A 12-year old U.S. Muslim boy of Pakistani origin was forced by officials at his school to write a confession saying he was part of the Islamic State group and was planning a bomb attack, according to a lawsuit against the school filed by his family.
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The lawsuit, reported on by the New York Post, says Nashwan Uppal, a student with learning difficulties, was interrogated in January by senior staff at East Islip Middle School, Long Island, a day after he was bullied by other kids for being a "terrorist."
The boy was pulled out of class on Jan. 6 by the head teacher, Mark Bernard, and his assistant, Jason Stanton. “Stanton repeatedly asked Nashwan if he was a terrorist, and if he made bombs in his house,” the complaint says. When he said no, Stanton allegedly shouted, “Don’t lie to us!”
The lawsuit adds that the boy was forced to write a confession stating he was “part of ISIS, knew how to make bombs, that he had bombs in his house, and that he was going to blow up the school fence."
Nashwan was then allowed to call up his mother who came and picked him while local police escorted them to their house and searched it before concluding there was no threat of any kind. His family is suing for US$50 million.
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School officials were not satisfied with the police assessment, however, and suspended the boy for a week over “criminal activity," the complaint says.
“The defendants trampled on ... Nashwan’s civil rights, berated and humiliated him by forcing Nashwan to confess to crimes which he did not commit while ignoring the fact that he was incessantly bullied and had known social, language and learning disabilities," family lawyer David Antwork told the New York Post on Tuesday.
The news comes less than a year after 14-year-old Muslim student from Texas, Ahmed Mohamed, was handcuffed and arrested in front of his classmates for taking a homemade clock to his high school.