Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News, 2014-06-19

A Saudi woman who died after being brutally attacked in a park on Tuesday in Colchester in the UK may have been targeted because of her Islamic dress or for being a Muslim.

Nahid al-Manea who was 32 years old was wearing a navy blue full-length robe called an Abaya and a multi-coloured hijab headscarf when she was set upon and fatally stabbed 16 times, 400m from her university campus.

She was still breathing when paramedics tried to save her but she died at the scene from head and body injuries.

Al-Manea arrived in Britain from Saudi Arabia as part of the King Abdullah Foreign Scholarship Program six months ago with her younger brother Raed to study at Essex University according to sources. 

She was due to return home to Saudi Arabia in just a few weeks

The Saudi embassy said its ambassador to the UK was taking an active role in the case.

“Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf expressed in a telephone call to the brother of the deceased his sincerest condolences to her family, affirming the embassy’s speed in taking all the procedures for the transfer of the body of the deceased to the kingdom.

He also asserted that the case is in his personal attention,” it said.

Nothing was stolen from al-Manea and police have asked residents living on the nearby Greenstead estate to check their bins for a discarded weapon.

Detective Superintendent Tracy Hawkings said officers were keeping an open mind about the motive of the attack.

“We are conscious that the dress of the victim will have identified her as probably being a Muslim and this is one of the main lines of the investigation, but there is no firm evidence at this time that she was targeted because of her religion.”

A 52-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and was being held at a police station.

The university has a multinational population with more than 200 Saudi nationals, according to students.

Students said there had been few previous problems with racism off campus but concerns were raised about crime around the estate where the woman was killed.

The area has a number of student flats. The university said yesterday it was running a shuttle bus to areas off campus during the evening for concerned students. Police said there were extra patrols in the area.

“It’s a very big incident especially since it took place during the day and not at night,” said Abdul Razak, a linguistics student. “I know it’s a dangerous area.”

Three months ago a 33-year-old man, James Attfield, was stabbed to death in nearby Castle Park. Detectives said there were “immediate similarities” between Tuesday’s attack and that on Attfield, who was stabbed more than 100 times.

(Twitter: @Faizie143)