Sep 13, 2002
CNN
On September 13, 2002, CNN reported that Ayman Gheith, Kambiz Butt and Omer Choudhary "were all medical students heading to a nine-week course in Miami, and that's what they were talking about at a Shoney's restaurant in Calhoun, Georgia... Gheith said... Eunice Stone said she overheard the three Muslim men at [the] Shoney's restaurant Thursday morning making suspicious comments... She called authorities... Authorities took the woman's account extremely seriously. They shut down a 20-mile stretch of [highway]... for most of the day, bomb squad units searched the men's two cars and federal authorities interrogated all three men extensively... In the end, authorities said there was no threat, the cars were cleared, Interstate 75 reopened and the men were released."
Sep 16, 2002
Yahoo News
On September 16, 2002 Yahoo News reported that "a Miami hospital says it no longer wants the three Muslim medical students who were detained for 17 hours after a woman said she overheard them discussing terror plans. The men later said the incident was simply a misunderstanding... The medical school where the men are studying, Ross University, had agreed to transfer them to a different training program.... Kambiz Butt, 25, said Sunday that he and Ayman Gheith, 27, and Omar Choudhary, 23, simply want to clear their names and be allowed to continue their education in the United States... 'We're medical students. We are not terrorists,' Butt said, flanked by Gheith and Choudhary. 'Our concern in life is to become doctors. We want to help people. We do not want to hurt'... All three are U.S. citizens."
Sep 22, 2002
The Florida Sun-Sentinel
On September 22, 2002 The Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that "less than a week after Larkin Community Hospital president enraged Muslim community leaders by turning away three medical students cleared of planning terror attacks, Dr. Jack Michel received a hero's welcome at a Saturday afternoon Islamic conference... Michel would not confirm that the students would return to Larkin once the publicity died down, but Altaf Ali, the executive director for the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations that sponsored the event, said the agreement was negotiated last week."
Sep 22, 2002
The Miami Herald
On September 22, 2002 The Miami Herald reported that "the physician charged with coordinating the education of three Ross University medical students detained in a recent Alligator Alley terrorist scare says he's been removed from his position at Larkin Community Hospital because he tried to find another Miami-area hospital for the students to complete their course work. Fernandez, who remains employed by Ross, said neither administrators at Ross nor a letter from Larkin explained why he was removed. The order, Fernandez said, came from Larkin's Chief Executive Officer Dr. Jack Michel. Michel confirmed that the hospital ended its affiliation with Fernandez but denied that it had anything to do with the placement of the students. He would not say why Fernandez was removed."
