Yassmin Abdel-Magied mocks Aussies ‘outraged about gangs’ as ‘convict descendants’

YASSMIN Abdel-Magied has found herself at the centre of yet another controversy following a bizarre tweet about African gangs.

AUSTRALIA’S “most publicly hated Muslim” has sparked fresh outrage with a bizarre tweet about African gangs and the country’s convict past.

Yassmin Abdel-Magied, an activist, author, engineer and former Queensland Young Australian of the Year, first made headlines last year when she announced that “Islam to me is the most feminist religion” during an appearance on the ABC’s Q&A program.

The 26-year-old later caused controversy when commenting about Anzac Day on Facebook, posting: “Lest We Forget (Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine ...).”

Ms Abdel-Magied was accused of disrespecting Australian soldiers at the time, and her show Australia Wide was axed by the ABC just a month later.

She received so much backlash following the post she moved to London and later compared Australia to an “abusive boyfriend”.

Now, she has found herself in the centre of yet another social media storm after mocking Australians who were concerned about rising African gang violence on Twitter on Saturday, posting: “All these aussies outraged about ‘gangs’, acting like they’re not descendant of actual convicts lol.”

All these aussies outraged about ‘gangs’, acting like they’re not descendant of actual convicts lol. pic.twitter.com/rFqNACCUmt

— Yassmin Abdel-Magied (@yassmin_a) January 5, 2018

Her tweet follows a recent, high-profile spate of crime across Victoria and Melbourne at the hands of Sudanese “gangs” of youths.

Last week, a Melbourne woman was forced to sit in the front room of her home as a dozen men “of African appearance” ransacked her house during a frightening home invasion.

The same group was also allegedly involved in several street assaults and a separate home invasion, while African youths have also been accused of harassing tennis players in Essendon and heckling passengers on trains in recent weeks.

Last week Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton sensationally told 2GB “people are scared to go out at restaurants of a night time because they’re followed home by these gangs, home invasions, and cars are stolen”.

While many Australians responded to Mr Dutton’s claims with ridicule, Melbourne-based South Sudanese footballer Nelly Yoa went on to accuse police and politicians of sweeping the issue of African gangs under the carpet, telling Fairfax media: “It is a fact that South Sudanese are over­-represented in crime statistics and are causing great harm and fear across communities in Melbourne.”

Census data shows people born in Sudan make up about 0.1 per cent of Victoria’s population, while Victoria’s Crime Statistics Agency’s data for the year to June 2017 shows Sudanese-born offenders were allegedly involved in 98 aggravated burglaries in the state, compared to 540 Australian-born offenders.

While there were some who supported Ms Abdel-Magied’s claim the African gang issue had been exaggerated, there were also many who took offence at her tweet, which was variously described as “absurd”, “pathetic” and “staggeringly ignorant”.

Disappointed 😔 you are better than this @yassmin_a ... many Aussies are not from convicts and many convicts were not from “gangs” ... regardless, we should all be outraged by violent behaviour no matter the “who” and not play politics

— Aaramon (@SusanAinge67) January 6, 2018

Oh you’re so witty. If only you cared about the victims as much as you care about making cheap shots.

— dsch_78 (@dsch_78) January 5, 2018

I understand that everyone has a right to free speech but u are really pushing ur luck. Don’t disrespect Australia and it’s people, very foolish move

— Julie Moir (@jmoir17) January 7, 2018

Ms Abdel-Magied was born in Khartoum, Sudan in 1991 and migrated to Australia with her family a year later, after the government was overthrown by an Islamic military coup during the Second Sudanese Civil War.

She helped establish Youth Without Borders and has served on the Council for Multicultural Australia, Federal ANZAC Centenary Commemoration Youth Working Group, the 2014 Youth G20 Summi and the Council for Australian-Arab Relations.

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