Family of Usaamah Rahim says police attempted to illegally arrest terror suspect

(MyFoxBoston.com) -- The family of the terror suspect shot by police, Usaamah Rahim, released a statement on Friday calling for an investigation into the law enforcement officials that attempted to arrest Rahim.

The family said they remained shocked by the allegations of Usaamah Rahim, adding that the indictment did establish a connection between Rahim and the alleged terror plot.

The family asked for a thorough investigation into Rahim's shooting death and whether or not law enforcement officials were attempting to illegally arrest Rahim.

Read the full statement below:

Statement by Ronald S. Sullivan Jr. and Intisar A. Rabb on behalf of the Rahim Family Regarding the Indictment of David Wright and Nicholas Rovinski

The Rahim family has reviewed the Indictment issued by a Boston Grand Jury, charging David Wright and Nicholas Rovinsky with, among other things, providing material support to ISIL. Inasmuch as the United States has now formally charged David Wright, the family declines comment further on his case. David Wright is represented by counsel and the family will respect the legal process. The family does not know and has never met or, prior to media accounts, ever heard of Nicholas Rovinski. The family has no further comments on Mr. Rovinski's case.

The Indictment includes several references to and allegations regarding Usaamah Rahim. The family remains shocked by these allegations. The Supreme Court of the United States has set out specific legal standards to govern acts needed to form criminal intent, to participate in a conspiracy, and to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. No where does the indictment establish a connection between Usaamah Rahim and providing material support to a terrorist organization. Instead, it suggests precisely the opposite: that Usaamah Rahim abandoned any alleged conspiracy to provide material support to ISIL. The family is concerned that the indictment elides the legal standards, and sets forth an extremely tenuous link between Usaamah Rahim's actions and allegations of terrorism. Moreover, they are concerned that law enforcement may have used those tenuous links to violate the procedures required to effect an arrest, ultimately leading to the death of their brother and son.

However, without all evidence in hand, the family reserves any final judgment. As the family has maintained from the onset, they will accept any and all credible evidence that either implicates or exonerates Usaamah Rahim for the crimes described in the Indictment. The family will follow closely the proceedings in an effort to reach an informed opinion.

The family maintains that, even if Usaamah Rahim was complicit in the crimes outlined in the Indictment, the shooting that caused his death must be thoroughly and fairly investigated. Absent imminent danger, there is no national security exception to criminal procedure. The family renews its call for U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley to investigate whether federal and local law enforcement officials attempted to illegally arrest Usaamah Rahim in violation of the Constitution of the United States of America.

The Rahim family is particularly concerned with statements made by Congressman Stephen Lynch and Commissioner William Evans that tend to confirm their suspicion that the homicide of Usaamah Rahim resulted from an attempted illegal arrest by federal and local law enforcement.

In an interview with Jim Braude and Margery Eagan on June 9, 2015, Congressman Lynch, a member of House of Representatives, representing the Eighth District of Massachusetts, stated that he possessed classified information relating to the surveillance and apprehension of Usaamah Rahim. Based on this classified information, Congressman Lynch stated that the FBI agents were "under orders not to let him [Mr. Rahim] get on that bus."

In addition, various media outlets have quoted Commissioner William Evans as saying, in reference to Usaamah Rahim, that law enforcement had decided to "take him down." Congressman Lynch and Commissioner Evan's comments are inconsistent with claims from other Commonwealth officials that law enforcement only wanted to "question" Mr. Rahim.

In a long and unbroken line of cases, the Supreme Court of the United States and the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court have affirmed the proposition that a person is under arrest when "a reasonable person would have believed that he was not free to leave." In an equally long and unbroken line of cases, the Supreme Court of the United States and the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court have affirmed the proposition that an arrest without benefit of warrant violates the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, respectively.

Congressman Lynch's admission that law enforcement intended to prohibit Usaamah Rahim from exercising his constitutional freedom of movement is strong evidence that federal and local law enforcement attempted an unlawful, warrantless arrest of Usaamah Rahim.

The family has consistently maintained that five armed law enforcement officials descending on Usaamah Rahim did not appear to be an attempt to encourage a voluntary conversation. It appeared to them to be what Congressman Lynch confirmed: law enforcement was "under orders" to restrain the liberty of a U.S. citizen without the prior authorization afforded by a warrant.

The Rahim family believes that federal and local law enforcement's attempt to illegally arrest Usaamah Rahim, without a warrant and in violation of the U.S. Constitution, was both the direct and proximate cause of Mr. Rahim's death.

Cox Media Group