Yousaf accuses Musk of using Kriss Donald murder to 'inflame racial tensions'

The former first minister said the tech billionaire was only interested in drawing attention to cases involving "migrants, people of colour, or indeed Muslims".

Glasgow schoolboy Kriss Donald was abducted and killed by an Asian gang led by Imran Shahid on March 15, 2004.

Kriss was stabbed 13 times and set on fire while he was still alive on a quiet walkway behind Celtic FC’s training ground in the east end of the city.

The assailants had taken him on a 200-mile journey to Dundee and back while the gang members attempted to find a house to take him to.

Mr Musk highlighted a post on X to say he had never heard of the murder or subsequent trial and Mr Yousaf responded to tell him it was then-Glasgow Central MP Mohammed Sarwar, a Scots-Pakistani, who was integral in seeing the perpetrators brought to justice.

Mr Yousaf called it a dreadful and horrific crime, and said he hoped the perpetrators "never see, frankly, the outside of a jail cell".

Speaking on Tonight with Andrew Marr on LBC, he added: "But typical of Elon Musk to suddenly amplify that case, because he, of course, is only interested in highlighting cases that involve, it tends to be migrants, people of color, or indeed Muslims.

“The Kriss Donald murder was a dreadful murder where a young, innocent white male inside Glasgow, in the Pollokshields area, was kidnapped, tortured, killed, murdered in one of the most brutal ways by a gang of Scottish Asian youth.

"Those Asian youth then tried to flee to Pakistan because there was no extradition treaty between the UK and Pakistan.

"And they almost evaded justice, if it wasn't, in fairness, for the efforts of Mohammed Sarwar MP, the first Muslim MP ever to be elected to the House of Commons, who went over to Pakistan, rattled a lot of cages to his credit, and managed to bring the perpetrators back to Scotland to face the full force of the law.

"And I should say on the Kriss Donald murder, it was in fact Kriss Donald's mother, Angela, who made a plea at the time that her son's murder not be used to inflame racial tensions. That is exactly what Elon Musk is trying to do."

Mr Yousaf previously called Mr Musk one of the most dangerous men on the planet.

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”.

A 20-year-old man who was not named for legal reasons was jailed for murder in December 2004 while Zahid Mohammed, 20, was sentenced to five years for assaulting and abducting Kriss.

The three remaining suspects – ringleader Imran Shahid, his brother Zeeshan Shahid and Mohammed Faisal Mushtaq – had fled to Pakistan after the killing.

Mr Sarwar played a key role in ensuring the three suspects were extradited back to Scotland to face punishment.

Imran Shahid, his brother Zeeshan Shahid and Mushtaq were found guilty of murder and jailed for life in November 2006.

The case marked the first conviction for a racially-motivated murder in Scotland.