A Muslim businessman claims that he went on a racist rant on a plane because he had smoked weed during Ramadan. Shamraize Bashir, 34, was returning from Israel with friends last June when he shouted anti-semitic insults. He said: ‘You know the really fat Jewish women yeah? Their job is to let their husbands fuck them and make babies for them.’
Fellow passengers asked him to stop swearing during the easyJet flight from Tel Aviv, but he replied ‘I’m not fucking swearing’. He added: ‘You can’t tell me what to do, even my own mum doesn’t tell me what to do.’
Bashir, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, was arrested at Manchester Airport and he has now admitted using racially aggravated threatening behaviour. However, Bashir, who owns a frozen dessert shop, says he isn’t racist. He told magistrates: ‘It was out of character, I do believe that this is down to smoking cannabis and that a course would help with that.’ Prosecutor Tim McArdle said: ‘According to witnesses the conversation about the Jewish religion lasted for around two to five minutes. There were lots of Jewish passengers on board.
Credit: metro.co.uk
‘One young female sat close to the witnesses looked visibly upset by what he was saying and she began crying. She was in his personal space for some time. ‘One of the witnesses swapped places with that young lady and they describe the incident as offensive and said he was making passengers around him feel uncomfortable. The incident has left people upset, shocked and affected by what was said.’
Bashir’s lawyer Upkar Bahia said: ‘He had been to Tel Aviv and soaked up the culture and had also sat and spoke to a Jewish lady for an hour – how could he be a racist?’ He added that he has apologised for the incident. Bashir was ordered to pay £505 in costs, given 100 hours of community service and told to take a course to address his use of cannabis.
Magistrate Kevin Phillips said: ‘You intimated two women and your behaviour was clearly out of order, boisterous is an understatement for your behaviour. In this case, we are not seeing a pattern of behaviour that needs to be addressed. ‘But people on the plane found what you were saying was sexist and anti-Semitic and felt intimidated. ‘Such behaviour anywhere is inappropriate, such behaviour on a plane is particularly inappropriate. You may wish to play this down but we think this is a very serious matter.’ After the case easyJet said: ‘Whilst such incidents are rare easyJet does not tolerate any form of abusive or threatening behaviour onboard and always pushes for prosecution. We have a duty to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all of our passengers and crew.’
Credit: metro.co.uk