ADL offers $2,500 reward to find perpetrators of assault on Muslim man

The Anti-Defamation League has offered a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest of people who assaulted a Muslim man in New York City.

Mohamed Rasheed Khan, 59, was riding his bicycle outside the Center for Islamic Studies in Queens last week when he was assaulted by three unidentified assailants, according to an ADL news release Wednesday. He was taken to the hospital with serious injuries.

The ADL has offered rewards in the past for information about anti-Semitic hate crimes. Evan Bernstein, the ADL’s New York state regional director, said the organization has also previously offered rewards relating to anti-Catholic crimes.

Bernstein told JTA that the reward regarding Khan’s attackers demonstrates that the ADL cares about minority rights beyond the Jewish community.

“It’s about being fair,” he said. “If we’re going to protect the Jewish people, we need to make sure all minority groups are protected. One way we can do that is help the NYPD and help communities solve these crimes.”

The reward for information on Khan’s attackers is substantially lower than what the ADL has offered for information on anti-Semitic attacks. In February, the ADL offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Keny Rochelin, who stabbed a Jewish man in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights.

Bernstein attributed the difference in the amounts to ADL budgetary restrictions. He said the reward could rise should the suspects continue to remain at large.