High-profile Calgary Muslim cleric’s lawyer says …

CANADA
Calgary Sun

High-profile Calgary Muslim cleric’s lawyer says his client disputes sexual assault charges out of the U.S.

BY BILL KAUFMANN, CALGARY SUN

Charged with sexual assault in the U.S., a high-profile Calgary Muslim cleric is ready to face the accusations but has been stymied, his lawyer said Monday.

Abdi Hersy, 46, is accused of fondling two female patients when he worked as a respiratory therapist in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in 2006.

He was stripped of his licence to practise in Minnesota and came to Calgary, where he’s operated the Abu Bakr Mussallah and been most visible as a spokesman for the Somali community.

But Hersy’s attempts to address the charges were foiled when he voluntarily returned to Minnesota in 2010 and was sent by U.S. authorities back to Canada, said his Calgary lawyer Raj Sharma.

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