From the Sunday Times:

Woman abused as she drove
Paul Lampathakis
February 10, 2007

A PERTH Muslim woman wants to know what has become of the friendly Australia she once knew - after she was menaced on the road and accused of being a terrorist.

Shameema, who did not want her surname published for fear of retribution, said the incident on Thursday was typical of what she and other Muslims endured every day.

The 24-year-old woman entered the westbound side of Graham Farmer Freeway in East Perth and realised a man in another car was screaming at her.

“He screamed `bloody Muslim terrorist, f–k off to your own country’,” said Shameema, who became an Australian citizen five years ago.

“I thought, `is he actually talking to me?’. Nothing had happened on the road, so I wasn’t expecting this.

“Then the woman next to him screamed, `go back to your own country’.

“I said, `why don’t you f–k off, I am home’.”

Shameema said the man then drove alongside her in the emergency lane. She feared he might force her into cars next to her.

“Normally, I don’t get scared, but I was literally shaking because I didn’t know what to do, where to go,” she said.

“I was alone. I was dialling 000 and they’re still screaming, `bloody Muslim, go home’.

“I’m thinking, `do I brake? If I brake he’ll stop. Where do I go because he’ll push me out of the lane. I can’t go into the right side because there are cars there’.”

She braked and the man’s vehicle cut in front of her and started braking, while the man was giving her the finger sign from his window.

The couple, who were probably in their 30s, took the James St exit and Shameema’s ordeal ended.

“I’ve been in Australia for seven years and it wasn’t like this when I first came from South Africa,” she said.

“It got bad in the last three years and in the last year it has gotten a whole lot worse.

“These people don’t even know me, they don’t know anything about me, how can they behave this way?’