Muslim woman photographed in Westminster attack scene speaks out

A Muslim woman who became the subject of Islamophobic memes after being photographed at the scene of the Westminster attack in London has broken her silence about the distress and abuse she has been facing.

The photo showed the woman wearing a hijab and glancing at her phone on the Westminster Bridge as people gathered around a nearby injured person.

It was circulated on social media as supposed evidence of her apathy, along with Islamophobic comments and captions.

One user posted it alongside a photo of the Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood performing CPR on a victim with the caption "the main difference between Muslims and Christians".

"I'm shocked and totally dismayed at how a picture of me is being circulated on social media," she told Tell Mama, a group monitoring anti-Muslim incidents.

"To those individuals who have interpreted and commented on what my thoughts were in that horrific and distressful moment, I would like to say not only have I been devastated by witnessing the aftermath of a shocking and numbing terror attack, I've also had to deal with the shock of finding my picture plastered all over social media by those who could not look beyond my attire, who draw conclusions based on hate and xenophobia."

She explained that her thoughts at the time of the attack were those of sadness, fear, and concern.

"What the image does not show is that I had talked to other witnesses to try and find out what was happening, to see if I could be of any help, even though enough people were at the scene tending to the victims."

She then called her family to reassure them she was fine and on her way home, assisting a lady along the way to get to Waterloo station.

The woman also expressed gratitude for Jamie Lorriman, the photographer behind the viral picture, "for speaking to the media in my defence".

Tell Mama said the woman was distraught and that the use of the image "has undermined the confidence of an innocent young woman who was also caught up in the melee after the attacks".

Lorriman, who had been taking photographs of parliament at the time of the attack, told the Guardian he felt the pictures clearly showed the woman in distress.

"Looking back at the pictures now she looks visibly distraught in both pictures in my opinion," he said.

"She's in the middle of an unfolding horrific scene ... I think her expression to me says that she's horrified by what she's seen and she just needs to get out of the situation."

Despite the inciteful campaign against the woman, many people came to her defence, sharing other images from the scene that show other passersby appearing unconcerned.

Four people died in the IS-claimed attack outside parliament in London this week when a British-born killer rammed his car into pedestrians then stabbed a police officer before being shot dead.