Wednesday, June 19, 2013


'Grown Men Look Like They Want to Hit Me': Tony Blair's Muslim Convert Sister-in-law Lauren Booth Speaks of Her Fear in Wake of Lee Rigby Killing

MAIL ONLINE: Lauren Booth said she has felt 'scared' in public after the Lee Rigby killing / She said she wasn't treated differently when she first went out in traditional Islamic dress - but it has changed in the wake of the Woolwich killing / Half-sister of Cherie Blair converted to Islam two years ago / Miss Booth attacks Tony Blair for saying there is a 'problem within Islam'

Tony Blair's Muslim convert sister-in-law Lauren Booth said today she is scared of being attacked by men on public transport following the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby.

Miss Booth said that after the soldier was brutally hacked to death in Woolwich she has seen 'grown men looking like they want to hit Muslim women' when she is travelling in London.

The 45-year-old half-sister of Cherie Blair ventures out in traditional Islamic dress and wears a hijab head-covering.

She converted to Islam two years ago and married Sohale Ahmed, 49, in a Muslim ceremony earlier this year.

Miss Booth, wearing a patterned hijab, said on ITV's Daybreak this morning that when she converted two years ago she was not treated any differently.

But in the aftermath of the murder of Lee Rigby close to Woolwich Barracks in south-east London last month she said that has changed.

'When I came to Islam two years ago and I first put on the scarf I was nervous about going on the Underground, I thought everyone is going to see me differently, and everyone was beautiful towards me,' she said.

'I was invisible for a few weeks and then I noticed that British people were smiling, same as we always do, we're really good at that, we're really good at absorbing and accepting people.

'But honestly, in the last two weeks I've been getting public transport and there are grown men looking like they want to hit Muslim women, and I'm a tall, white woman, I'm not easily threatened, but I have felt scared at times, so there is a change unfortunately.' » | Rob Cooper | Wednesday, June 19, 2013