Sex assault charges refiled against activist

Ibrahim Aljahim

By Charles Sercombe
A prominent community activist is once again being charged with sexually assaulting of a special education high school student.
Two years ago, Ibrahim Aljahim was faced with the same charge with the same alleged victim — two counts of first-degree sexual assault.
But Hamtramck 31st District Court Judge Alexis Krot ruled that the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office failed to provide convincing evidence, and declined to advance the case to Wayne County Circuit Court.
That ruling is extremely rare in a preliminary examination at the district court level, especially for a serious felony charge, but it does happen.
While Krot declined to bind over Aljahim at that time, she did leave open the possibility for charges to be re-filed at a later date.
Aljahim has denied that there was any assault or sexual encounter with the student.
So, what’s changed during this time?
The prosecutor’s office, with a new set of prosecutors, now has DNA evidence in hand to prove that Aljahim had sex with the then-18- year-old student at Oakland International Academy charter school – located in the former St. Florian High School building.
Why the delay?
Wayne County has been known to have a backlog of rape test kits that still need to be processed – at one point, even going back decades.
The state police processed the evidence — samples from the student’s underwear — collected by the Hamtramck police department.
This time around, Krot ruled last Thursday, in the conclusion of a two-part preliminary examination, that the DNA evidence could not be ignored, and bound over Aljahim to Wayne County Circuit Court for further court action, which could result in a jury trial or a plea deal.
But the prosecutor’s office will face a tough challenge by Aljahim’s attorney, Roger Farinha. He has alleged, without proof, that the police tainted the DNA evidence, while collecting a sample, and is also questioning the accuracy of the state police lab results, according to a report by the Arab-American newspaper.
He is insisting that there is no match linking his client to the alleged assault.
Farinha is also alleging that the detective in charge of the case has been accused by Bengali- and Yemeni-Americans about him, according to the Arab-American newspaper.
Aljahim is a Yemeni-American.
The matter has also been dogged with uneven testimony by the alleged victim, who has struggled with the time frame of what allegedly happened, and even contradicted himself under tough – and sometimes confusing — questioning by Aljahim’s attorney.
The Review does not identify the names of sexual assault victims.
In another twist to the latest case, Aljahim asked to be allowed to leave his house for limited purposes, such as drive his sister for medical treatments.
He is currently confined to his house and wears an electronic tether. He posted a $500,000 cash bond to remain out of custody. Police also confiscated his passport.
According to the Arab-American newspaper, Judge Krot denied Aljahim’s request, noting that Aljahim had fled the state when there was an arrest warrant for him. He was picked up in Mississippi, where a source said he claimed to be campaigning.
Aljahim has been active in local, county, state and national politics, and has worked on various campaign teams.
Here’s the background to this case:
Aljahim, 39, was a community liaison officer at Oakland International Academy, but was fired after being charged with the assault.
The student testified that he was assaulted in his car, which was parked in the school parking lot. He said Aljahim performed oral sex on him, and then grabbed the student’s neck and forced him to perform oral sex.
If convicted of the charges, Aljahim could be sentenced to life in prison.
The delay in getting DNA results and the refiling of charges against Aljahim has stirred debate on social media – with many defending Aljahim.
Najib Alwan was among several people who defended Aljahim, saying:
“Seriously it took them this long to get the DNA test results back? Why wasn’t the DNA presented to the judge back in 2019?
“They took months and months of arguing back and forth and at the end there was no evidence — even the so-called video from the school was not presented. I think this is revenge coming from the DA because they lost the case back in 2019.
“This case should be thrown out.”
Posted Aug. 19, 2022