Post by Scumhunter on Mar 25, 2013 23:45:00 GMT -5
(Above photo credit: fbi.gov website)
Fugitive Profile as of August 22nd, 2014 (Based on FBI.gov profile):
Date(s) of Birth Used: October 1, 1955
Place of Birth: Bangladesh
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 160 pounds
Occupation: Medical Doctor
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Sex: Male
Race: White (Central Asian)
Nationality: Bangladeshi
Remarks: Islam has ties to New York State and Montreal, Canada. He has a medium complexion and may wear glasses. He may be traveling with his wife, who is also a physician.
Who to call if you've seen him: Local FBI field office or embassy or submit a web tip at tips.fbi.gov
FBI: Doctor Breaks A Sacred Oath
Hippocrates, the father of western medicine, may have had men like Dr. Zahidul Islam in mind when he composed the Hippocratic Oath in the fifth century B.C. Along with the pledge to preserve “purity of life,” doctors also swore to refrain from “all seduction” of patients.
But police say Dr. Zahidul Islam did not seduce – he raped.
Islam, a native of Bangladesh, had practiced medicine in Canada and New York before relocating with his wife, Selma Ruby, also a physician, and daughter to Philadelphia. In 1996, he was a neurology resident at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
Police say that when it comes to speaking English, the doctor appeared to be dyslexic.
His alleged victim – who we will call “Vernell” – was a teacher at Benjamin Franklin High School when she checked herself into Jefferson for a back ailment. The school was located in a rough section of North Philadelphia, but Vernell found the work fulfilling.
“I could pass along knowledge, but I was receiving knowledge from my students,” she said.
Her first impression of Dr. Islam was a positive one. Vernell regarded him as handsome and intelligent. He initially asked about her back pain, but soon his question would veer in another direction.
“Have you been a good wife?” he queried. Vernell believed that the doctor was joking. “Yeah, I’ve been a good wife,” she replied. “I can’t cook, but I’m a good wife.”
Vernell said Dr. Islam then administered a medication made her drowsy. He left the room, she maintained, coming back after she could neither move her limbs nor speak.
It’s at that point that police say that Dr. Islam sodomized the patient on the hospital bed.
“I was raped by a doctor I did not know in a hospital bed,” Vernell despaired. “Why? Why?”
A Critical Piece Of Evidence
After the assault, Vernell says that the doctor tossed a towel at the bed, ordering the woman to clean up.
“I pushed the towel under my body, the thickest part of my body,” she said. When she was finally able to contact the police, she produced the semen-stained towel for authorities.
“The DNA came back, and the warrant was issued for Dr. Islam,” said Philadelphia Police Detective James Mooney.
Reached by phone, the doctor agreed to meet with investigators, but he never showed up.
Charged with “involuntary deviate sexual intercourse,” Islam went from being a healer to a fugitive.
“It’s quite baffling that a doctor, someone who is educated, has gone through all this schooling, would do this to a female patient,” said FBI Special Agent Kevin McShane.
Victim Pushes Through Aftermath
The FBI suspects that Islam is still in the medical profession, although it’s likely that he’s fled North America.
The experience shattered Vernell. She withdrew from friends and moved into a home with barred windows. At school, she suddenly became aware of the dangers that lurked in North Philadelphia.
“Some of the negative things that I’d ignored now frightened me,” she said. “I was paranoid of my surroundings.”
She blames Dr. Islam for the mindset that led to her painful decision to leave the school.
At times, Vernell wandered a largely Muslim section of the city, hoping to spot the doctor coming out of the mosque or waiting at the fruit stand.
“I was becoming xenophobic,” she admitted. “I had to do something to get rid of the hatred.”
Salvation came with a job at a school for international students. Vernell taught children from 28 separate countries, many of them Muslim.
“I knew I couldn’t group people together, and my students taught me that it was the individual – not the religion, not the race, not the tribe – who commits the crime,” she said.
Still, the anxiety over the events of Oct. 3, 1996, continues to haunt Vernell and Dr. Islam’s pursuers in law enforcement.
“If he’s practicing medicine in another country, is he doing this to other female patients?” Agent McShane said. “The FBI has investigative responsibility for over 200 countries. We’re trying to stop other victims from going through what this victim has experienced.”
web.archive.org/web/20110820160852/http://www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=76831#case
www.fbi.gov/wanted/additional/zahidul-islam
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