Six-Year-Old Muslim Boy With Down’s Syndrome Reported For ‘Terrorism’

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A Muslim family in Texas has been investigated for suspected terrorism after their 6-year-old son with special needs apparently repeated the words “Allah” and “Boom, boom, boom” in class.

The supply teacher of Mohammad Suleiman, who has Down’s Syndrome, called the police after the boy apparently said they words in class, according to Fox 26 Houston. Mohammad attends C. J. Harris Elementary School in Pearland.

The boy’s father Maher told Fox 26 that the school told police that his son could talk and would often make full sentences; however, he says that it is untrue because his son “doesn’t speak at all”. “They claim that he is a terrorist,” he explains.

Maher says his son has the ‘mental capacity of a one-year-old’ and needs care all the time. In response to the accusations, Maher said “This is so stupid, this is so stupid, and this is discrimination actually. It’s not implied discrimination, its 100 percent discrimination.”

As a result of the accusations against the child, a police investigation and an investigation by Child Protective Services was launched, this has caused undue upset among the Suleiman family. “The last three to four weeks have been the hardest of my life. My wife and kids were crying a few days ago and I told them everything is fine,” Maher says.

A Community activist, Quanell x told the News station “In my opinion, based on everything I heard from the police department and speaking with the administration from the school, that this was a story piecemealed together by a substitute teacher alleging this child was sexually harassing her, the teacher, and possibly being a terrorist. A six-year-old kid.”

The police investigation was carried out and they found that there was no need for police involvement in the matter, in an email to Bustle; the department explained that they “determined it was not a police matter, and we have no further involvement.”

However, Child Protection Services has said its investigation remains open. A spokesperson for the Pearland Independent School District would not comment on the matter saying that the district cannot release any student or personnel information due to privacy laws.

Understandably, the story has spread and gained a lot of criticism across social media platforms, with some claiming the teacher’s reports as Islamophobia. Palestinian-American-Muslim Activist, Linda Sarsour tweeted about the story saying “People have LOST THEIR MINDS. Teacher in Texas calls police on a little Muslim boy with special needs. He has Down syndrome & doesn’t speak.” While adding shortly afterwards “Texas teacher calls police on 6 year old Muslim boy with Down syndrome alleging he’s a terrorist. I am done. I can’t. Infuriating. Our poor babies.”

In a world so full of violence and terrorism, it’s no wonder people have reacted badly and deemed the story to be racist and dangerous. “This shows just how dangerous a combination fear and ignorance is, and there’s too much of it in places like Texas,” one user tweeted, while another simply said “This is what anti-Muslim hysteria looks like.”

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