A Muslim student who said she was harassed on the subway by drunken, hate-spewing white men shouting “Donald Trump!” lied to police because she broke her curfew, law enforcement sources said Wednesday.
Yasmin Seweid, 18, joined a growing list of local and national alleged hate-crime victims when she told cops she was taunted Dec. 1 on the No. 6 train by three men who called her a terrorist and tried to snatch her hijab off her head while straphangers did nothing.
But Seweid finally broke down Wednesday and was arrested after she admitted to detectives that it was all a big lie.
“Nothing happened, and there was no victim,” a police source said.
Drunk men screaming 'Trump' attack Muslim straphanger, cops say
Police sources say Seweid made up the story because she didn’t want to get in trouble for breaking her curfew after being out late drinking with friends.
Her strict, Muslim parents allegedly forced Seweid to shave her head over the incident and were upset that she was dating a Christian, sources said.
The bareheaded Baruch College student, not wearing her hijab, was charged with filing a false report and released after her arraignment early Thursday in Manhattan Criminal Court. A relative covered Seweid’s face with a black down jacket as she was escorted into a waiting SUV following her brief court appearance.
She faces up to a year in jail for each charge.
L.I. Muslim student who was harassed at MTA station is missing
Seweid claimed a white trio mocked her and tried to tear the religious garb from her head.
She provided police a description of the suspects, one of whom cops at one point thought they spotted on video following her when she got off the subway at Grand Central Terminal.
“She had numerous opportunities to admit nothing happened and she kept sticking by her story,” a police source said.
The New Hyde Park, L.I., teen even posted an emotional account of the attack on Facebook.
Cops find missing Muslim student harassed by Trump supporters
“I was harassed on the subway last night,” she wrote. “And it was just so dehumanizing I can’t speak about it without getting emotional.”
For a while, police believed inconsistencies in her story to be nothing more than typical lapses by someone who was traumatized.
But the doubts increased when detectives could not find witnesses or any significant video. Then she left home and was reported missing on Thursday — only to turn up safe and sound on Friday. Suspicion went through the roof.
On Wednesday, after again being confronted with questions from detectives, she said she had made it all up, citing family problems.
Muslim student allegedly harassed by Trump supporters safely home
Seweid admitted that she lied to throw off her parents, who are Egyptian immigrants, because they disapproved of her boyfriend, a source said.
Seweid’s father, Syeed, 55, said he didn’t know why his daughter made up the story.
“I have no idea,” he said. “She’s the one that can speak for herself.”
In a bizarre twist, Seweid’s older brother, Abdoul, was also charged with falsely reporting an incident back in 2012.
Cops said Abdoul, then 17, claimed a pal was “assaulted by three unknown males,” according to a Newsday story at the time.
He and four other teens were charged with grand larceny and conspiracy for allegedly breaking into parked cars and stealing any valuables they found.
Albert Cahn, an attorney for the New York Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the twist in Seweid’s case shouldn’t take away from the legitimate claims of bias and harassment against Muslims.
“We’re very disturbed by these distressing developments, but we hope that they do not detract from the numerous reports coming from the Muslim community,” Cahn said.
“Clearly this has been a trying time for her and her family. We hope that they receive all possible support in this moving forward. We still believe that anti-Muslim attacks are underreported.”
Days after Seweid’s false report, police say an MTA worker wearing her uniform and a hijab was harassed by a passenger who called her a terrorist, and told her to “go back to your country.”
That same week, a man allegedly threatened to kill an off-duty cop after she confronted him over pushing her 16-year-old son on a Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, street. The man is accused of calling the Muslim woman “ISIS,” cursing at her and saying he would slit her throat.
Officials say there’s been a spike in the number of hate-inspired crimes in New York since Trump was elected President.
According to police statistics, reported hate crimes in the city more than doubled last month — with more than 43 cases, compared with just 20 in November 2015.
With Andy Mai, Laura Dimon, John Annese, Denis Slattery
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