A Muslim Woman Mistaken For a Terrorist Filed a Civil Rights Suit Against the Chicago Police 

By Megan Reynolds  |  August 12, 2016 | 2:30am
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Itemid Al-Matar filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of Chicago and six of its police officers who misidentified her as a potential terrorist on July 4, 2015 as she left a subway station dressed in hijab and niqab while carrying a backpack.

Al-Matar alleges in the suit that six Chicago police officers grabbed her and threw her down as she was walking up the stairs on her way home to break fast at sunset. The incident was caught on security cameras and clearly shows five police officers running up the stairs to catch Al-Matar.

The suit alleges that Al-Matar’s hijab and niqab were “the impetus behind the actions” of the police officers. One of the lawyers in the civil case, Phil Robertson, argued in a statement that ““blatant xenophobia, Islamophobia, and racial profiling” were to blame.

Al-Matar moved to the United States two years ago from Saudi Arabia to study English. According to a police report filed the night of the incident, officers had been instructed to be on “high alert of terrorist activity.” Officers singled out Al-Matar allegedly because of her “suspicious behavior”, which included “walking at a brisk pace, in a determined manner.”

Because of her pace and also the backpack she clutched to her chest as she walked up the stairs, the arresting officers “believed that subject might be a lone wolf suicide bomber.”

The lawsuit names six police officers and the city of Chicago as the defendants and accuses them of “excessive force, false arrest, violation of freedom of religious expression and malicious prosecution.”

Naturally, the city’s law department declined to comment.

 
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