Connect2Mason secures interview with Abdirashid Dahir

Abdirashid Dahir, a George Mason University senior, was charged for allegedly abducting a female student in a campus library, and was subsequently expelled from Mason Housing. Dahir talked with us to cover his side of the story.

According to Dahir, this started in a Fenwick Library study room on March 8 while he was working on two research papers. At approximately 1:00 p.m. he left the library to retrieve a forgotten laptop charger from his room. When he returned to the library, he encountered a woman now occupying the study room that he had previously taken. Dahir alleges that the woman moved his belongings out of the room.

Dahir said that a verbal altercation occurred after this discovery, with the woman stating her "dislike of foreigners" and how she wanted to get Dahir in trouble. The woman freely called the police, stating that he locked her in the room.

Mason's current study room rules are that only a group of two or more may occupy a study room, and that an individual should use a study carrel/ study space elsewhere in the library. The rules also state that personal belongings cannot be used to reserve a study room.

When officers from Mason's Police Department arrived on the scene, Dahir said that the police officers refused to listen to his complaints. Officers refused to hear his comments, and he was told to leave Fenwick. He left the library under his own control, without being escorted out by officers.

Dahir states that he went to Mason PD after leaving the library to file a formal complaint. The person who logged the complaint said that the complaint would go to the chief of police. Dahir was apparently told that the chief would not do anything, and was told by an unknown individual to go to Mason Vice President Sandra Scherrens and report it to her.

Dahir stated that Scherrens was unavailable. He then went back to his dorm to finish writing his papers. According to Dahir, at approximately 6:30 p.m., Mason officers entered the public study room of Dahir's dorm and arrested him. 

The next day, after being released from Fairfax Adult Detention Center, Dahir received a judicial letter from housing telling him that he was allowed to be on campus but was to pack up and leave housing immediately and that his entry into any Mason Housing building was now restricted.

Dahir states that he is still proud to be a Mason student but believes that, "the system has failed." He told Connect2Mason that he wants this to, "be handled fairly with no one getting hurt, and that [he wants] everyone to calm down and handle this without violence."

Further updates will be posted here on Connect2Mason.com as this story progresses.

Note: C2M is doing their own investigation of the accuracy of the CNN iReport.

George Mason University Police Department declined a FOIA request asking for more information. Mason Police also refused a general comment.

Connect2Mason has reached out to the police department and university officials to comment on Dahir's statement, and their replies are viewable at the link below.

A complete list of comments by University officials are viewable here. (http://www.connect2mason.com/content/university-comments-alleged-abduction-case)

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See our previous coverage here: 

http://www.connect2mason.com/content/mason-police-arrests-student-fenwick-library-alleged-abduction

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