The Sri Lankan government has been slammed for releasing a photo of American Muslim activist and author Amara Majeed and claiming that she is an ISIS terrorist involved in the Easter Sunday attacks.
The events unfolded after photos of six suspects were released by Sri Lanka to seek help from locals. Amara's photo was circulated to claim that she was a terrorist named Abdul Cader Fathima Qadiya.
Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had released the photos. They later clarified that Amara's photo was incorrectly used by the department to identify Qadiya. They have acknowledged that it was a mistake and apologised to Amara.
Who is Amara Majeed?
Amara is an American Muslim activist from Baltimore. She is the founder of 'The Hijab Project' and author of the book 'The Foreigners', which combat stereotypes about Islam.
She has now responded on Twitter, "Please stop implicating and associating me with these horrific attacks. And next time, be more diligent about releasing such information that has the potential to deeply violate someone's family and community."
In 2015, she was featured in BBC's 100 Women, an annual project which highlights inspirational and exceptional women. During Donald Trump's presidential campaign, she had written an open letter accusing him of being "a demagogue who is capitalizing on Americans' fear and paranoia", reports BBC.
While Sri Lanka witnessed one of the worst attacks in the past decade, the nation was severely slammed on social media for their negligence towards the intel on a possible terror attack.
