More than a decade after her community-minded dad was murdered in the street, Maz Saleem found the heart to forgive his neo-Nazi killer.
Ukrainian student Pavlo Lapshyn had only been in Britain five days when he stabbed 82-year-old Haji Mohammed Saleem to death in Birmingham.
He is not known to have expressed any remorse up until his death in unknown circumstances at high-security HMP Wakefield on Tuesday.
However, the pensioner’s youngest daughter has no desire for revenge as she uses his memory to campaign against racism and Islamophobia.
She told Metro that she was shaken yesterday when told the news of the terrorist’s death aged 37, which she says was broken in ‘cold’ language from the prison authorities who did not reveal the circumstances.
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‘I don’t wish death on anyone, and I don’t think this is justice, so I won’t be celebrating,’ she said. ‘As a Muslim, I believe in forgiveness.
‘After a decade and a half, I’ve finally managed to forgive him because you can’t carry any negativity in your heart towards someone who’s done something wrong, you have to heal yourself as well as others.
‘I’ve been campaigning against Islamophobia for the last decade and a half and this is a time when the country needs unity and not more division.’
The human rights campaigner’s world was shattered on April 29, 2013 when Lapshyn stabbed the father of seven three times from behind as he walked home from prayers at Small Heath mosque.
He also stamped on the head of his victim, a pillar of the community and advocate for education who had 23 grandchildren at the time.
Lapshyn later planted three home-made bombs near mosques in the West Midlands in planned racist attacks. The neo-Nazi was himself a foreigner in the community he targeted, having left Dnipro behind to take up a temporary placement with software company Delcam in Birmingham.
‘I miss my father every day,’ Ms Saleem said.
‘Pavlo Lapshyn butchered him outside our house, where we used to walk five times a day, every day. Since then, Islamophobia has been on the rise. I’ve been attacked on the London Tube by a racist for wearing my keffiyeh, which has left me with severe PTSD. Muslims, and especially Muslim women, are being targeted. But there’s no point having hate in your heart, and I was thinking of his elderly parents even more so.
‘For me, it’s time to forgive, because we need a world of unity. I wish him to rest in peace, and I am keeping his parents in my thoughts.’
Six weeks after taking the pensioner’s life, Lapshyn planted his first explosive device beside gates outside the Aisha mosque in Walsall.
He detonated another seven days later on a roundabout near Wolverhampton Central Mosque, although no one noticed for three weeks.
His final and most dangerous bomb, packed with hundreds of nails, sent debris flying across a car park close to Kanzul Iman Masjid mosque in Tipton on July 12. The attack failed to cause casualties only because morning prayers had been put back an hour, delaying the arrival of up to 1,000 worshippers, the Old Bailey heard.
He was caught after police recognised his Delcam work clothes on CCTV footage. At his home, officers found material for further bombs, including three mobile phones used as detonators, and white supremacist literature.
Lapshyn admitted to police that he had acted alone and ‘wanted to increase racial conflict’. He said he targeted mosques ‘because they are not white and I am white’.
A picture found on the white supremacist’s computer by police had words and images relating to the murder, together with a smiley face and the slogan ‘WHITE POWER’.
Who was Haji Mohammed Saleem?
Mohammed Saleem arrived in the UK in 1957 after leaving Pakistan to take part in the post-war rebuilding effort.
‘My father was an amazing man who loved and respected this country,’ his daughter Maz Saleem said.
Settling in the West Midlands, Mr Saleem worked at a steelworks in Aston and then at an English bakery in Small Heath, taking on long shifts to provide for his family. The father of five daughters and two sons believed that ‘education is key’, Ms Saleem said. More than 6,000 people came to his funeral, including many children.
‘He was a bit of an icon who did a lot for the community, encouraging young people to follow education and take a straight path through life,’ she said. ‘I was the youngest daughter and a premature baby, and he took care of me even though he and my mum had five other kids to think about. He was a fantastic human being.’
Lapshyn was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 40 years for the murder by a judge at the Old Bailey in October 2013.
The tariff included 12 years for offences under the Explosives Substances Act and 12 years for offences under the Terrorism Act.
Even after being imprisoned, Lapshyn was caught in the process of making an explosive substance in his cell at the Category A jail in West Yorkshire.
Ms Saleem, who also describes herself as an educator, likens him to the scheming character of Charles ‘The Old Head’ Westmoreland in the TV series Prison Break, a hardened criminal who did not change his ways.
The Prison Service said: ‘This was an abhorrent crime and our thoughts remain with Mr Saleem’s friends and family. Pavlo Lapshyn died on 23 September 2025 at HMP Wakefield. As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will investigate.’
The ombudsman told Metro today: ‘I can confirm that we are investigating this death, and the investigation began yesterday. Our final report will be published on our website once the inquest concludes.’
Ms Saleem has used her dad’s memory to push the government to adopt an official definition of Islamophobia at a time when figures show anti-Muslim hatred is on the rise. She has also questioned why the murder was not described as a terror attack in media reporting of the case.
The campaigner believes the best outcome for justice would have been for Lapshyn to have served his sentence.
‘If you do the crime, you should do the time,’ she said.
‘Although what he did to my father was sickening and disgusting, a life for a life is not what Muslims believe in.
‘At a time when there are so many divisions in society, you have to show compassion and forgiveness.’
Do you have a story you would like to share? Contact josh.layton@metro.co.uk
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