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Fla. Muslim Men Want Names Cleared
The Associated Press
Sep 16 2002 8:02AM
DAVIE, Fla. (AP) - The three Muslim medical students detained after a
woman said they were discussing terror plans told reporters they want to
clear their names and study to become doctors, but a Miami hospital
where they were supposed to train no longer wants them.
The head of Larkin Community Hospital in Miami said Sunday he had
received more than 200 e-mails after the incident, some threatening.
``Obviously, nothing is final,'' said Dr. Jack Michel, president and chief
executive officer of Larkin. ``Our primary objective is to take care of
patients. I don't know how that could be done with all this media
coverage.''
He said the medical school where the men are studying, Ross University,
had agreed to transfer them to a different training program.
Kambiz Butt, 25, said Sunday that he and Ayman Gheith, 27, and Omar
Choudhary, 23, want to continue their education in the United States.
``We're medical students. We are not terrorists,'' Butt said, flanked by
Gheith and Choudhary. ``Our concern in life is to become doctors. We
want to help people. We do not want to hurt.''
Butt, the only one of the students to speak at a news conference, said
they were worried about their futures but have no resentment toward the
woman who told authorities she overheard them discussing terrorist
plans Thursday at a restaurant in Calhoun, Ga. They were detained for 17
hours, but were not charged with any crimes.
``We're in a state of shock and we are scared,'' Butt said. ``But I'd like to
tell the American people that we are not a threat.''
The woman who called authorities, Eunice Stone of Cartersville, Ga., said
she heard the students talking about blowing up buildings and laughing
about the Sept. 11 attacks. She also said she heard the students saying
that a terrorist event was looming on Sept. 13.
``Not once did we mention 9-11. Not once did we mention anything about
9-13, nor did we joke about anything of that sort,'' Butt said. ``She was
probably just eavesdropping on our conversation and might have heard a
few key words that she misconstrued.''
Butt said he believes Stone was attempting to be ``a patriot for America.''
Stone stood by her report of what she heard and said she would do the
same thing again.
``I am not a racist, and I am not ignorant,'' she told The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution. ``I was just trying to do what's best.''
Brett Newkirk, one of four attorneys representing the students, called the
situation ``an incident of misunderstanding.''
``They are Americans, just like any other American, who are proud to be
American, who want to fulfill the American dream, and who were on the
road to doing that when the American nightmare happened to them,''
Newkirk said.
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