At 9:15 a.m. last Friday, Noman’s school contacted police to report her claim that, as she walked to school that day with her brother Mohammad Zakariyya, 10, a man assaulted her with scissors, twice a few minutes apart, trying to cut off her hijab. Less than 20 minutes later, the Toronto Police tweeted an alert. The first news story was posted well before 10 a.m., international interest followed soon after and the school was swarmed with reporters.
A Toronto District School Board spokesperson put the media in touch with the child’s mother, Saima Samad, who agreed to do interviews. That is how a child who was thought to be the victim of a hate crime was being interviewed about it inside her own school, identified by name, and invited by reporters to address her alleged attacker on television.
“This was the decision of the family, not the TDSB,” said Ryan Bird, who is also a spokesman for the TDSB.