CHICAGO: An attorney for Hollywood actor and comedian Ahmed Ahmed, 56 — who was seriously injured after being detained and beaten by police in California last year — told Arab News on Thursday that he was singled out and targeted “because he’s Arab and Muslim.”
The Egyptian American is best known for co-founding the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour, which began in November 2005.
Ahmed was returning from Thailand on Sept. 27, 2025, following a comedy tour of Asia when he was arrested as a United Airlines official fended off passenger complaints about long delays, missing connecting flights and incorrect information on temporary accommodation.
Attorney Nicholas C. Rowley, who filed a lawsuit on Monday against San Mateo County police, said: “There were no questions, no investigation, no review of the cameras and video at the airport to see if this guy did anything wrong.
“They just took the word of an airline employee at the counter, hauled this ‘Muslim man’ away whose name is Ahmed Ahmed.
“Then, as they were hauling him away from the airport, they called the sheriff's office and said, ‘Hey, we got one. Get ready boys.’
“And when Ahmed was walked into the San Mateo Maguire Correctional Facility in handcuffs, there were six or seven officers waiting for him and they started beating him up. This was a setup because of him being Arab and Muslim.”
Rowley said police handcuffed Ahmed and held him for 21 hours “without probable cause.” He was “repeatedly beaten” and suffered “a broken rib, a broken wrist, a broken elbow … head and brain injuries and suffers from PTSD” as a result of the violence.
“This happened from the moment that Ahmed walked into the facility. He was there alone in a room. They beat the (expletive) out of him. They were laughing at him and making jokes about him, torturing him. To them, he was just a big, ugly Muslim,” Rowley said.
“They tied him to a chair, tried to pull down his pants to beat him. They put a bag over his head like he was a terrorist prisoner at Abu Ghraib … It was humiliating. Terrorism.
“They didn’t do this to any of the other passengers who were also frustrated by the airline delays, misinformation and hassles. They singled Ahmed out because of his name, his race and his religion.”
Rowley said what happened to Ahmed is “right out of a movie,” accusing county jail deputies of “gang-like behavior.”
He added: “No one else was taken into custody, just the big Arab and Muslim guy who only expressed his frustrations with the delays and hassles, just like all the other passengers.”
Rowley said the lawsuit — which names as defendants the county government of San Mateo, then-Sheriff Christina Corpus and her office — will be expanded “to include each and every officer who was involved in injuring Ahmed while in their custody.”
Born in Helwan, Egypt, Ahmed frequently challenges cultural stereotypes through his sharp, self-deprecating humor about life as an Arab-American Muslim.
San Mateo County officials did not respond to requests for comment from Arab News.
