EXCLUSIVE: Wanted New York and New Jersey bomb suspect sued his local police claiming they PERSECUTED him for being a Muslim
- Ahmad Rahami filed federal lawsuit claiming cops in Elizabeth, New Jersey subjected him and his family to discrimination and 'selective enforcement'
- Rahimis claimed that police tried to shut down their chicken restaurant too early each night with 'baseless' tickets and summonses
- Ahmad, 28, his father Mohammad Sr, 53, and his brother Mohammad, brought the lawsuit together in 2011
- They said that local residents also racially abused them and said: 'Muslims don't belong here'
- The Rahamis claimed 'discrimination', 'false arrest' and 'abuse of process' that left them suffering distress, embarrassment and damage
- Ahmad was taken into custody on Monday morning after a shoot-out with police in Linden, New Jersey, where a local spotted him sleeping rough
- Ahmad had previous arrests for obstruction of justice and resisting arrest
The prime suspect in the New York and New Jersey bombings sued his local police force and claimed they were persecuting him for being a Muslim.
Ahmad Rahami said in a lawsuit that cops in Elizabeth, New Jersey subjected him and his family to discrimination and 'selective enforcement' based on their religion.
The family claimed that police tried to shut down their chicken restaurant, called First American, too early each night with 'baseless' tickets and summonses.
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Wanted: Ahmad Rahami wanted by the FBI in connection with the New York and New Jersey bomb attacks after he was captured on CCTV. He was arrested in New Jersey Monday at noon
Business: Ahmad, 28, his father Mohammad Sr, 53, and brother Mohammad, brought a lawsuit against local cops, saying they targeted their Elizabeth, NJ, shop because they are Muslim
Captured: This was the moment Ahmad Rahami was arrested after a shoot-out in which two police were injured in Linden, NJ
Ahmad, 28, his father Mohammad Sr, 53, and his brother Mohammad, brought the lawsuit together and said that local residents also racially abused them and said: 'Muslims don't belong here'.
The lawsuit was filed in 2011 and reveals that Ahmad has a long history of grievances with city officials, their local police force and people who lived close to them.
Five years later, Ahmad has been held over his alleged involvement in the New York and New Jersey bombings.
The lawsuit, filed in the federal court in Newark, says that the family are from Afghanistan and are all Muslims who have owned the chicken restaurant since 2002.
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They allege that for two years beginning in April 2009 they were unfairly targeted for staying open past 10pm despite being permitted to do so.
The lawsuit says that the police had a 'reckless disregard and deliberate indifference for plaintiff's constitutional rights of liberty, due process and equal protection'.
The Elizabeth police department allegedly 'embarked on a course to harass, humiliate, retaliate against and force their business to close at 10pm'.
The lawsuit claims that the officers told them there was 'too much crime around here' and that the area around the restaurant was 'known for criminal activity'.
One of Ahmed's brothers got into a fight with a police officer who tried to shut down the restaurant, BBC Worldwide reported, but fled to Afghanistan before he could be prosecuted.
Questions: The FBI stopped and questioned five men in an SUV (pictured) in Brooklyn Sunday, but released them without charge. Ahmad is currently their only suspect
The Rahamis alleged they were being subject to 'selective enforcement' that was 'solely based on an animus against plaintiff's religion, creed, race and national origin'.
They claim that as a result of the police shutting them down at 10pm, despite other businesses being allowed to stay open at that time, they suffered economic hardship.
The court documents confirm that Ahmad was arrested for obstruction of justice, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, although they do not specify when or what the outcomes were.
The family also claims that they suffered racist abuse at the hands of James McDermott, the owner of Dean Relay Press and Radio, a photo agency that is near to the Rahami's chicken restaurant.
He allegedly told them: 'You are Muslims...Muslims make too much trouble in this country.'
McDermott is alleged to have told them that 'Muslims should not have businesses here', 'Muslims are trouble' and 'Muslims don't belong here'. He rejects all claims.
The 11 count lawsuit names the City of Elizabeth, the Elizabeth Police Department, six Elizabeth police officers, chief of police Ronald Simon and police director James Cosgrove.
They say the harassment was 'baseless and without probable cause' and breached the family's constitutional rights.
The Rahamis claimed that it also claim it was 'discrimination', 'false arrest' and 'abuse of process' that left them suffering distress, embarrassment and damage to their reputation.
Court records show that the complaint was dismissed with prejudice in 2012, meaning that it could not be brought again.
McDermott told DailyMail.com that the claims against him were absolutely untrue.
Elizabeth Mayor J Christian Bollwage said in a press event Monday that the closures were effected by local authorities because the restaurant was attracting a noisy crowd late at night, causing a 'quality of life issue.'
Utterly untrue: James McDermott, the news photographer and local accused of making racist remarks in the case, said the Rahamis' claims against him were false and that he complained about the takeaway when it became a hangout for youths who used his yard as a bathroom
'Mohammad Rahami was operating in violation of some local ordinances, he operated way beyond closing time and it became a hangout for kids,' he said.
'I made complaints about it and he took offense at that. The city took him to court for his violations and then he sued the city, the police officers that were involved and me as well. We won the case.
'He was supposed to close at 10pm, he was staying open illegally until four or five o'clock in the morning.
'He wouldn't let the kids in there drinking soda use the restroom and tell them to go around the corner so they would come around and use my driveway as a bathroom, that's what I took the biggest offense at.
'Other than the lawsuit, I kept away from them.'
He said that the backyard, which was shielded by a high fence, was quiet.
Plea: The suspected bomber's sister issued this appeal on social media.
Family: Among the Rahami family is daughter Zobyedh, who is a public health student at nearby Rutgers University
'There was a lot of people coming and going from there, I couldn't tell who was customers and who was family,' he said.
McDermott said that the claims that were made in the lawsuit that 'Muslims should not have businesses here', 'Muslims are trouble' and 'Muslims don't belong here' are completely untrue.
McDermott, who owns Dean Relay Press and Radio agency, said that after years as a news photographer, nothing surprises him anymore.
The family had lived above the fried chicken shop since it opened in 2002. It is unclear when they arrived from Afghanistan and whether they arrived all at once or separately.
The Rahami family is made up of Mohammad snr, 53, his wife, two adult sons, Ahmad and Mohammad Qasim, 25, apparently known as Qasim, and two adult daughters, Aziza, and Zobyedh.
Zobyedh is a student at a nearby campus of Rutgers university, studying towards a B.S. in public health.
She is a writer on the university newspaper, the Daily Targum, and had previously worked as an assistant at the Asian American Cultural Center at the university, and had posted anti-Donald Trump material on social media.
Neighbors on the same block as First American Fried Chicken told DailyMail.com that the family largely isolated from the community.
One woman who lives in the street said: 'Mohammad [Ahmad] is a very nice man, always wearing white and he would pray in the back of the shop.
'I would wait at the counter for him to finish and he would come and take the orders.'
Family business: The Rahami family owned and ran First American Fried Chicken. The suspect was often seen serving in it, while his father, Mohammad, was a constant presence.
She said that during a visit to the shop in the last few weeks, she had seen two new men behind the counter who she had never seen before and that Ahmad Rahami was cooking food in the back of the store.
A young teenage boy who often worked in the store served her.
She said the other men who were behind the counter spoke to Ahmad Rahami in a language the young boy didn't understand.
An immediate neighbor, who refused to be identified, said: 'The last time I saw him was on Friday, in a blue car. He parked in front of my house in the blue car.
'He always parks in front of my house. I saw him in the shop not long ago.
'I see him maybe two times a week in the shop, but I always see him in that blue car.'
Another neighbor said that the father was always in the shop working, and that the other brothers were not seen as frequently.
Of the father, the neighbor said: 'He was clearly very devoted to his religion. He was very quiet and seemed very nice. You would see him praying sometimes.'
Ahmad and the other men working in the shop had largely worn Western clothing - although Mohammad's wife wore the hijab - until recently, one local said.
'Up until recently they wore regular clothes like us and then they started dressing in their culture's clothes,' they said.
A childhood friend of Ahmed's told the Boston Herald that the young man had undergone a dramatic change two years ago, when he visited Afghanistan.
'At one point he left to go to Afghanistan, and two years ago he came back, popped up out of nowhere and he was real religious,' said Flee Jones, 27.
'And it was shocking. I'm trying to understand what's going on. I've never seen him like this.'
Others said that Ahmad had spoken of his love of cars, rather than showing any signs of radicalization.
Ryan McCann, a local who ate at the shop, told BBC Worldwide: 'He'd always talk about his cars.
'He loved Civics, he loved going fast, that's what he did, he'd talk about his cars.'
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Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3796768/Ahmad-Rahami-sued-local-police-New-Jersey-claiming-persecuted-Muslim.html#ixzz4KkC2e3kB
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