The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY), a chapter of the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called for an independent criminal investigation of the “homicide” of a nearly-blind Rohingya refugee in Buffalo, New York, after border patrol agents abandoned him miles away from his home.
Last month, CAIR and CAIR-NY called for the New York State Police to work with the Buffalo Police Department to thoroughly and transparently investigate the disappearance and subsequent death of Nurul Amin Shah Alam.
The Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office has now ruled his death a “homicide.”
In a statement, CAIR-NY Executive Director Afaf Nasher, Esq., said:
“The Erie County Medical Examiner’s ruling that the death of Nurul Amin Shah Alam was a homicide confirms what his family and community feared from the beginning: this was not a tragic accident, but a preventable and deeply disturbing loss of life.
“We call for an immediate, independent criminal investigation into the actions of the U.S. Border Patrol agents who abandoned a nearly-blind refugee miles away from his home in freezing conditions. No one, regardless of immigration status, should ever be treated with such disregard for their safety and basic human dignity.”
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CONTACT: Afaf Nasher, Esq., CAIR-NY Executive Director, ANasher@cair.com; CAIR-NY Communications Team, comms@ny.cair.com; CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com