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Chicago Tribune-Herald - April 4, 2006
Muslim student attacked on Baylor campus
By Tim Woods
A Muslim Baylor University senior of South Asian heritage who was active in Muslim-Christian relations was attacked on the school’s campus Saturday night, suffering multiple injuries.
Chief Jim Doak of the Baylor Department of Public Safety confirmed that police were alerted about the attack and that the incident is being investigated, but he refused to release further details. Neither Doak nor a university spokeswoman could immediately say whether the alleged attack will be investigated as a hate crime.
The Baylor DPS web site indicated that the attack occurred near Draper Hall between 8:45 and 9 p.m.
Rabiah Ahmed, a spokeswoman for the Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said the victim called them Monday and said a man, thought to be in his 30s, grabbed her hijab, an Islamic head scarf, and threw the woman to the ground. As he did, the attacker allegedly yelled anti-Muslim and ethnic slurs at the woman including “Arabian (expletive)” and “(expletive) Muslims.”
When the woman screamed, her attacker reportedly slapped her and kicked her multiple times in the ribs, according to Ahmed. An emergency room examination found bruises and a dislocated shoulder, Ahmed said.
The victim, who was active in Muslim-Christian relations on the Baylor campus, went to her family home in Oklahoma after the attack. Ahmed said she was told the victim would stay home for about a week.
Ahmed said the victim “did not specify if she was afraid to come back (to school), but I’m sure if she was asked, she probably would say that she is because it’s not the first time that it’s happened.”
Ahmed said the victim told her that in the past people had harassed her on campus because of her dress.
http://www.wacotrib.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/04/04/04042006wacmuslimearly.html
CAIR calls on the FBI to investigate
the incident as a hate crime
Washington DC. April 4, 2006 - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) a national civil rights group, today asked that Waco law enforcement officials aggressively pursue Saturday night's attack on a Muslim Baylor University student on campus as a hate crime.
"Law enforcement authorities and university officials need to treat this disturbing incident with the seriousness it deserves," said Council on American-Islamic Relations communications director Ibrahim Hooper. "Local, state and national leaders also need to speak out against the rising level of Islamophobic hate in our society that can lead to such attacks."
Hooper also called on the FBI to investigate the incident as a hate crime.
Two recent polls indicate that almost half of Americans have a negative perception of Islam and that one in four of those surveyed have "extreme" anti-Muslim views, CAIR officials said.
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