Islam's Swan Bake

“HUNGER drove fasting Muslim to kill swan and bite into it raw.”

So says the headline in the Mail, an enticing prelude to a story which, on the face it, unites the paper’s triumvirate of pet themes – mad Muslims, bird flu and iffy food.

Reading on we learn of Shamshu Miah. It is the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and shortly after midnight on September 26 this year hungry Miah is near the boating lake in Llandudno. So too was a swan.

A man observes the goings on. He calls the police. And they apprehend Miah in the company of a dead swan in a carrier bag. The Sun spots white fathers in Miah’s beard.

The postmortem fails to conclude whether the swan has been bitten to death or stabbed with a knife.

Miah does not understand. “I’ve done nothing wrong,” says he. “It was just a bird to eat.”
And while he is sentenced to two months having admitted possession of a knife in public and wilfully killing a ... read on