Council does a redo on censure vote

Councilmember Yousuf Saed

By Charles Sercombe
Upon second thought, city councilmembers who voted over three months ago to censure a fellow councilmember decided to undo their decision.
At a special meeting last Friday, the city council voted unanimously to rescind its censure of Councilmember Yousuf Saed.
Back in February, all but one councilmember, Nayeem Choudhury, voted to censure Saed for an apparent disparaging comment he made on his Facebook page about some other councilmembers.
Just exactly what he said has never been made clear, but at the time it was suggested Saed had called some colleagues “clowns.” Councilmember Mohammed Alsomiri appeared to be the primary target of Saed’s comment.
Saed has insisted that what he said what not a putdown, and that his post, written in Arabic, was misinterpreted.
At Friday’s meeting, Saed said his comment “was not directed to anyone or insulting anyone. Today is not about me. It’s about fairness and common sense and doing the right thing.”
Councilmember Choudhury was critical of his colleagues.
“He did not deserve that censure for your personal reasons,” he said. “Don’t mix up your personal things with city official business.”
As for Alsomiri, he appeared to have smoothed out his relationship with Saed.
“I work with him many times,” Alsomiri said.
But then things took an unexpected turn, with Alsomiri lashing out: “I make a lot of bullsh-t from the people. A lot they talking a lot, bad word.”
Also, Choudhury lashed out at an unnamed councilmember, saying:
“You are not bringing any solution. You’re not proposing anything good for the city. … You are attacking every one of us and others.”
After the meeting, according to sources, Choudhury confronted a person in the hallway, which led to a complaint filed with the police department.
The Review asked Police Chief Hussain Farhat for a copy of the complaint, but, as of press time, that had not been provided.
The Review also reached out to Choudhury for comment, via Facebook messenger, but he did not reply.
Relationships between some councilmembers have been fraying in recent months, leaving Mayor Adam Alharbi sometimes struggling to get the council to focus on council business.
Posted May 29, 2026