Victim of anti-Islamic attack thanks woman who stood up for him
The man who was subject to an anti-Islamic tirade on a Sydney train had thanked the woman who defended his family.
Hafeez Ahmed Bhatti, his wife and their four-month-old son were catching the train to Sydney Airport on Wednesday afternoon, when a woman sitting opposite them started to abuse them.
Fellow passenger Stacey Eden stood up for the family and pulled out her camera phone to capture the woman's racist attack. The video which was taken at 1.40pm on the Town Hall to Sydney Airport service, has since gone viral.
Mr Bhatti, an accountant from Pakistan, has revealed further details of what happened before Ms Eden started filming, to Fairfax Media.
Mr Bhatti said the abusive woman who was wearing red, first touched his wife on her head and asked why she was wearing a hijab in such warm weather.
"I was [a] little shocked, she touched my wife's head like she was blessing [her]," he told Fairfax Media. "And then she started her ignorant comments."
The woman then went on to tell the couple that all Muslims should leave Australia and asked why they follow someone who married a six year-old child.
The video recorded on Ms Eden's phone begins with the woman in red saying: "Why do you wear it for a man that marries a six year-old girl?"
The abusive passenger brought up the Lindt cafe siege in Martin Place and told the woman that her kids behead people.
"That's not her doing it. That's a minority of people, not a majority of people," says Ms Eden.
The incident ended with Ms Eden telling the abusive woman to shut her mouth: "If you've got nothing nice to say, don't say anything, it's simple."
Mr Bhatti who was retuning home to Brisbane after a one-day visit to Sydney with his family, later posted on Facebook: "Once again, victim of racism by an old Christian lady".
Later on Wednesday night, Mr Bhatti sent a Facebook message to Ms Eden.
"Thanks again for your support for us on that day ... I generally believe that you and many other Australian do respect all religions," the message said.
On his own Facebook page he wrote:"God bless Stacey Eden who support us."
He said the Muslim community in Brisbane had invited Ms Eden to visit them one day.
The pair have skyped since the incident, with Ms Eden writing on her Facebook page on Friday: "Just had a lovely conversation with Hafeez and his wife over skype."
Ms Eden's own Facebook page has been flooded with comments from all over the world.
"Thank you again, a million times over to all the positive and beautiful messages I continue to receive and all the comments on posts and articles," she wrote on Facebook.
"I just wanted to tell her that what she was saying wasn't OK," Ms Eden told Fairfax Media.
"The point of this is, don't sit there putting someone down because they are wearing a scarf, she never did anything, she sat there and didn't say a word, but I can only imagine how she was feeling inside."
Ms Eden has also made clear on her Facebook page that a fundraising page in her name is fake.
She said: "I did not make any donation pages or ask for donations from anybody...Any act of kindness should be done from the heart, not with the expectation you will be rewarded."
Both Mr Bhatti and Ms Eden will meet with police on Friday to make a statement and help officers to identify the woman.
News break – April 17
