Muslim Student Says She was Attacked Because of Her Religion

WLWT5, November 23, 2015

CINCINNATI —A Muslim woman is speaking out after she says she was called a terrorist and almost run over by an angry man in Clifton Monday night.
 
Haneen Jasim, 22, said after a night of studying at the Starbucks on University Square, as she crossed the street, a man started honking, cursing and calling her a terrorist.
 
The University of Cincinnati pre-med student was wearing her hijab.
 
“Very upsetting, very scary. I'm very, very nervous for me, my friends, my family,” said Jasim. “I'm terrified to cross the street now."
 
But worse, Jasim said the man drove toward her and didn’t stop. She said three people walking in front of her grabbed her onto the sidewalk before the car could hurt her.
 
“Within an instant he tried to run over me. If it wasn't for the three people in front of me, grabbing me onto the sidewalk, I would have been dead right there,” said Jasim.
 
The man drove off, and Jasim said she didn't catch a license plate, While shaken and terrified, she wasn't sure what police could do.
 
Jasim reported the incident to the Council on American Islamic Relations, also known as CAIR, which called Monday for a hate crime investigation by the FBI and Cincinnati police.
 
The organization said at least three Muslims in Cincinnati have been harassed or attacked in the past week alone.
 
CAIR said one Muslim woman was assaulted in a Hyde Park Kroger parking lot and another Muslim woman was insulted and spat on by someone who was in a passing car.
 
"It's very disappointing, as well that people in our community would stoop so low," said Karen Dabdoub, executive director of the Council of American-Islamic Relations. "Obviously the people here had nothing to do with the Paris attack or any terrorist attacks or terrorist ideology for that matter."
 
CAIR said since the Paris terror attacks violence against Muslims has spiked in the country.
 
"If you get to know any Muslim women, (they are) very nice people. We're very giving, we're very helpful so it kills me to think there's people who think we're bad, that we're terrorists, and this is not us, ISIS is not us," said Jasim. "We're not ISIS, Islam is not Isis and people need to understand that."
 
Jasim said she is thankful to the three people who pulled her out of the street and saved her life.