A WOMAN who witnessed the sickening incident where an innocent man was branded a “security threat” while minding his own business in a Aussie food court has apologised for not standing up for him.

Zohab Zee Khan, a poetry slam champion, was writing on his laptop at Westfield Woden in suburban Canberra on Saturday when a security guard approached him.

“This might sound funny, but quite a few people have been complaining about you typing and looking around,” she told him. “They think you might be up to something.”

The fourth generation Pakistani-Australian said he was “fuming” after the incident because he believed he was perceived as a threat solely because of his appearance.

“We need to stop placating paranoid xenophobes,” Khan told news.com.au.

“I was just a dude writing on his laptop, eating a beef kebab in a food court. This is not a security threat.”

After news.com.au reported on the incident on Wednesday, a woman who witnessed it reached out to Khan via his website, expressing her shame and “sincerest apologies” for not stepping in.

“You probably wouldn’t be aware but I watched the incident at Woden Plaza on Saturday,” the woman, whose name Khan has chosen to keep anonymous, wrote.

“I could see the security guard approaching you and I was sitting there hoping that she was not going to do what I presumed she was going to do.

“Unfortunately she did.

“I was going to come and talk to you afterwards to let you know that not everyone looks at you or people with different backgrounds and cultures with fear.

“I had looked at you before the security guard approached you and remember thinking how nice looking you were.

“I walked past you after putting my lunch in the bin and wished you a good day.

“I am ashamed that I was not strong enough to stand up and say something.

“Zohab, I am so sorry that I was not brave enough to have a voice at the time, but I do promise that in future I will not be afraid to stand up and say something.”

Khan said he was initially reluctant to talk to the media about the incident, but the woman’s message had “made today’s whirlwind worth it”.

“If we as a society get one thing out of this, I hope it’s that we speak up more when we see someone treated incorrectly in our community,” Khan wrote on his Facebook page.

“These are our shopping malls, our food courts, and our communities.

“We’re in this together.”