The State Department issued a harsh rebuke Thursday night amid online outrage stemming from the stabbing of Henry Nowak, and Vice President JD Vance was quick to pile-on, claiming the incident proves that western civilization is at risk.
“Ideological conditioning and two-tiered policing are glaring symptoms of civilizational decline,” the State Department wrote Thursday in a viral post on X. “They must be rejected across the West. The United States sends our condolences to the family of Henry Nowak and the people of the United Kingdom at this troubling time.”
Digwa, a British Sikh man of Indian heritage wearing a turban and carrying a long ceremonial knife.
Nowak was later handcuffed by police after Digwa claimed the student was racist against him, and police refused to believe him when he said he was stabbed. He died while in police custody.
“Henry Nowak died the same way a civilization dies: abandoned, handcuffed by authorities who neither trusted nor cared for him, and accused of hate crimes he did not commit,” Vance wrote on X in a lengthy post addressing the overseas crime.
“His murder is as tragic as it is enraging,” the vice president continued. “He should still be alive today, and he would be if the last few generations of European elites had stood their ground against the politics of self-hatred and the mass invasion of migrants, many of whom despise the West and the people who love it.”
He reiterated how a top priority of the Trump administration is working to preserve western civilization by stopping mass migration.
ENGLISH COPS CUFFED TEEN STABBING VICTIM AFTER ATTACKER CLAIMED RACIAL ASSAULT
Vickrum Digwa was found guilty at Southampton Crown Court of murdering university student Henry Nowak by stabbing him five times with a Sikh kirpan ceremonial knife on Dec. 3, 2025, in Southampton. Digwa falsely claimed he was the victim of a racist attack after the stabbing. (Press Association via AP Images)
Vance’s post drew an immediate response from across the pond.
“In recent days we have seen people trying to interfere in our democracy and seeking to stir up division on our streets,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.
“The Nowak family are grieving after Henry’s horrific murder. They have said they do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension. We should be respecting their wishes,” the statement continued. “Our politics should bring people together even in the most terrible of circumstances. That is who we are as a country.”
Nowak filmed the initial encounter before his death, where he called Digwa a “bad man.”
“I am a bad man,” Digwa replied, taking offense to the comment. He then stabbed the student five times, including a fatal wound to his chest. What came next sparked worldwide outrage while Digwa, now convicted of murder, was on trial in May.
Body cameras worn by officers show Digwa alleging racial abuse and claiming Nowak removed his turban. The police took Digwa’s word, and handcuffed Nowak when they located him. Footage shows Nowak lying on the ground, repeatedly telling officers he couldn’t breathe.
When Nowak told officers he had been stabbed, one is heard dismissing him with: “Don’t think you have, mate.”
The young student bled to death in police custody.
DAN GAINOR: THE ENGLAND WE LOVE IS LOST. IF WE DON’T CHANGE, AMERICA WILL BE, TOO
Vice President JD Vance during a news conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (L) Britain’s PM Starmer speaks during a press conference, in London. (Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Thomas Krych/Pool via REUTERS)
It was later revealed that Digwa called his mother, Kiran Kaur, who arrived at the crime scene before the police so she could take the murder weapon to their family home and hide it. She was recently found guilty of assisting an offender and will be sentenced July 17.
Digwa was sentenced on June 1 to life in prison with a minimum term of 21 years.
UK ACTOR IDRIS ELBA SUGGESTS KITCHEN KNIVES BE BLUNTED, OTHERS BANNED TO PREVENT STABBINGS
Carrying knives in Britain is a heavily regulated practice, and certain types of knives are banned entirely. Digwa’s knife was considered an exception due to his religious beliefs, which also fanned the flames of the controversy surrounding the murder.
British law has a provision allowing Sikhs to carry kirpans, which are ceremonial religious knives. In Digwa’s case, he was carrying an eight-inch blade.
The country’s tightening speech laws have also come to the forefront, with critics arguing that police in Nowak’s case were too blinded by the report of racism to notice he had been mortally wounded. Since the Online Safety Act of 2023 took effect, swaths of Britons have been jailed for internet posts deemed racist by authorities.