CAIR offers reward for killer of Saudi student

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Nov. 2, 2016) — The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, on Wednesday offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator of a deadly attack on a Saudi Arabian student in Wisconsin.

CAIR said University of Wisconsin-Stout student Hussain Saeed Alnahdi, 24, died one day after being assaulted on a street in downtown Menomonie, Wis. The attacker, described as a white male about 6-feet-tall, assaulted Alnahdi early Sunday morning near a pizza restaurant.

Alnahdi was found unconscious and bleeding from his mouth and nose. He was hospitalized and later died from his injuries.

CAIR’s Minnesota chapter (CAIR-MN) and its national civil rights department are both monitoring the case. CAIR-MN Executive Director Jaylani Hussein is met Wednesday with students and staff at the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

“The FBI should add its resources to the investigation of this disturbing attack as a show of support for the American Muslim community,” said Hussein.

“We are offering this reward to help police apprehend the perpetrator and to determine the motive for this senseless crime,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. “The deadly attack on a Muslim student comes at a time of a rising number of anti-Muslim incidents nationwide, which raises concerns about a possible bias motive.”

He urged anyone with information about the case to contact relevant law enforcement authorities.

Awad cited a number of recent incidents targeting individual American Muslims, Muslim students and Islamic Institutions nationwide. He attributed the rising number of anti-Muslim incidents in large part to Islamophobic rhetoric in the presidential election campaign, particularly the rhetoric used by GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Awad noted that three men allegedly harassed and beat a Somali Muslim man recently at a San Diego restaurant. The man was hit with brass knuckles and a chair. That attack is being investigated as a hate crime.

CAIR recently called for state and federal probes of plots to attack American Mosques and attacks targeting individual American Muslims.

The Washington-based Muslim civil rights group is asking Muslim community members to report any bias incidents to police and to CAIR’s Civil Rights Department at 202-742-6420 or by filing a report at: http://www.cair.com/civil-rights/report-an-incident/view/form.html.

CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.