Story By: Alex Cope, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

A Muslim man has said he forgives the mob that beat him when he was walking from his local mosque and has condemned IS as “pathetic” for using pics of the attack in Delhi as part of their propaganda.

A photo of Mohammed Zubair being beaten during the riots in New Delhi in February which stemmed from India’s new Citizenship Act was widely shared on social media and picked by the so-called Islamic State (IS).

IS used the image to call on their supporters in India to carry out retaliatory action.

However Zubair, who was beaten whilst wearing a traditional skull cap and salwar kamiz, has slammed the terrorist group for using his image.

Speaking to Indian journalist Barkha Dutt, he said: “It is a pathetic thing to use photos of victims and promote them for their own agenda.”

Zubair, who is still hospitalised after he was badly beaten walking home from a mosque added: “They didn’t attack me, it was my [religious] identity they attacked. It was because I was wearing a skull cap and salwar kameez.”

The riots in Delhi, which caused the deaths of 53 people, began as a reaction to the Citizenship Act which allows fast-tracked naturalisation for immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan belonging to six religions, but not Muslims.

Those opposed to the act were labelled as “anti-national” in some quarters and counter-protests then turned violent.

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