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Five Jewish teenagers charged in beating
of Pakistani immigrant
New York Feb. 1, 2007 - Five Orthodox Jewish teens have been indicted for an October hate crime attack in Brooklyn against Shahid Amber, an immigrant from Pakistan.
District Attorney Charles J. Hynes said in a statement that Shulomi Bitton, 16, Yossi Friedman, 17, Benjamin Wasserman, 16 and two juveniles - Yitzi Horowitz, 15, David Brach, 15, - are charged with second-degree gang assault and third-degree menacing.
American Muslim groups had characterized the attack against Shahid Amber on Oct. 29 as an example of growing anti-Muslim sentiment in America. Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a leading Muslim advocacy group, demanded an investigation, saying It's an indication of "the kind of thing that we're seeing as a growing phenomenon, tied to a sharp rise in the anti-Muslim sentiment in our society".
The attack against Amber came just days after the Oct 19 slaying of an Afghan-born mother of six in Fremont, California. Alia Ansari, 38, was gunned down, while walking in a residential neighbourhood. Authorities have not yet labelled that shooting a hate crime but Muslim leaders have voiced concern she was targeted because she wore a headscarf.
Shahid Amber, 24, was eating ice cream outside a Dunkin' Donuts shop in Brooklyn when he was approached by a group of teens who began taunting him, using profanity and calling him a terrorist. He was thrown against a wall, punched and kicked, suffering a broken nose, black eyes and other injuries.
The CAIR spokesman Hooper said the two incidents come at a time of increased rhetoric against Muslims in America, with vitriol found in letters to the editor, on conservative talk radio and even in some politicians' talks.
The CAIR, in its 2006 annual report, said it had received almost 30 per cent more civil rights complaints from Muslims in 2005 than in 2004. The 1,972 complaints, which cover harassment, violence and discriminatory treatment, were the highest number of complaints the group had received in its 12-year history, its report said. (Media Reports)
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