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Woman Made Up Tale of Anti-Muslim Attack by Men Shouting 'Trump': Sources

By Murray Weiss | December 14, 2016 4:17pm | Updated on December 15, 2016 12:09pm
 Yasmin Seweid exits the Manhattan Criminal Court with her father after her arraignment on Wednesday, December 14, 2016.
Yasmin Seweid exits the Manhattan Criminal Court with her father after her arraignment on Wednesday, December 14, 2016.
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Photo by Sam Costanza for NY Daily News

MANHATTAN — An 18-year-old Muslim college student who claimed three men screaming "Donald Trump!" attacked her on a Manhattan subway platform was arrested on charges of filing a false report after admitting she made up the incident, sources told DNAinfo New York.

Yasmin Seweid, a Baruch College student, told police that she boarded a uptown No. 6 train at East 23rd St. on Dec. 1 and was called a "terrorist" by three drunken young white men.

She also claimed that when she moved to the other end of the train, one of the men followed her and tried to pull off her hijab before she fled.

But investigators who spent significant NYPD resources trying to verify her story were unable to find any witnesses to the incident or video that could corroborate her story, sources said.

Seweid finally recanted Tuesday, admitting she misguidedly made up the tale to get attention because she was having issues with her family at home.

She was arranged in Manhattan Criminal Court Wednesday night on misdemeanor charges of filing a false report, according to the criminal complaint. She was released from court late Wednesday night, according to reports. Prosecutors declined to discuss the case or say when she would be due back in court.

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A source explained that, given the amount of time detectives spent chasing the phony story, and how politically charged the allegation was, the police and prosecutors felt compelled to charge her, particularly since they said they had given her numerous opportunities to come clean earlier in the process. She repeatedly refused to tell the truth for weeks, they added.

The charges came as news to her father on Wednesday afternoon.

"You try to raise your children as best you can," said her father Sayeed Seweid, a limo driver who is attending law school at St. John's. "Maybe she was afraid that night. She was running late," he added.

After the incident, his daughter had gone missing for several days and he had filed a missing persons report. She was later found at a friend's house, according to reports.

"She's a bright, good girl. She's young and maybe she was foolish here," he added. "Young kids, you know, you don't understand their mentality."