The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) today welcomed the arrest of the man suspected of assaulting a Muslim woman and destroying her phone on a Brooklyn subway platform as he shouted Islamophobic remarks.
A 39-year-old was arrested on 19 charges, including robbery, assault, petit larceny and criminal mischief as hate crimes, for the March 17 attack, according to police. The victim was sitting beside her attacker on a bench at the Ninth Ave. station in Sunset Park when he reportedly started ranting about the war in Iran and yelling about “terrorists walking around” the city. The suspect then reportedly called the victim a terrorist and spewed Islamophobic slurs as he threw her to the ground on the Manhattan-bound D train platform around 10:50 a.m.
SEE: Man arrested for attacking woman at Brooklyn subway while shouting anti-Islam slurs
In a statement, CAIR-NY Executive Director Afaf Nasher said:
“We welcome the arrest of the suspected perpetrator of this vicious anti-Muslim attack. The Islamophobia stirred up by those in power has real impacts on American Muslims. In this climate of ever-increasing vitriol and hatred, every incident of violence targeting Muslims must be taken seriously by law enforcement and fully prosecuted.”
She noted that after the attack, CAIR-NY asked for the public’s assistance with information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspected perpetrator.
SEE: CAIR-NY Seeks Help from Public to Identify Anti-Muslim Subway Attacker
END
CONTACT: Afaf Nasher, Esq. CAIR-NY Executive Director, ANasher@cair.com, CAIR-NY Communications Team, comms@ny.cair.com