NYC teen accused of cutting Sikh's hair

[deadparrot]

Source: Associated Press

NEW YORK - A teenager was charged with a bias crime after authorities said he forcibly removed a Sikh student's turban and cut off his hair in a school bathroom, authorities said Friday.

Umair Ahmed, 17, was charged with unlawful imprisonment, menacing and aggravated harassment, all under hate crime statutes, said Kevin Ryan, a spokesman for the Queens district attorney. Ahmed also was charged with criminal possession of a weapon.

Bail was set at $7,500 at an arraignment Friday evening. An after-hours phone call to his attorney, Francis Imperato, was not immediately returned, and there was no telephone listing at the address for Ahmed that police provided.

Sikhism calls for men to wear their hair long, and many wear turbans.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070526/ap_on_re_us/haircut_attack

[MsKandice01]

1. The ignorant little fuck probably thought he was a Muslim...

What is wrong with people??

[alcibiades_mystery]

2. I would suspect that Mr. Ahmed is himself a Muslim...

:eyes:

[MsKandice01]

3. You mean I'm supposed to actually READ before I post??

I think you're asking for a bit much.

[dave_p]

7. Hey, you weren't alone!

:blush:

[alcibiades_mystery]

8. It's Queens, baby

We know the difference between a Sikh and a Muslim.

[uppityperson]

6. Had to search a bunch of stories to find anything, here are stories/links

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/258874/new_york_teen_charged_with_haircutting.html

...
AHN reported that Ahmed and the Sikh boy, whose name is being withheld, got into an argument at school which led to racial insults. However, the boy tried to apologize to Ahmed. But Ahmed would not accept the apology unless the Sikh boy let Ahmed cut his hair. The Sikh boy agreed.

The hair-cutting apology turned into more violence from Ahmed. He dragged the boy into a school bathroom, pulled off his turban and took a pair of scissors to Ahmed's traditionally long hair, said AHN. Two other students stood as lookouts so that Ahmed would not get caught.

When questioned by authorities, the school said that the school had a lot of ethnically different students and that there usually wasn't much tension between different groups of kids. Due to the fact that the crime was religiously and racially motivated, police are considering Ahmed's act as an act of violence and a hate crime. As previously stated, Ahmed is being charged of more than one crime...

http://www.gothamist.com/2007/05/25/yo_mama_joke_le.php

Beware the yo mama joke: After some "friends" were yo-mama-joking around at Newtown High School in Elmhurst, two students cut off the hair of another student. And the victim is a Sikh, whose religion requires long hair to be worn.

Apparently Pakistani students Waqas Ali and Umair Ahmed had been joking with Sikh student Harpaal Vashar, although some other reports claim that they were trading insults. But Vashar's joke went too far, and Ahmed would "only accept a haircut as an apology," according to the AP. And then Ahmed allegedly decided to force a haircut on Vashar, with Ali's help, in a basement bathroom at the high school.

Ahmed, who is 17, was charged with unlawful imprisonment, menacing and aggravated harassment - all as hate crimes. Fifteen-year-old Ali was charged as a juvenile on the same counts. Ali's father told the Daily News, "This is a mistake. This boy is a very good friend of my son. Last week, he was in my home," and other students and teachers felt that the attack was not a reflection on the school.

http://www.amny.com/news/local/am-sikh0526,0,5563447.story?coll=am-local-headlines

...The boy said it was against his religion, but Ahmed showed him a ring and said, "This ring is Allah. If you don't let me cut your hair, I will punch you with this ring."...

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21797015-5006506,00.html

...Prosecutors said Umair approached Vacher Harpal in a school hallway on Thursday armed with a pair of scissors and told him, "I have to cut your hair."

When Vacher asked why and told him it was against his religion, Umair allegedly displayed a ring with Arabic inscriptions and stated, "This ring is Allah. If you don't let me cut your hair, I will punch you with this ring," according to prosecutors.

Once inside the bathroom, officials said, Vacher removed his turban while crying and begged Umair not to cut his hair, which had never been cut. ...

[Name removed]

9. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MADem]

5. Yep, this sounds like the fighting that went on when the Monarchy's

Jewel in the Crown got Independence and was partitioned--the same dreadful hate crime shit, only over here...

Some bullshit never changes.

[tblue]

4. Reminds me of that scene in The Last Samurai. That was sure ugly. Absolutely, that's a hate crime.

[Fredda Weinberg]

10. This may be a hoax

On local reports, we're being told the "victim" may have wanted a face-saving way to cut off hair that would be uncomfortable now that summer is here.