Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s former first minister, has accused X owner Elon Musk of trying to inflame racial tensions after he posted about the murder of a Glasgow schoolboy.
Musk shared a post about the racist killing of Kriss Donald in Pollokshields in 2004 by a gang of Scottish Asian youths, saying it was the first time he had heard of the case.
Yousaf told BBC Scotland News that the billionaire tech entrepreneur had amplified the murder because he “seems to highlight cases that involve only people of colour or Muslims”.
Musk has previously dismissed accusations of discrimination from the former SNP leader, with each accusing the other of racism in a long-running row.
Yousaf said: “Elon Musk’s motivation for highlighting such cases is not compassion for the victims, but only to propagate far right-conspiracy.”
He also repeated accusations that Musk was sympathetic to white supremacists.
Asked if he believed the X owner and Trump ally was trying to stoke racial tension, the SNP MSP said “of course” he was.
Yousaf, who stepped down as first minister last year, called the murder of Kriss Donald “one of the most horrific race killings” in Scotland during his lifetime.
He added: “Those heinous, evil killers, I hope they rot in prison quite frankly.”
‘Full force of the law’
In his initial online response to Musk, Yousaf pointed to the role of then-Glasgow Central MP Mohammed Sarwar.
A Scottish-Pakistani and father of current Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, he was integral in seeing the perpetrators brought to justice.
Yousaf told BBC Scotland News he wanted to remind Musk it was Sarwar who travelled to Pakistan, “rattled a few cages and managed to get them brought back home to face the full force of the law”.
He said Musk’s opponents could either ignore him, or confront him and promote a “much more hopeful ideology where communities can exist in cohesion”.
Yousaf said he believed the billionaire businessman had “no interest” in a conversation about their differences.
Kriss, 15, was repeatedly stabbed and set on fire after being abducted by a gang led by Imran Shahid.
Trial judge Lord Uist said Kriss had been targeted at random because he was white, describing the murder as “an abomination” which had “rightly shocked and appalled the public”.
The murder followed an assault on Shahid at a nightclub the previous evening. Kriss was not involved in the attack.
Daanish Zahid was jailed for murder in December 2004 while Zahid Mohammed, 20, was sentenced to five years for assault and abduction.
The three remaining suspects – Shahid, his brother Zeeshan Shahid and Mohammed Faisal Mushtaq – fled to Pakistan after the killing.
Mohammed Sarwar played a key role in ensuring the three suspects were extradited back to Scotland to face punishment.
Shahid, his brother Zeeshan Shahid and Mushtaq were found guilty of murder and jailed for life in November 2006.
The case was the first conviction for a racially-motivated murder in Scotland.
‘Populists’ row
Yousaf’s comments come after repeated interventions by Musk in UK politics.
The X owner – who has been appointed as an efficiency tsar in Donald Trump’s incoming US administration – has attacked Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government, as well as criticising former prime minister Gordon Brown.
The world’s richest man has backed Nigel Farage’s Reform party. However, he subsequently called for Farage to be replaced.
Earlier this week, First Minister John Swinney urged MSPs to back his government’s budget to thwart “forces of anti-politics”.
He said if parliamentarians fail to do so it would play “right into the hands of Elon Musk and other populists”.