Hate Crimes Against Muslims: One incident

Defendant: Safia Z. Jilani(Law enforcement handout photo / October 17, 2008)

Charge:
Filing a false police report

Jilani, a Muslim student, who said a masked gunman assaulted her on October 9, 2008 after he wrote anti-Muslim slurs in a women's restroom at Elmhurst College. Jilani, 19, of Oak Brook, was arrested a week later after authorities concluded there was no merit to her complaint.

"The totality of all the evidence, and interviews with staff and students at the college ... concluded that this incident never happened," said Elmhurst Police Chief Steve Neubauer.

Jilani's report of an attack followed several weeks of tension on campus that began when some students allegedly called anti-Muslim slurs at students protesting the treatment of U.S. captives at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp.

As officials at the private college, affiliated with the United Church of Christ, called the incident a hate crime, hundreds of students rallied to show solidarity with their Muslim peers, who constitute about 25 of the school's 3,300 students.


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