The mother of an Islamic State-inspired extremist who stabbed shoppers in a New Zealand supermarket said her son was radicalized by neighbors from Syria and Iraq who helped him recover from an injury. The attacker, Ahamed Samsudeen, was a 32-year-old Tamil Muslim from Sri Lanka. He arrived in New Zealand 10 years ago on a student visa, and applied for refugee status on the basis of being persecuted in his home country.
Samsudeen was shot and killed by police, who said five people were stabbed and two injured in last weeks attack.
His mother, Mohamedismail Fareetha, said his descent into extremism began after he fell several stories in 2016 while attending university.
“Because he did not have anyone there, it was people from Syria and Iraq who helped him. It looks like they brainwashed him. Then he started posting on Facebook,” Fareetha said in a phone interview Saturday with a local TV station from her home in eastern Sri Lanka.
He changed only after going abroad, she added.
Police…