A sex scandal involving rape allegations and a possible cover-up at a Broward Islamic private school has taken another turn. As we reported back in October, Tariq Ahmed (also spelled in some places as Ahmad) is currently wanted by police for alleged sexual activities with students at the Nur-Ul-Islam Academy in Cooper City. This week, new court documents filed by lawyers representing two alleged victims lay out more details of Ahmed's alleged behavior, including the stories of two new girls who claim they were abused and then suffered retaliation from school officials.
The school and its president, Kem Hussain, should be held accountable for "knowingly harboring and retaining a sexual predator as their head of high school and teacher," the suit claims, a man who "sexually abused multiple children at the academy."
As we reported earlier, two girls came forward earlier in a civil suit outlining incidents with Ahmed, both dating from around 2007. An amended complaint (embedded below) also documents the allegations of a third victim, from 2005. According to the suit, the unidentified girl was a student at the school who was abused by Ahmed "on school grounds, during school hours." The initial assault took place in the school's mosque, the suit claims.
The 2005 victim reported Ahmed's actions to Nur-Ul-Islam Academy on the day it happened. The school failed to report the abuse to authorities or her parents and also engaged in "retaliatory and abusive behavior" designed to prevent the victim "from contacting legal authorities and taking any legal action." From the suit:
That retaliatory and abusive action included condemning her as a liar, ridiculing her as being an immoral person, shunning her socially, addressing her in a rude manner, encouraging other students to condemn her, and placing her back into Tariq Ahmed's classroom -- without any other adult supervision -- for another eight months.
During those eight months, Tariq Ahmed engaged in a campaign of sexually harassing and abusive behavior against JANE DOE NO. 3, including mocking her and sexually and mentally abusing her further by regularly making sexually explicit gestures towards her in his classroom during school hours.
The new complaint also identities a fourth victim. This alleged abuse dates from 2008 -- after a parent allegedly complained to school officials about his daughter's relationship with Ahmed in 2007 (although, unlike the third victim, the fourth victim has yet to be added to the list of plaintiffs in the legal action).
According to the lawsuit, the fourth girl was subjected to a "prolonged, concerted effort" by Ahmed to "subdue her with harassment and intimidation." "Among other tactics, he singled this victim out for inexplicable punishments in his classroom; and/or he contrived false allegations of misbehavior to threaten to report to her parents; and/or he followed her to the bathroom and waited for her outside the bathroom; and/or he following [sic] her to classes."
By the time the fourth girl was targeted by Ahmed, there were rumors flying around the school about past abuse. There was even graffiti on the girl's bathroom wall claiming Ahmed was a "pedophile," the complaint says.
In November 2008, the girl's father complained to the school's administrators about Ahmed's behavior and also brought up past allegations. The lawsuit says the school falsely claimed all complaints of past abuse had been fully investigated. Instead, officials "insisted that Tariq Ahmed simply needed to work on his manners when interacting with parents."
The girl, however, was suspended from school as a result of her claims, the lawsuit says.
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