Former English cricketer Azeem Rafiq says he has "been driven out of the country" by "threats and abuse" since "opening his heart out" about racism at Yorkshire.
Azeem Rafiq Photo: AFP
Speaking to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee, as he did at the end of 2021, Rafiq said media coverage had fuelled threats to his family.
The 31-year-old spoke of a man "defecating" in his garden as well as abuse received in the street.
"At times I've walked down the street fearing for my life," Rafiq said.
The former Yorkshire spinner told MPs in 2021 that English cricket was "institutionally" racist, having said in 2020 that abuse at the club had left him close to taking his own life.
In October, Rafiq said "a never-ending, co-ordinated campaign of lies" had "caused serious risk" to his family's safety after he was accused of anti-Semitism and homophobia in a Daily Mail
report.
In his latest appearance at a parliamentary committee hearing, Rafiq said he now receives "24/7 security" from the England and Wales Cricket Board and spoke about how the Yorkshire Post's coverage of the story "should be held responsible for" the abuse he and his family have experienced since.
"Every time there's an article it's created a wave of online abuse," he said.
"I don't feel like at any point they [the Yorkshire Post] have had any balance. If I was to pick one reason why all this has happened, unfortunately I would have to say it is the Yorkshire Post's writing.
"Moving abroad is not an easy...
From claims that TMC members were caught by the CRPF in West Bengal to an old, unrelated video falsely shared as a clip of PM Modi, here are five viral pieces of fake news that Team WebQoof debunk...