Ex-US official arrested for hate crime against halal vendor gets ‘sweetheart deal’

Stuart Seldowitz, the former Obama official who was arrested last year for aggravated harassment and stalking a halal food cart vendor in New York, has walked away with a deal that would drop the charges against him if he takes an anti-bias counselling programme.

The deal was condemned by Muslim rights groups, who said the announcement was a “slap in the face” to the victims.

Last year, Seldowitz, the former deputy director in the US State Department’s Office of Israel and Palestinian Affairs, launched racist and anti-Islamic tirades against Mohamed Hussein, a 24-year-old New York City food truck vendor.

He also threatened to use his political connections to deport Hussein back to Egypt, where Seldowitz said the food truck vendor would be tortured.

“Seldowitz’s vile verbal abuse and harassment targeting an innocent street vendor were caught on video for all to see,” said Afaf Nasher, the director of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

“The sweetheart deal he received from the Manhattan DA’s office is a shameful affront of our justice system and wholly unfitting of his actions.”