What should have been a moment of celebration for PC Fiona Shaik Umar has instead exposed the Islamophobia that persists in British society and the power of Islamophobic trolls to manipulate online narratives to justify their abuse.

Umar, who embraced Islam in early adulthood, received an award for her contribution to women in policing at the Police Federation’s annual conference

She was commended for leading the development of the Hijab Project, which introduced new uniform options to better accommodate Muslim women officers. She is also the first hijab-wearing officer to serve in the Metropolitan Police’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, the armed unit responsible for protecting MPs and other prominent figures.

But her recognition was followed by a wave of online abuse, including  an AI image depicting her with a suicide bomb.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley condemned the “vile” abuse and said Umar had been targeted with racist and misogynistic comments.

“The federation put out this really positive thing about this award, and the online tirade of vileness, of racist, anti-Islam and all sorts of other abuse, and misogynistic, was horrific,” he told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme

Rowley added that female officers and those from minority ethnic backgrounds were more likely to face online hostility.

Firearm photo diverting attention from racist abuse

As the abuse continued, a photograph of Umar holding a firearm during a familiarisation course in 2024 began circulating. The photograph became a focus of some media coverage, with discussion centring on how she handled the weapon.

Rowley rejected attempts to connect the issues, telling Sky News that it had been taken years earlier during a training-related exercise involving an unloaded firearm.

“That’s a photo from two or three years ago. That’s not relevant to what we’re dealing with today,” he said.

“She was on a familiarisation course where she was holding an unloaded weapon. She’d had no training, and it was a photo as part of that. It wasn’t an operational moment, so comments about how she’s holding it are not relevant.”

In a LinkedIn post, Umar said the firearms photograph was being used to justify the hostility directed at her, despite the abuse having begun before it was circulated.

“The more I reflect on the last 48+ hours, the more frustrated I become,” she said. “I’m watching a narrative being created to justify what’s happening to me. “

Umar said the photograph showed her handling an unloaded and deactivated firearm for the first time, before she had completed her training. But the abuse started before this photograph was shared and after her award win.

“The racist comments started as soon as my photograph was shared alongside the announcement of my award,” she said, adding that the initial post contained “no firearm” and “no discussion about trigger discipline”.

“Just me, in my hijab, being recognised for my contribution to women in policing,” she wrote.

She added: “The abuse was already there. Then someone brought a photograph from 2024 into the conversation, and suddenly, the narrative changed.

“‘We’re not racist. We’re just angry about an officer’s firearm handling.’

“Make it make sense.”

‘Hatred. Racism. Misogyny.’

Umar said the subsequent focus on the firearm photograph risked diverting attention from the abuse she had already received.

“You cannot use a photograph retrospectively to explain away hatred that was already being expressed,” she wrote.

“When racist comments begin the moment a hijab-wearing woman is recognised for her achievements, we need to be honest about what we’re witnessing.

“Hatred. Racism. Misogyny.”

Umar added: “I’m human. I’m a police officer who has worked hard, a woman who wants to make a difference, and someone who should be able to celebrate an achievement without this abuse.”

She said she would not allow that narrative to “erase the reality” of her experience.

Speaking at the awards, Umar spoke about the importance of representation in policing, recalling how her daughter asked whether women like her could become police officers.

“I never thought about a career in the police until my daughter at the time said to me, ‘Can women like you do that job?’, and I was really offended because obviously she’d never seen anyone who looked like me being a police officer, and it’s because of that that I have continued to do this work and to try and create a space for women who look like me in policing across the UK,” Umar said in a video shared by the Metropolitan Police Federation.

Image credit: Police Federation/©Anderson Photography