Law student 'facing jail' after targeting Arsenal and England star Bukayo Saka with racist abuse
12 September 2024, 11:19
A law student is said to be facing a jail sentence after sending racist abuse to Bukayo Saka.
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Suhel Ali, a 20-year-old student at City, University of London, uploaded an audio message to social media last year in which he called the Arsenal and England footballer a "monkey" and used the n-word.
The Arsenal fan also called Saka a "f****** black piece of s***" in the message, which came after the north London club had lost to Nottingham Forest in May 2023, a result that meant they missed out on the Premier League title.
Ali admitted to sending an offensive message. He was bailed until October 8, with the judge saying she wasn't "ruling anything out" in terms of sentencing.
Read more: 'I will not let negativity break me': Bukayo Saka speaks out after Euro 2020 racist abuse
Read more: FA funds police unit to catch people who racially abuse footballers online
Ali's lawyer said that the message was sent in the heat of the moment, and said that his client had Nigerian heritage like Saka.
He claimed that Ali used the n-word in an offensive context, but without the intent of racially abusing Saka.
Asked about the use of the word "monkey", which has often been used in a racist sense against black people, the lawyer said that Ali had just meant it to mean "dumb".
He said of his client: "He was just firing off some really stupid, offensive remarks about how a footballer played."
Police found north-west London resident Ali via his IP address and with the help of his own mother, the Sun reported.
Ali is said to have given officers a similar account during a police interview, insisting that the message was born from frustration rather than racial animosity.
Saka, 23, has endured racist abuse before - most infamously after missing a penalty in the final of Euro 2020 three years ago.
Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho, who both also missed penalties, were also targeted by bigots afterwards.
Four men were convicted of abusing the England trio, with two getting short jail sentences and the other two fined.
Saka has become one of the most important players for club and country in recent years, having played 229 times for Arsenal and scored 59 goals, with 20 of those coming last season.
He also has 42 caps for England, netting 12 times so far.
