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London police charge homeless man with mosque stabbing

By AFP
22 February 2020   |   11:26 am
London police on Saturday charged a 29-year-old homeless man with causing grievous bodily harm and possessing an illegal knife he used to stab a mosque leader during prayers.

Muazzin Rafat, (R) who was stabbed whilst praying in the mosque the previous day, arrives for Friday Prayers at London Central Mosque near Regent’s Park in London on February 21, 2020. – British police on Thursday said they were not treated as terror-related a London mosque stabbing in which an elderly worshipper suffered non-life-threatening injuries. (Photo by Tolga AKMEN / AFP)

London police on Saturday charged a 29-year-old homeless man with causing grievous bodily harm and possessing an illegal knife he used to stab a mosque leader during prayers.

Suspect Daniel Horton stabbed London Central Mosque’s muazzin Raafat Maglad during daily prayers on Thursday.

London police quickly ruled out a terror motive.

Maglad was treated at a London hospital and returned to the mosque for Friday’s evening service with his arm wrapped in a sling,

“I forgive him. I feel very sorry for him,” Maglad told reporters on Friday.

“To me, as a Muslim, I don’t need to put any hatred in my heart.”

Several regulars at the Regent’s Park area mosque in northwest London said they had seen Horton attend a few services in the past year.

Horton will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court for a preliminary hearing later Saturday.

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