Muslim worker given birthday card with ‘too old to be a terrorist’ message

A Muslim computer worker was given a 40th birthday card by work colleagues saying “too old to be a terrorist”, an employment tribunal heard.

Omar Fikri, 42, said he was so offended by the card he destroyed it after showing it to his wife.

He told the hearing that although it was meant as a joke, his co-workers knew he was sensitive about being labelled an extremist after the terrorist attacks on London and America.

He also told the hearing that co-worker Sam Low called his praying “disgusting” when Mr Fikri failed to answer the phone while praying at his desk.

Mr Fikri, who worked as a £30,000-a-year software programmer for international freight company Davies Turner, in Dartford, Kent, is claiming discrimination on the grounds of race and religious beliefs.

He was sacked in April this year following an investigation into his conduct. He refused a £20,000 ‘termination package’, claiming he was dismissed because he had started proceedings against the firm and complained “too much”.

He said: “Had I been white and Christian I would not have been dismissed.”

He said he didn’t mind jokes about terrorism but “there are limits” and he didn’t think the card, given to him in 2006, was “funny at all”.

The hearing, in Ashford, was told Mr Fikri prays five times a day, twice a work where special arrangements have been made for him.

Of the conversation with Mr Low, in October last year, he said: “I was just praying - everyone knew that was normal. They were used to seeing me do it. He racially abused me for praying and not answering the call, saying that my praying was ‘disgusting’”.

Mr Low admitted he started shouting at Mr Fikri because he thought he was “ignoring him” and “didn’t care” what he was doing. He said he couldn’t remember using the word ‘disgusting’. He added: “He shouldn’t have been praying in the middle of an open plan office.”

After a morning of evidence, Mr Fikri agreed to a settlement, thought to be over £20,000.

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