In the powerful Al Jazeera documentary Twice a Victim, filmmaker Paula Palacios interviews Muslims who have lost loved ones in extremist attacks only to face fierce discrimination in the wake of the horrific attacks.
Hanane Charrihi is featured in the film. Her mother, Fatima, was among the first to be run over in the 2016 truck attack in Nice, France. She had been strolling with members of her family after a Bastille Day fireworks display celebrating the French independence. Ms. Charrihi makes the point that her mother would have been one of the first people the attacker saw through the windshield window of his truck, noting that her mother was visibly Muslim as she wore a hijab.
Ms. Charrihi has co-authored a book called “My Motherland” about the tragedy and says this: “I needed to tell the whole world the difference between the van driver and my mum and that they are different people. One is a true Muslim and the other talks about Islam, but it’s not Islam.”
