'His life is completely destroyed': Syrian refugee released without charge in London train attack
Suleman Sarwar said he hasn't seen his employee Yahyah Farroukh since police officers jumped him outside Aladdins Fried Chicken in London on Saturday, cuffed him, put a bag over his head and dragged him away.
The 21-year-old Syrian refugee was detained for five days in connection with the Sept. 15 London subway train bombing before being released without charge Thursday along with a 48-year-old man.
"Of course, he would be very frightened, confused," Sarwar, who employed Farroukh at Aladdins, told As It Happens host Carol Off. "This is a nightmare scenario."
- AS IT HAPPENS: Commuter London subway bombing
While he was behind bars being interrogated by counter-terrorism officers, Farroukh's siblings steadfastly defended his innocence in the media.
Every time he goes down the street, people are going to recognize him and associate him with the bombing.- Suleman Sarwar, co-owner of Aladdins
"My father, God bless his soul, brought us up to live decently and with high morals. Yahyah has never mingled with bad guys or militants or Daesh people," his brother Hamed told the Mail Online, using a common term for ISIS.
His sister Safa'a said: "Yahyah is innocent, we know he is. He could never hurt a fly. Why would he hurt the family that adopted him or the country that welcomed him?"
His mother was so alarmed by news of his arrest, she had a severe heart attack, Sarwar said. She is now in stable condition in a hospital in Egypt.
Metropolitan Police police say there will be "no further action" regarding Farroukh and the other man who was released on Thursday.
But Sarwar said there's no going back to normal for Farroukh, who is now hiding with no contact with the outside world for his own protection.
"Every time he goes down the street, people are going to recognize him and associate him with the bombing," he said. "His life is completely destroyed."
Sarwar suspects Farroukh was targeted in part because he is a Syrian refugee, and in part because he was fostered by the same couple who took in Ahmed Hassan, an 18-year-old Iraqi refugee charged with attempted murder and explosives offences in connection with the attack.
Three other men, aged 17, 25 and 30, remain in custody in connection with the investigation into the rush-hour bombing that injured 30 people London Underground train at Parsons Green station. They have not been charged.
Sarwar is demanding an apology from Metropolitan Police.
"In this situation they're certainly barking up the wrong tree, and to do such a heavy-handed approach when there's no substantiated evidence, and having his photo and dragging our name into this and dropping him into the dirt, and then finding out that he's innocent," he said.
"And then to be left to pick up the pieces on our own without any apology to us or to Yahyah and his family, I think this is terrible and they should come out immediately with a full apology for what they have done."