message of peace to Muslims.
“He will face the full force of the law in New Zealand,” Ardern pledged to grieving Kiwis, while promising that she would deprive the man, an avowed white supremacist who slaughtered 50 people in Christchurch, of the publicity he craved.
“He sought many things from his act of terror, but one was notoriety,” she told assembled lawmakers of the 28-year-old Australian accused of the slaughter.
Photo: Reuters
“That is why you will never hear me mention his name,” Ardern said.
“He is a terrorist. He is a criminal. He is an extremist. But he will, when I speak, be nameless,” she said.
“I implore you: Speak the names of those who were lost rather than the name of the man who took them,” she added.
Dressed in black, the 38-year-old leader opened her remarks in parliament with a symbolic gesture, repeating the greeting uttered every day across the Islamic world: “as-salaam alaikum.”
She closed her address by noting that “on Friday, it will be a week since the attack, members of the Muslim community will gather for worship on that day. Let us acknowledge their grief as they do.”
“Wa alaikum salaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh [May the peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be with you too],” she said.
In related news, police said that the bodies of six of the victims had been released to their families after an anguished-filled delay, but added that only a fraction of those killed had been fully identified.
Police said that all 50 autopsies had been concluded, but only “12 victims have been identified to the satisfaction of the coroner.”
“Six of those identified victims have been returned to their families,” police said.
The delay has caused consternation among families of the dead, who would have liked to follow Islamic custom and bury their loved ones within 24 hours.
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