HOUSTON – A post online about an alleged assault at a Houston ISD middle school is getting a significant amount of attention, with calls for accountability and justice growing.
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It all started with the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Houston sharing a post on Instagram of a blurred image of a girl with a neck brace in a hospital bed. The caption claims three Afghan girls at Paul Revere Middle School on March 3 were violently attacked “by at least 20 students. The attackers reportedly used pencils to stab the girls.”
“She’s not safe anymore at this school,” said Ahmad Alokozay, the father of the girl with the neck brace who we are calling ‘Hannah.’
Alokozay escaped Afghanistan and moved to the United States in December 2021 in hopes of a new and better life.
“People said it’s a good country. There’s peace,” said Alokozay. “We never expected such incidents.”
CAIR’s post goes on to say “the girls were allegedly attacked based on their ethnicity and discriminated against because they wore the Islamic headscarf (hijab) when the group wrongfully targeted them for what was believed by the families to be a case of mistaken identity over middle school drama in the school.”
The post has gotten more than 1,500 likes and comments reaching out to local leaders and news outlets to investigate.
“They just started to pull our hijab off,” said ‘Hannah.’ “And then they started pull our hair, and then they pushed us and then jumped on us.”
‘Hannah’ is still wearing a neck brace, although it’s been more than a month since the incident happened. She said she was knocked unconscious from the alleged attack.
Her friend, ‘Hesna,’ said she was also attacked.
“They had like a pencil for their weapon,” said ‘Hesna.’ “My head was bleeding.”
Alokozay said he has been running into several barriers trying to transfer ‘Hannah’ to another school. One of the schools was a magnet school, so he said his daughter didn’t qualify.
He said other schools don’t accept students so late in the school year.
“It is absolutely unacceptable for any student to be allegedly violently assaulted and then abandoned by the very institution that is supposed to protect them,” William White, Director of CAIR-Houston said in a press statement. “These students came to this country in search of safety and stability—what they endured instead is a complete failure of accountability and compassion. HISD must act immediately to ensure their safety, support their healing, hold the students responsible accountable, and send a clear message that violence and bias will not be tolerated in our schools.”
A video from CAIR from the incident also shows flurry of blows thrown and crowds of spectating students as well as what appears to be an administrator trying to break up the fight.
“We are calling on HISD to immediately approve school transfers for these students so they can learn in a safe environment. We also demand a full, independent investigation into the incident, accountability for all involved—including any staff who failed to act—and trauma-informed support for the victims and their families,” White continued. “HISD must also implement strong, clear policies to prevent future acts of violence and discrimination. Our schools should be places of safety and learning, not fear and trauma.”
Houston City Council Member Letitia Plummer also issued a statement calling the incident “distressing” and called on HISD to “take decisive action to ensure the safety of all students and to send a clear message that such behavior is unacceptable.”
When KPRC 2 reached out to Houston ISD for comment, the district told a different story.
District officials say there was one victim and instead of 20 students involved, there were “seven aggressors.” HISD also said there was no evidence of racial/religious targeting or the victim getting stabbed and then hospitalized from the school.
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Here is HISD’s full statement:
“HISD takes the safety of all students very seriously, and the images of this incident do not meet the standards we expect of our students. While some of the details shared in CAIR’s press release do not match the facts of the investigation, the district shares CAIR’s belief that the incident warranted both consequences for the aggressors and care for the victim. The seven aggressors in the incident received disciplinary consequences aligned with the district’s code of conduct. The victim in the incident has been offered a school transfer, which is currently in process. The school staff met with the family on March 6th to discuss their concerns. School staff explained that consequences were issued immediately based on the HISD Code of Conduct, and advised the parents of their right to press criminal/assault charges against the students who assaulted their daughter.”
We reached out to HISD to find out when exactly ‘Hannah’ can be transferred to another school but as of this writing, have not heard back.
KPRC 2 also spoke Ahsan Patoli of the Patoli Law Firm, who is representing Alokozay.
"It’s not a case that we would normally take but the circumstances were similar to how my parents moved here from Pakistan," he said. “So we wanted to at least facilitate and get the girls transferred.”
On Thursday night, Houston-CAIR released a statement commending HISD’s willingness to meet with CAIR officials at the Patoli Law Firm and address the situation.
“We appreciate HISD’s commitment to working collaboratively toward a resolution,” said William White, Director of CAIR-Houston. “We look forward to constructive dialogue with the district as we advocate for the safety and well-being of all three girls who were targeted in this violent attack and for long-term measures that protect all Muslim students across the district,” a portion of the statement read.