{"id":26877,"date":"2022-09-21T15:27:58","date_gmt":"2022-09-21T15:27:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/?p=26877"},"modified":"2022-09-21T15:36:16","modified_gmt":"2022-09-21T15:36:16","slug":"brooklyn-mosque-volunteer-sues-nypd-over-false-arrest-at-his-place-of-worship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/archives\/26877","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn Mosque Volunteer sues NYPD over \u2018false\u2019 arrest at his place of worship"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>New York: Brooklyn mosque volunteer named Ishtiaq Ahmed filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday alleging that New York Police Department (NYPD) officers falsified an \u201cassault\u201d that never happened in order to arrest Mr. Ahmed and intimidate him and his mosque community.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>According to a press note released from the lawyer of Ishtiaq Ahmed, NYPD officers fabricated the assault after an interaction in which Mr. Ahmed enforced social distancing restrictions against members of service attempting to enter the Makki Masjid mosque\u2019s prayer room during services.<\/p>\n<p>The press release alleges that NYPD officers falsely reported that Mr. Ahmed assaulted a member of the mosque community during that interaction, even though CCTV footage confirms that no assault happened. The purported victim of the assault also told media outlets that no assault occurred and that he never made a report to the police.<\/p>\n<p>Based on their \u2018fabricated\u2019 report, NYPD officers arrested Mr. Ahmed, jailed him for 24 hours, and charged with him assault. It took months for the false charges to be dismissed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I came to this country, I never expected police here could do this,\u201d Mr. Ahmed said. \u201cThey targeted me and destroyed my life to make an example of what happens if you question them. Police act like they can get away with anything they want in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to the Complaint, the \u2018fabricated\u2019 report was retaliation for the mosque\u2019s recent objection to NYPD officers seizing the mosque pulpit to make speeches promoting the NYPD, as well as Mr. Ahmed\u2019s effort to apply the mosque\u2019s social distancing restrictions against NYPD officers. The Complaint alleges that NYPD officials had regularly visited the Makki Masjid mosque in Brooklyn\u2019s \u201cLittle Pakistan\u201d neighborhood to make such speeches as part of \u201ccommunity policing\u201d tactics that were actually intended to divide the community.<\/p>\n<p>The Complaint alleges that the officers intended to humiliate, intimidate, and punish Mr. Ahmed and his community for denying them unfettered access to the mosque.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNYPD framing Mr. Ahmed was part of a decades-long police campaign to intimidate and control the city\u2019s Muslim communities,\u201d said attorney Shakeer Rahman. \u201cAlthough NYPD has tried to rebrand its surveillance of immigrants as \u2018community policing,\u2019 Mr. Ahmed\u2019s experience shows how this reform is just as violent as the tactics of the past.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to the press release, the fabrication was perpetuated by several NYPD officers, including Deputy Inspector Richard Taylor\u2014who was present during the interactions that NYPD falsely characterized as an assault.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is unacceptable that several NYPD officers thought they could lie about Mr. Ahmed and get away with it,\u201d said attorney Sam Barr. \u201cThis culture of impunity has to end.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As a result of his false arrest, Mr. Ahmed claims that he suffered physical injuries and has experienced emotional distress, including post-traumatic stress disorder. He also lost his Taxi and Limousine Commission license upon his arrest, and the incident had a devastating effect on his ability to support his family.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince the arrest last year I have not been able to sleep, I get nightmares and suicidal anxiety, I have been terrified to go to the Friday prayers, and I cannot even look at the clothes I was wearing that day,\u201d Mr. Ahmed said. \u201cMy children feel the trauma too, their grades at school are suffering, and they tell me they want to leave the country.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New York: Brooklyn mosque volunteer named Ishtiaq Ahmed filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday alleging that New York Police Department (NYPD) officers falsified an \u201cassault\u201d that never happened in order to arrest Mr. Ahmed and intimidate him and his mosque community. According to a press note released from the lawyer of Ishtiaq Ahmed, NYPD officers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":26878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1469,31,32,1378,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-york","category-news","category-pakistan","category-us","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26877"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26888,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26877\/revisions\/26888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}