Hi there,

The climate crisis, war, attacks on reproductive rights, book bans—these threats aren't looming. They are here now. If you think Democracy Now!'s reporting on these issues is essential, please sign up for a monthly gift of $10 or more. Right now, a generous donor will DOUBLE your gift, making your donation twice as valuable. We don't have a paywall or run ads, which means we’re not brought to you by the oil, gas, coal, or nuclear companies when we cover the climate catastrophe or by the weapons manufacturers when we cover war. Democracy Now! is funded by you and that’s why we need your help today. This is a challenging year for news organizations and nonprofits across the board, so please don’t close this window before making your gift. We're counting on you more than ever to sustain our reporting. Start your monthly donation of $10 or more right now and help Democracy Now! stay strong and independent all year round. Thank you so much.
-Amy Goodman

Non-commercial news needs your support.

We rely on contributions from you, our viewers and listeners to do our work. If you visit us daily or weekly or even just once a month, now is a great time to make your monthly contribution.

Please do your part today.

Donate

Florida Police Apologize for Detaining Three Muslim Medical Students. We’ll Speak to the Young Men About Their Ordeal

Listen
Media Options
Listen

Florida police have apologized for detaining three medical students two days after the anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks. On September 13 Ayman Gheith, Kambiz Butt and Omer Choudhary were driving through Georgia to Florida where they were scheduled to begin a six-week clinical training course at Larkin Community Hospital in Miami.

But after stopping in a diner in Georgia, a woman reported to local police that the men were joking about 9/11. One of the students allegedly said, “They mourned on 9/11, and they are going to mourn again on 9/13.”

In the hours ensuing, Florida officials unleashed a massive manhunt which was televised across the country. 20 miles of Alligator Alley were shut down. Their cars were searched. A bomb squad blew up a suspicious backpack. All three men who were detained for 17 hours, denied any wrongdoing and were released by police without charges.

After the incident, Larkin Community Hospital decided not to host the students after officials said it received hundreds of threatening e-mails.

Now just this weekend, the hospital is rethinking its decision. Altaf Ali, executive director for Florida’s chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said this Saturday that an agreement was reached last week to let the men study at Larkin Community Hospital.

Tape:

  • Kambiz Butt
  • Ayman Gheith
  • Omer ChoudharyRelated link:

Related Story

StorySep 14, 2021“Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire”: Deepa Kumar on How Racism Fueled U.S. Wars Post-9/11
The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top