English cricketer Moeen Ali’s teammates have rallied around him after author, physician, and activist Taslima Nasreen targeted him with an offensive tweet.
“If Moeen Ali were not stuck with cricket, he would have gone to Syria to join ISIS”, Taslima said in a tweet that was later deleted by the Bangladeshi-Swedish writer.
Many players from the cricket fraternity have extended their support to Moeen since then.
Nottinghamshire cricketer Ben Duckett wrote: “This is the problem with this app. People being able to say stuff like this. Disgusting. Things need to change, please report this account!”
Lancashire County Cricket Club’s Saqib Mahmood wrote: “Can’t believe this. Disgusting tweet. Disgusting individual”
Later, Nasreen posted another Tweet explaining that the “Moeen Ali tweet was sarcastic,” and how everyone made it a big of an issue to “humiliate” her as she tries to “secularize Muslim society and oppose Islamic fanaticism”.
She wrote: “Haters know very well that my Moeen Ali tweet was sarcastic. But they made that an issue to humiliate me because I try to secularize Muslim society & I oppose Islamic fanaticism. One of the greatest tragedies of humankind is pro-women leftists support anti-women Islamists.”
Mahmood reacted back to Nasreen’s most recent tweet expressing that she has “a sick sense of humour”.
Many more players like Jofra Archer, Sam Billings, and Ryan Sidebottom likewise supported Ali.
In the past, Nasreen has suffered plenty of reprisal for her radical opinions on religion. In the Nineties, she had to leave Bangladesh — her country of birth — to live in exile. The public authority of the nation additionally revoked her passport.
Moeen on the other hand has helped in raising assets for Gaza relief efforts in the past. In 2014, during a match against India in Southampton, he wore wristbands mentioning the slogans “Free Palestine” and “Save Gaza”, which divided people.
