A Black Lives Matter activist in the United Kingdom has been convicted of fraud after spending nearly $40,000 in charitable donations on hair appointments, take-out food and other personal expenses.
Xahra Saleem, 23, who formerly went by the name Yvonne Maina, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison, the BBC reported this week.
Saleem helped set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds for Changing Your Mindset, a charity for disadvantaged youth, The Guardian reported.
“The idea was to fund weekly support sessions, plus an educational visit to Africa,” according to the report.
In addition to serving as a director of the charity, Saleem was one of the organizers of a Black Lives Matter protest in Bristol, England, in June 2020, the BBC reported.
During that highly publicized event, the statue of a 17th-century slave trader, Edward Colston, was pulled down and thrown into Bristol Harbour in protest of the U.S. death of George Floyd.
“In the days leading up to the protest, Saleem set up a fundraising page to buy personal protective equipment (PPE) to help legally facilitate the march, which took place during Covid-19 pandemic restrictions,” the BBC reported.
“After the toppling of the statue made headlines