The Guardian: US Muslim groups warn over rise in violence after boy, six, killed in Illinois

Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Cair Chicago chapter, embraces Odey Al-Fayoume, father of Wadea Al-Fayoume, the six-year-old boy who was murdered in a hate crime. Photograph: Jim Vondruska/AP

Written by Erum Salam

A top official at the Council on American Islamic Relations (Cair) National has warned of a potential rise in violence against Muslims and Palestinians in the US following the hate-crime murder of a six-year-old boy in Illinois and the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Edward Ahmed Mitchell, Cair’s deputy director and a civil rights attorney, called the stabbing of Wadea Al-Fayoume and his mother in their home “one of the worst-case scenarios”.