The Islamic street preacher Mohammed Hegab has lost a defamation case against The Spectator and the magazine’s associate editor, Douglas Murray.
The case stems from September 2022. The article in question was a critique of multiculturalism in the wake of the 2022 Leicester riots, which broke out after India played Pakistan at cricket in the Asia Cup. The unrest saw groups of British Hindus and British Muslims engage in ethnic violence.
Hegab, better known by his YouTube name Mohammed Hijab, had travelled from London to Leicester in the wake of the tensions, with a video circulating of him addressing a crowd of masked men and making derogatory comments about Hindus. Mocking the Hindu belief in reincarnation, Hijab stated: “If they believe in reincarnation, what a humiliation and pathetic thing for them to be reincarnated into some pathetic weak cowardly people like that. I would rather be an animal.” Murray referenced these inflammatory remarks in the article, describing Hijab as a “street agitator”.
