A Mississauga journalist was left bruised and beaten by attackers earlier this week, an incident he says was reaction to his criticism of a Pakistani cleric.

Jawaad Faizi said three men smashed the window of his car as he was parking in front of his editor's house Tuesday and began beating him with a bat.

Mississauga journalist Jawaad Faizi says three men attacked him, leaving him with cuts and bruises.
(Rubina Ahmed/CBC)

"They were yelling on me in Urdu and Punjabi and they're saying, 'You're a son of la la la la la la,'" said Faizi.

Peel Region police say the case is under investigation and they are taking the matter seriously.

The day before the attack, Faizi said, he filed a statement with police saying he was worried about his safety after receiving menacing telephone messages and death threats.

The journalist, who works for a U.S.-based Urdu-language weekly newspaper circulated across North America, had written columns in which he challenged statements made by the leader of the religious group Idara Minhaj-ul-Quran.

"I'm really, really very upset and scared, even too much, about my family and my innocent kids," said Faizi.

Fearing for their safety, he has kept his three children home from school since the incident.

Faizi moved his family to Canada in 2002, coming to avoid the violence in Pakistan.

"These kinds of things I never expected in this country," he said. "Here in Canada, we feel it's a paradise … and that's why we're here."

"Even here people are fanatics and extremists and they attack on us," he said.

The Toronto-based Canadian Journalists for Free Expression condemned the violence and voiced support for Faizi.

"It's a shock for us because we always think, 'Oh, this is what happens in Eritrea, this is what happens in Colombia, this is not what happens in Canada,' " said Anne Game, the group's executive director.