Gold medal Olympian Mo Farah shocked many with the recent revelation of how he arrived in the United Kingdom as a child. He was trafficked to the country and forced to work as a domestic servant at the age of nine.
Farah has won multiple Olympic gold medals for the United Kingdom as a long-distance runner, achievements that have resulted in him being knighted and given the title of "Sir"—one of the UK's highest honors.
But in the wake of his revelation—which he shared in an upcoming BBC documentary that airs tomorrow in the UK—many British right-wingers subjected Farah to horrific abuse online and in the media leaving many in the country horrified.
The abuse began almost immediately after a trailer for the documentary hit social media and went viral yesterday.\u201cThrough this documentary I have been able to address and learn more about what happened in my childhood and how I came to the UK. I'm really proud of it and hope you will tune into @BBC at 9pm on Weds to watch.\u201d— Sir Mo Farah (@Sir Mo Farah) 1657576443
Most notably, British right-wing activist Kathy Gyngell launched an attack on Farah in which she suggested Farah is dishonest and suggested he should be stripped of his knighthood because of his having been trafficked.
In a since deleted tweet, Gyngell wrote:
"This smells very odd."
"And surely the Cabinet Office honours committee is going to have to re-examine how and why it gave this athlete a knighthood."
"Did it do so under false pretences?"
Before long, other right-wing voices in the UK were making similar demands Farah be stripped of his knighthood, a distinguished honor in the country conferred by a group of nominating committees, the Prime Minister and the Queen herself.
Born Hussein Abdi Kahin in Djibouti—a small country in east Africa on the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden—Farah was nine years of age when he was trafficked to the United Kingdom against his will and essentially sold into slavery under a false name.
How he could possibly be asked to bear responsibility for such an egregious human rights crime is hard to fathom. Thankfully statements like Gyngell's were outnumbered by those voicing support for Farah.
But much like its younger cousin the United States, the United Kingdom's right-wing frequently resorts to virulent racism and cruelty when it comes to issues of immigration.
Under the leadership of Home Secretary Priti Patel, whose racist, nationalist rhetoric would not sound out of place among Republicans here in the United States, the UK has enacted some of the most draconian immigration policies in Europe.
In response to the abuse Farah received, many took to Twitter to share their disgust and outrage at the right-wing attacks leveled at Farah.
\u201cConservative woman\u2019s first thought upon hearing that #MoFarah was trafficked as a child. A deep, incurable sickness.\u201d— Brendan May (@Brendan May) 1657610603
\u201cInevitably, wankers who haven't contributed one scintilla of the amount of pride that Mo Farah has brought to this country are now calling for his deportation.\u201d— Otto English (@Otto English) 1657610676
\u201cImagine this being your reaction to the Mo Farah story??\nThey're dead, these people. Dead inside.\u201d— Phil Harrison (@Phil Harrison) 1657579070
\u201c@MrPMHarrison There's no soul there. Nothing at all.\u201d— Phil Harrison (@Phil Harrison) 1657579070
\u201cSo this Tory activist wants Mo Farah\u2019s knighthood reconsidered because he was trafficked here as a child. Some of these Tories are beyond parody\u201d— Diane Abbott MP (@Diane Abbott MP) 1657579072
Others were just as angry many of the UK's right-wing politicians praised Farah for speaking out, even as they repeatedly enacted and upheld immigration policies that would have put Farah in grave danger were he to be trafficked today.
\u201cThe point about Mo Farah is this lot would have sent him to Rwanda.\u201d— David Yelland (@David Yelland) 1657608338
\u201cTory MPs praising Mo Farah for his bravery in talking about himself being trafficked.\n\nIf Tory policy had its way poor Mo would have drowned in the English Channel or been deported to Rwanda.\n\nThe hypocrisy of these racists is disturbing. All refugees are welcome.\u201d— Howard Beckett (@Howard Beckett) 1657627688
\u201cIf Sir Mo Farah was discovered at Dover today he\u2019d be detained, sent to live unaccompanied in a seaside hotel, likely re trafficked. \n\nThen when he turned 18, detained again & deported to Rwanda.\n\nAnd ALL the Tory Leadership candidates want to keep this system in place. #Forshame\u201d— Bella Sankey (@Bella Sankey) 1657609602
\u201cSir Mo Farah would\u2019ve been trafficked to Rwanda as young adult if caught by Priti Patel. Hypocrites who want to be rid of \u2018illegal\u2019 trafficked refugees now claim him as British because of his Olympic gold\n\nHow many Farahs are deported to #Rwanda due to our racist/inhumane policy?\u201d— Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu (@Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu) 1657578373
Farah also expressed concern in the documentary his revelation will jeopardize his immigration status.
But thankfully a spokesperson in the UK's Home Office, the British government agency in charge of immigration and passports along with many other issues, confirmed to The Guardian “No action whatsoever will be taken against Sir Mo."
