A Queens Supreme Court jury today found teenager Umair Ahmed guilty of hate crimes when he forced a fellow student, Harpal Singh Vacher, into the school restroom, threatened him with violence and cut off his hair, a court reporter said.

Harpal Singh testified in court with his head covered, a court clerk said. The jury also heard testimony from family and school officials.

And after more than two days of deliberations, the jury convicted Ahmed, 17 at the time of the crime, on three felony counts of menacing with hate crime, coercion with hate crime and harassment. He was also convicted on a misdemeanor possession of a weapon.

Ahmed, a Pakistan native, was attending Newtown High School in Elmhurst, Queens, New York, when he was arrested on May 25 for an incident at the school the day before.

According to a press release last year from District Attorney Richard Brown, Harpal Singh, 15 at the time, was forced to remove his dastaar before Ahmed cut his hair.

“The defendant is not accused of some schoolhouse prank but an attack on the fundamental beliefs of his victim’s religion and his freedom to worship freely,” Brown said in the press release. “His actions have no place in a civilized society, especially in Queens County, the most culturally diverse county in the nation.”

Ahmed originally had nine charges against him, but four were dropped on March 4, according to court records. The disposition of an additional count of aggravated harassment is unknown at this time.

According to the charges, just after noon on May 24, 2007, Ahmed, armed with a pair of scissors, approached Harpal Singh in the hallway of the high school and stated: “I have to cut your hair.”

When Harpal Singh asked, “For what, it is against my religion,” the defendant allegedly displayed a ring with Arabic inscriptions and stated, “This ring is Allah. If you don’t let me cut your hair, I will punch you with this ring.”

Harpal Singh said he initially refused to go into the bathroom with the defendant because he feared that the defendant would hurt him with the scissors, according to the charges.

Once inside the bathroom, Harpal Singh removed his daastar while crying and begging the defendant not to cut his waist-length hair, which was cut to the neckline and thrown into the toilet and onto the floor.

Ahmed will be back in court on April 11 for the sentencing.

Note: Correction: The press release from District Attorney Richard Brown was from May 25, 2007.

By Anju Kaur
Sikh News Network staff journalist
anjukaur@sikhnn.com