CAIR-Chicago Files Federal Lawsuit Against City of North Chicago After Harassment and Wrongful Termination of Muslim Officer

After suffering through years of abuse by fellow officers, a Muslim police officer files official federal complaint against North Chicago Police Department

(CHICAGO, IL, 3/24/17) -

Today, Friday March 24rd, the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) will hold an 11:00am news conference to announce the filing of a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of North Chicago on behalf of Ramtin Sabet, a Muslim officer who faced years of harrowing abuse by fellow officers.

The amendment to the original federal complaint was officially filed yesterday (March 23, 2017) afternoon to include Sabet's wrongful termination after CAIR-Chicago filed an original charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on April 20th, 2016. On February 9, 2017 Sabet was wrongfully discharged.

BACKGROUND: Ramtin Sabet is a Muslim Iranian immigrant who started his career in law enforcement 15 years ago, and has been a police officer with the North Chicago Police Department since 2007. For several years Sabet was harassed and bullied by fellow officers at the North Chicago Police Department, and every formal complaint he filed to his commanding officer went unheard. Some of the comments that were made included constant mockery of food, culture, and religion, repeatedly calling Sabet a "terrorist."

"They told me that I hold a gun like Muslim, like a terrorist Muslim." says Ramtin Sabet. "I serve this country. I wear a blue uniform with an American flag [patch]...for over 15 years. I got their back. I pulled them out of the fire, when they fell down and broke their wrist I put him back in my squad car and took him to the hospital, when they were shot in the shoulder...I helped them. And this is how they treat me? I wonder how many Muslims in the country are going through this."

"Ramtin is a model citizen and model police officer." Says Ahmed Rehab, Executive Director of CAIR-Chicago. "He took great pride in his work and his service and carried out his duties with utmost professionalism, he did not deserve to be subjected to harassment, mockery, humiliation, ignominy and finally termination by some of his peers and superiors just because of his religious and ethnic background. This is not America."