British Muslim boxer Amir Khan has received death threats after posting pictures online of a Christmas tree he put up for his young daughter.
Mr. Khan, a former unified world champion and Olympic medallist of Pakistani heritage, posted the images of his tree on Tuesday.
On both Twitter and Instagram he captioned the images: “While everyone’s asleep, daddy put the Christmas tree up. Lamaisah’s going to be happy #Christmas #MerryChristmas2017”.
The Bolton athlete, 31, is a practising Muslim, and some of his followers reacted badly and threatened to kill him for allegedly “betraying” his religion, the Manchester Evening News reports.
“I promise to god i want kill you and your family amir” vowed one, in a now deleted message.
Another added: “Muslims don’t celebrate Christmas. It’s one thing to give out cards at school your respecting other faith and their celebration but putting up a tree in your own home….poor kid will be well confused.”
Other users of the social media platform Twitter were more relaxed and came to the boxer’s defence.
Imran Mirza wrote: “Family, food, smiles, trees, bargains, holiday, sleeping in, happy kids, love, music, Turkey, roast potatoes, trimmings, santa, quiet roads, the two Ronnies, and the opportunity to go to the mosque on a weekday other than Friday.”
“Ma sha Allah enjoy Christmas,” replied Sajaad Akram.
In March of this year, a young woman filmed “twerking” with a man whilst wearing a hijab in Birmingham was forced to publicly apologise after the footage went viral and she was sent death threats.
Some Muslims claimed she had “disrespected” Islam and should be punished — although others came to her defence.
In 2015, Breitbart spoke to a British man who converted from Islam to Christianity. He told of how he regularly received death threats, was beaten and hospitalized, and eventually forced to move his family to a secret location.
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