Nephew of attacked Darlington taxi driver promotes peace after loss THE grieving nephew of a taxi driver who died after being attacked by a drunken passenger today reveals how his loss drove him to promote peace and unity.
Mohammed Zabir, 56, was hit on the head with a bottle and kicked in the chest during a savage attack in 2011.
The dad-of-six was saved from further injuries by residents of Middleton-St-George, near Darlington, who intervened after hearing the fracas.
A month later, Mr Zabir died of a heart attack, but doctors could not link it to the assault.
His attacker was sent to prison for three years.
Now Mr Zabir’s nephew, Amjid Khazir, from Middlesbrough, has been moved to promote peace after his personal tragedy.
He has founded an organisation that tackles the use of social media and videos by fundamentalist religious groups and far-right organisations.
Media Cultured creates videos showing positive British Muslim role models in a move which counteracts the use of social media by religious fundamentalists and the far-right to recruit impressionable individuals.
And last night Amjid said he gave up his job working for an internet company to focus on the new organisation.
He said: “After my uncle died I had to do whatever I could to make a difference. He was like a father to me, he raised me and was an upstanding member of the community.”
Amjid felt a burning passion after his uncle’s death to do something positive.
He set up the company thanks to a DigitalCity (DC) fellowship at Teesside University.
The 33-year-old has spent more than four years working with local mosques and national faith groups to help the Muslim community understand the issues around internet safety and communication of misinformation by extremist groups.
Amjid said: “The power of negative portrayals using social media and film has been tragically illustrated in the attacks on US and UK embassies across the Middle East and beyond.
“Yet there has been no effective methods used to combat these negative portrayals and misrepresentations.
“One of the biggest pathways to extremism is through using social media.
“Young people especially are often recruited and indoctrinated using videos posted on different social media channels – this can be by simply following a Twitter link.
“These manipulate by using what may first appear as common sense, for example, defending free speech, and feeding on negative experiences the young person may have had, for example, experiences of racism.”
For more information on Media Cultured, visit
www.media cultured.org
http://www.sundaysun.co.uk/news/north-e ... -31984118/
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