Kriss Donald: Edinburgh High Court trial of the three who fled to Pakistan
The Daily Record - but seemingly not yet the BBC - is reporting proceedings in the Edinburgh High Court against the last three men accused of the race hate abduction and murder of Kriss Donald in March 2004. The accused are Mohammed Mushtaq, 27, Imran Shahid, 29, and Zeeshan Shahid, 29. All plead not guilty. The trial commenced on 2nd October and is expected to last six weeks.
One man, shopkeeper Daanish Zahid, was found guilty of Kriss’s murder almost a year ago and sentenced to serve a minimum of 17 years. Another, Zahid Mohammed, was jailed for five years (meaning 30 months) for the abduction.
A comparison of Google search results soon tells you the value of a white life: a search for “Kriss Donald” produces about 167,000 entries. “Anthony Walker”, however, produces about 18,800,000, headed by a tribute site. Anthony was killed by a single blow to the head on 30th July, 2005. So it isn’t the passage of time and it isn’t the brutality of the crime that accounts for the disparity in coverage.
In what I can only presume to be a superb piece of irony, the Deputy Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality and Commisisoner for Scotland, Kay Hampton, offered the following statement after Zahid’s sentencing:-
This sentencing sends a clear sign that racism, wherever it comes from, is always deplorable. We recognise that all of those implicated in the murder have not yet been brought before the courts and our thoughts and sympathy remain with Kriss’s family at this time.
Glasgow’s communities have united since Kriss’s murder and we hope they will continue to stand together and guard against anyone who tries to exploit this tragic situation for political gain.
Of course, no political capital whatsoever was made of the murder of Stephen Lawrence, as we all know (Google search about 32,400,000).
Meanwhile, another appalling murder for which Asians are charged is receiving even less media attention than Kriss’s case. Since March I have been able to find absolutely nothing on the fate of the two men accused in the ghoulish and peadophiliac killing of 14-year old Charlene Downes. The trial of Iyad Albattikhi, 28, and Mohammed Raveshi, 49, was scheduled to begin in June of this year. There are no recent reports in the electronic editions of the local Blackpool or Lancashire papers and, of course, not a mention of the case in the national media. One hopes that that merely indicates a lengthy adjournment.
Charlene’s google search total is about 50,500.
Posted by Calvin on Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:35 | #
Brilliant and timely post, you have a gift for reducing issues to the essential in ways that make your posts intelligent and accessible. The power of the media conspiracy of silence is frightening, despite having been outraged at the murder of Charlene Downes at the time, I had actually forgotten about her until you reminded me. I consider myself to be fairly racially aware, I can only imagine how quickly these events disappear down the memory hole for the average person.
I tried to write a piece on the Kris Donald trial on my blog but the blatant nature of the deception and double standard at work here makes it difficult to say anything more sophisticated than, “you are being lied to, wake the fuck up”. I will now link my blog entry to your post (if you don’t mind).
Google stats seem to be the best tool for assessing the true extent of media bias on racial issues, how long will it be before Google intervenes to manipulate these stats?
A simple, straightforward and brilliant skewering of establishment hypocrisy.