A year ago, Brenton Tarrant, a ‘narcissistic’ right-wing Australian terrorist attacked two Mosques Mosque in a shooting he livestreamed leading to the death of not less than 50 people, including children with many others injured.

 

VICTIMS

Some of the victims were identified. Some of those named were New Zealand natives, while others hailed from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, India and Egypt.

Mucaad Ibrahim, 3, was the youngest of the victims. He was born in New Zealand to Somali Parents.

Rashid Naeem

The 51-year-old man from Abbottabad, Pakistan was badly wounded and later died. His son was also killed in the terrorist attack.

Rashid was the hero of the attack as he, not minding his own live, saved people. Many said they were saved by him.

 

Talha Naeem

Talha, 21, was the son of Rashid Naeem who also died in the attack.

 

Talha and his father were laid to rest in a mass burial at the Memorial Park Cemetery in Linwood, along with 24 other victims of the attacks. The ceremony took place on Friday, March 22.

 

Husna Ahmed, 45

Husna Ahmed, originally from northeastern Sylhet district in northeastern Bangladesh, was killed while trying to shield her wheelchair-bound husband, according to her nephew, Mahfuj Chowdhury.

 

A total of 51 people died and 49 were injured. The attacks began at the Al Noor Mosque in the suburb of Riccarton at 1:40 p.m. and continued at Linwood Islamic Centre at about 1:55 p.m. The gunman live-streamed the first attack on Facebook

 

The Great Replacement

Brenton Tarrant, the perpetrator of the white nationalist terrorist attack in New Zealand, saw himself as a crusader for the white race, a white terrorist stepping in the footsteps of Breivik.

In his 74-page manifesto titled The Great Replacement, Brenton explained his motive and set questions and answers for himself. In countries like New Zealand, having a copy of the manifesto or the livestream video of the attack is a criminal offence.

In the manifesto, several anti-immigrant sentiments are expressed, including hate speech against migrants, white supremacist rhetoric, and calls for all non-European immigrants in Europe who are claimed to be “invading his land” to be removed.

Suspect on Trial

Brenton Tarrant who is facing 51 charges of murder, 40 of attempted murder and one under the Terrorism Suppression Act has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

His trial is to begin in June.

 

Building Unity Between Islam And New Zealand Culture

A new design  is to be reimagined to fuse Islam into New Zealand’s indigenous Maori culture, a year after the terrorist attack.

The design concept intends to bring together the worlds of Islam and “te ao Maori” (the Maori world), becoming a marae-mosque hybrid (a marae is a sacred place for New Zealand Maori and other Polynesian cultures).

The Linwood Islamic Centre, one of the two Mosques targeted by the terrorist would be used for this purpose.

An anonymous donor from the United Arab Emirates gave $1.1m to a third party, who then bought the surrounding lots of land – a wide, unsealed carpark at the front, and also a vacant building next door, formerly a fast-food restaurant – on behalf of the Linwood Muslim community.

Under this plan, the existing mosque – a rundown building that was once a Baha’i community centre – will be torn down and a new mosque built in its place. The marae-mosque would become the central hub in a large multicultural centre.

A formal ceremony to mark a year after the terrorist attack was called off amidst fear of the Coronavirus.

 

  • Aljazeera contributed to this article.

 

 

 

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