A British court has reinstated racially aggravated hate charges against the suspect in the case of five Orthodox Jews who were attacked in the Stamford Hill section of London.
Abdullah Qureshi, 28, of Dewsbury in West Yorkshire, had pleaded guilty to one charge of assault by beating and one charge of grievous bodily harm with intent in the string of assaults that occurred in August 2021.
Racially or religiously aggravated assault charges had been dropped as part of a plea deal with Qureshi. But they have now been reinstated by the Stratford Magistrates’ Court Service, after it accepted an application by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
The Crown Prosecution Service told the Jewish News: “We have been successful in applying to the court to reinstate the racially aggravated element of two charges against Abdullah Qureshi. We have also added a further racially aggravated charge.”
Stephen Silverman, director of investigations and enforcement at Campaign Against Antisemitism, said in a statement: “In a violent spree, Abdullah Qureshi attacked innocent Jews as he came across them in the street, from a young child to an elderly man. We applaud the Shomrim for reporting these incidents and the police for identifying the perpetrator. We welcome the CPS’s decision to reinstate the aggravating element to the charges, but it must be said that it is disappointing that it took sustained outrage from the Jewish community to bring this about."
He added: "Polling shows that a majority of British Jews do not believe that the CPS does enough to protect them. The CPS must recognize that its choices have a serious impact on the Jewish community and it must strive to do better.”