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An employee at a slaughterhouse owned by Tahawwur Hussian Rana, who was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on charges of plotting major terror attacks in India, was beaten up and abused as 'terrorist' by two locals near Chicago.
Faud Nafie, 35, was "punched and kicked in the face and head" by locals Scott Finch and Luke Harty outside a bar in Kinsman, nearly 104 km from Chicago, on Sunday night. The two men -- both aged 32 -- were arrested on charges of aggravated battery and criminal misdemeanour.
They were later released on a bond of $1,000 each and will be produced in court on December 10, officials said.
"It is an isolated incident. It will not result in any tensions in the area. I think the two men let their alcohol do their thinking for them,"said Grundy County Sheriff Terry Marketti. He added that he plans to seek a hate crime indictment against the two men.
Marketti said that after Finch's arrest on Sunday, he told the police that he was defending himself and his country from 'terrorists'. While Marketti said he will not be able to comment on Nafie's nationality or religion, a media report said Nafie is a Muslim, while another said he is a 'Middle Eastern man'.
"There was a big pool of blood out there when it was done," the bar's owner Dave Hammen said. Bleeding and suffering from head and facial injuries, Nafie was taken to a hospital and released after treatment.
The slaughterhouse, where goats, sheep and cows were butchered according to Islamic laws, was raided last month by the FBI after Rana's arrest. However, plant workers, including Nafie, have not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Marketti said workers at the plant often visited Uncle Dave's Bar and Grill, where the incident occurred, but there had been no reports of any tension or violence earlier. The assault is the first such instance since the slaughterhouse was raided. Nafie is among a handful of employees who continue to work at the Kinsman plant.
Rana, a Canadian citizen of Pakistani-origin, is currently in FBI custody on charges of plotting terrorist attacks in India at the behest of Lashkar-e-Tayiba. Rana, who was born and raised in Pakistan, immigrated to Canada in 1997 and obtained Canadian citizenship in June, 2001.
He and his wife Samraz Akhtar Rana lived in Chicago with their two daughters and a son.