Maryland Woman Amara Majeed Falsely Identified As ISIS Terrorist By Sri Lankan Government
TOWSON, Md. (WJZ) -- A Maryland woman was falsely identified as an ISIS terrorist by the Sri Lankan government Thursday following the Easter Sunday attacks.
Amara Majeed took to her own Facebook major to defend herself.
"Hello everyone! I have this morning been FALSELY identified by the Sri Lankan government as one of the ISIS terrorists that have committed the Easter attacks in Sri Lanka. What a thing to wake up to! This is obviously completely false and frankly, considering that our communities are already greatly afflicted with issues of surveillance, I don't need more false accusations and scrutiny.
Please stop implicating and associating me with these horrific attacks. And next time, be more diligent about releasing such information that has the potential to deeply violate someone's family and community."
An image of Majeed was shared and identified as Abdul Cater Fathima Khadhiya, a suspected terrorist.
Officials apologized an hour after her post.
The Baltimore Sun reports Majeed was a 2015 graduate of Towson High School. That was the image released. She currently is a student at Brown University. Majeed is a Muslim American activist who was named one of BBC and the founder of the Hijab Project.
Majeed has not responded to a request for comment.
The Easter Sunday bombings killed 290 people including at least four Americans. One of those Americans was a Kieran Shafritz de Zoysa, a 5th grader student at Sidwell Friends school in DC.
On Thursday, the Sri Lankan government apologized for not getting ahead of intelligence about the attacks. The bombing suspects remain at large and religious services were cancelled around the county.
