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Sexual Harassment Allegations Levied Against Director Of American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee

DEARBORN (WWJ) - The director of the Michigan Chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee has been put on administrative leave over sexual harassment allegations.

ADC national has announced that an independent investigation has been launched into the allegations against Imad Hamad.

State Representative Rashida Tlaib, who says she was harassed by Hamad 15 years ago, sent a letter to ADC detailing the accusations. She says more than a dozen women have come forward since then as well.

"Some of them are somewhat fearful - that people will know that they were one of his victims because they know there is a stigma in our community about being a victim," said Tlaib.

"He would not stop and it was every single day at the job," Tlaib said. "Not one day did it go by that he did not do something that was illegal."

Hamad's attorney Shereef Akeel says each allegation will receive it's fair due process.

"It is important to address each allegation in a serious manner and to make sure that every person that has come up, that they receive fair attention to make sure we figure out exactly what happened," he said.

"The key thing here is not to rush to judgement and to allow the process to run its course," said Akeel.

Tlaib says she had gone to ADC before about the allegations --- but nothing was done.

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