12-year-old accused of a hate crime after two Muslim students are attacked at their Connecticut middle school

A 12-year-old student is facing a hate crime charge in juvenile court, after allegedly being part of group that attacked twin seventh grade Muslim students at their middle school in Waterbury, Connecticut, authorities said Friday.

A 12-year-old student is facing a hate crime charge in juvenile court after allegedly being part of a group that attacked twin seventh grade Muslim students at their middle school in Waterbury, Connecticut, authorities said Friday. The girl allegedly involved in the altercation was charged with intimidation based on bigotry and bias in the first and second degree through a court-issued summons to juvenile court. “Investigators determined that the altercation was motivated by religion and/or ethnicity, meeting the legal definition of a hate crime,” according to a joint statement by the Waterbury State’s Attorney’s Office, Waterbury police and city officials. The twin 13-year-old girls had their hijabs pulled off and were kicked and punched in the girls’ locker room during their gym period, according to Farhan Memon, chair of the Connecticut chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations. “They were beaten up by two of their classmates,” Memon said. “One girl had bruises on her face and her sister had something held against her neck.” One of the girls felt something slide across her neck, resulting in an abrasion on her neck, Memon told CNN. The girls’ father took them to the hospital where doctors documented bruises and scrapes to the face, nose and neck, Memon added.