The Council of American-Muslim Relations of Philadelphia confirmed they will pursue “all legal options” against both Temple and the Philadelphia Police Department for the treatment of four arrested demonstrators on Sept. 26 at a College of Engineering career fair.
Ahmet Selim Tekelioglu, the executive director of CAIR-Philadelphia, hosted a press conference at the Friends Center in Center City Wednesday to address Temple and PPD publicly. CAIR claimed Temple has specifically changed their policies and practices to target the Muslim community and directly affect Pro-Palestine protests, resulting in Temple’s SJP chapter being placed on interim suspension Tuesday.
“Temple University intends to make an example of these young Muslim women because apparently, undergoing gross violation of their religious rights was not enough of a punishment to satisfy Temple University,” said Adam Attia, the legal director and attorney at CAIR-Philadelphia, at the press conference. “Temple has taken an increasingly hostile approach towards Muslim, Arab and Pro-Palestinian students.”
Two of the demonstrators detained on Thursday, Johara Shamaa and Alia Amanpour, also spoke at the conference. Shamaa is a recent Temple graduate and Amanpour is a senior political science major. Shamaa, a practicing hijabi, said she was prevented from wearing her head covering during her 20-hour detainment and that a PPD officer forcibly removed her undercap for her mugshot.
“This experience has left me feeling profoundly exposed and humiliated,” Shamaa said. “I feel as if my identity and beliefs have been violated. However, I recognize and understand that any pain, suffering, humiliation that I went through and the other protesters went through is nothing in comparison to what our brothers, our families and loved ones in Gaza and all of Palestine are facing.”
University representatives offered to meet with CAIR before the conference, but the non-profit declined, a Temple spokesperson told The Temple News. The two parties are now scheduled to meet Thursday, according to an announcement posted Wednesday night.
“What occurred last week was not a peaceful protest,” the announcement said. “It was a major disruption to an event intended to help students find jobs and internships. As a result of the aggressive protesting, several visiting employers were escorted from the space for their safety and students were denied an opportunity to engage with potential employers – some students left the event entirely.”
The group of protesters targeted companies featured at the career fair, like Ghost Robotics and Lockheed Martin, for supplying Israel’s military. The group eventually moved to the exit after almost an hour and engaged with police, which ended in TUPD arresting four individuals and processing them with the PPD. The Philadelphia District Attorney’s office decided to not pursue charges and released the demonstrators after 20 hours.
Pennsylvania State Rep. Chris Rabb, who taught at the Fox School of Business, and City Councilmember-at-large Nicolas O’Rourke, a Temple alumnus, also spoke at the press conference in support of the demonstrators.
“I love Temple,” Rabb said. “I do not like the politics of its administration. I do not like the fact that they’re using resources that are subsidized by Pennsylvanians to surveil, to intimidate, to harass, to brutalize, to suspend, to retaliate against people who are expressing their views without producing the harm that many people assume because they don’t like some of the positions of the folks who have been harassed and brutalized.”
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