Indiana police: Muslim professor charged with fabricating anti-Islamic hate crimes, assault

An Indiana State University professor was arrested Friday for allegedly fabricating anti-Muslim threats and an assault.

Azhar Hussain, 56, an assistant professor of aviation technology, was arrested and booked into the Vigo County jail Friday on one charge of felony obstruction of justice and one charge of misdemeanor harassment, according to the Terre-Haute Tribune-Star.

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The charges stem from a series of emails that were received on campus containing anti-Muslim messages and threats of potential violence against members of the Muslim community, according to the university.

The first report of the emails occurred on March 8. The messages specifically mentioned Hussain as a target. On March 24, Hussain reported an assault in the College of Technology in which he said he was attacked from behind as he was entering his office early that morning. He told police he was thrown to the floor.

He said he had not seen his attacker, and no words were spoken. ISU Police at the time said four people in the vicinity were unable to corroborate his story, saying they'd seen no suspicious activity or people.

While a motive for the alleged fabrication hasn't yet been established, police said Hussain was trying to earn sympathy from university administrators as being the victim of anti-Muslim hate crimes. That's because the school already had plans to not renew Hussain's faculty position after the 2017-2018 academic year over poor teaching performance.

"Based upon the investigation, it is our belief that Hussain was trying to gain sympathy by becoming a victim of anti-Muslim threats, which he had created himself," Joseph Newport, ISU's chief of police, told the Tribune-Star.

"It is extremely unfortunate that this situation caused undue concern on other members of the ISU community," he explained.

Investigators discovered the anti-Muslim hate emails had been sent to Hussain by Hussian after they were able to track the emails back to the location where they were sent. ISU police were assisted by the Indiana State Police, an ISU computer engineer, the FBI and the Vigo County prosecutor's office during the course of the investigation.

Hussian has been suspended from his teaching duties at the school and university administrators are actively working to dismiss him completely, according to the Star-Tribune.