Last year as part of the NUS black students conference, I was fortunate enough to meet the Sheikh sisters. These brave women were courageous enough to share with us the story of the racist abuse they had suffered from their neighbours in Gloucester. For many years they were subjected to verbal abuse, threats to their lives, and a blockade of their home. All this throughout their mothers death and exams made it a particularly difficult time for them. The reports to the police went constantly unnoticed, and with no action by the authorities, the attackers violence elevated to a physical attack on the sisters in front of their home, with one of them ending up in hospital as a direct result of the battering she had received. Over a year later, and their trial is finally coming up to the court room for the 2nd time.Hopefully this time will be a fairer hearing and the institutional racism that allowed the attackers to get away with their heinous crimes will not affect the verdict again. Please sign this petition in solidarity with the Sheikh sisters, to show that even though they are afraid to leave their home, there is a whole community who stands behind them in their search for justice gopetition/petitions/zero-tolerance-to-racist-abuse-and-violence-in-our-cities-and-communities.html
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 21:24:32 +0000