Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown accepted the resignation of a newly appointed Islamic representative on Maryland’s Commission on Hate Crimes Response and Prevention following calls for the man’s removal from advocates alleging he is pro-Hamas.
“The Office of the Attorney General is extending outreach to the Muslim community across Maryland as it launches a search to fill the now-vacated seat,” Jennifer Donelan, a spokesperson for Brown, said in a statement Monday. “It is critical that Commission membership reflects those communities that have been most impacted by hate activity in Maryland. We look forward to their contribution to this important work in our State.”
Middle Eastern Forum Action, a grassroots advocacy organization, called for Brown, a Democrat, to remove Ayman Nassar, a representative of the advocacy groups the Islamic Leadership Institute and the Aafia Foundation, from the commission, alleging in an automatic email petition that Nassar has made “antisemitic,” “anti-American” and “anti-gay” comments on social media, and is pro-Hamas, which is currently at war with Israel.
Benjamin Baird, the director of Middle East Forum Action, said in a statement that Brown, who announced Nassar’s appointment on July 31, owes Marylanders an explanation for his choice to have Nassar on the commission.
“To accept Nassar’s resignation without acknowledging the hateful ideology that precipitated his exit is evasive and disingenuous,” he said. “If Maryland truly stands against hatred in all of its forms, then our public officials must call out bigotry and extremism when they see it.”
According to the Georgetown University Bridge Initiative, a multiyear research project on Islamophobia, Middle East Forum is a a right-wing, anti-Islam think tank.
A request for comment from Nassar was not immediately returned.
The Commission on Hate Crime Response and Prevention was created under 2023 legislation in an effort to strategize how to respond to and prevent hate crimes and study related laws. The commission is largely made up of members of faith-based, civil rights and state-run organizations designated in the law, including the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights and the Maryland State’s Attorneys’ Association.
Nassar is a former member of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR.
“Last year, @OAGMaryland appointed an antisemite to sit on the Commission on Hate Crimes. Lawmakers fired the entire commission just to get rid of 1 bad apple,” Middle Eastern Forum Action posted on X on Thursday. “Absurdly, the AG just hired a pro-Hamas extremist to replace her!”
Zainab Chaudry, the executive director of the Maryland chapter of CAIR, was suspended from the hate crimes commission in November following a series of social media posts published on a personal account that criticized Israel and rallied support for Palestine. She told The Baltimore Sun last year that she was exercising her right to free speech, and that the posts reflected only her personal views — not those of CAIR.
In an interview with The Sun on Monday afternoon, Chaudry said that, during her tenure, no other commissioner spoke up to acknowledge the humanity of Palestinians and the “crimes against humanity, according to international law,” being committed in Gaza.
Chaudry was later reinstated on the commission by Brown, who determined he did not have the authority to remove or suspend members.
Legislation was passed in 2024 to remove Chaudry from the commission.
That bill amended the 2023 legislation to remove all specifically designated organizations not run by the state, including the Women’s Law Center, Free State Justice, the Jewish Community Relations Council and the NAACP. Instead, the commission now comprises 22 members, including 15 who represent or advocate for members of a protected class under Maryland’s hate crimes statute as appointed by the attorney general.
Under Maryland law, a person is a protected class based on immutable traits surrounding their race, color, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, disability, national origin or housing status.
Chaudry said that Brown’s office should be making the decision on appointments based on merit — “not on which drums are beating the loudest.”
“It sends a very troubling message on what the priorities and what the scope of the hate crimes commission is,” she said.
