Monday, April 14, 2014
Three Muslim students, all sisters, say they have suffered anti-Islamic bullying at West Springfield High School. (MICHAEL GORDON / THE REPUBLICAN FILE)
WEST SPRINGFIELD — Court records offer conflicting accounts of a cafeteria fight at West Springfield High School in March 2013 that ended with three Muslim sisters being arrested and led away in handcuffs.
A police report on the fight stated that Najma, Bibo and Filsan Hussein attacked another female student who was laughing at them during lunch period on March 7.
The victim “stated that she felt Najma punch her in the face and scratch her around her left eye,” school resource officer Mark P. Hammond wrote, adding the sisters “have been involved in similar incidents in the cafeteria on multiple occasions.”
Najma Hussein, now 19, was charged in Springfield District Court with assault and battery and disturbing a school assembly while Hibo Hussein, now 20, was charged with disturbing the school assembly; charges against Filsan Hussein, 18, were dropped because she was a minor at the time.
A trial is scheduled for May 14.
But lawyers for Nadjma and Bibo Hussein have argued in court motions that Hammond never saw the fight, and based his description of it on one-sided witness accounts.
“It’s worth noting that the Hussein sisters have reported religious and ethnic harassment and discrimination against them since they have entered West Springfield high school,” wrote Springfield lawyer Bruce E. Colton in an unsuccessful motion to dismiss the charges.
“The alleged victim in this case has been one of the students taunting the Husseins,” he added.
The case came to public attention Wednesday when the Hussein sisters described what they called a pattern of harassment and abuse by West Springfield High students and inaction by school administrators.
The sisters spoke during a classroom discussion hosted by Westfield State University associate professor Kamal Ali, who is also vice president of the of Islamic Society Western Massachusetts.
Born in Kenya to a family of Somalia immigrants, the sisters arrived in Baltimore in 2000 before moving to Holyoke and finally West Springfield in 2004.
They said they encountered verbal and physical abuse from students, from being called terrorists and suicide-bombers to being pushed, tripped and punched.
After hearing the Hussein sisters' stories, at least 30 Westfield State students agreed to picket West Springfield High School to call attention to the sisters’ plight. The date and time of the picket was not set.
West Springfield Superintendent of Schools Russell Johnston said he could not comment on specific cases, but said the school system has strict anti-bullying policies and multiple programs designed to prevent, investigate and resolve bullying complaints.