Maryland: First Muslim judge reprimanded after sexual harassment complaint

Prince George’s County Circuit Court Judge Hassan El-Amin was reprimanded last year after his former administrative assistant filed a sexual harassment complaint against him, according to a letter from the county’s administrative judge that acknowledged the discipline.

But the exact nature of the reprimand El-Amin received ­remains undisclosed, even to ­Denise Lowe-Williams, the woman who filed the grievance.

Williams now is seeking more transparency in the judicial discipline process, saying that as someone who struggled to speak out against a person in a position of power she is frustrated by the confidentiality that cloaks the outcome.

“If they want to keep it hush, at least tell the victim what has been done,” Williams, 52, said. “It can really ruin a person’s self-esteem, and it can make it seem like they did something wrong when they’re sticking their neck out.”

Williams filed the complaint against El-Amin in September, accusing him of subjecting her to a sexually charged work environment since at least 2012. Williams said the judge would call her while he was on vacation to tell her he missed her, according to copies of the complaint she shared with The Washington Post. The complaint was first reported by WRC-TV (NBC4).

Prince George’s County Circuit Court Judge Hassan El-Amin’s former administrative assistant Denise Lowe-Williams said she lived with ongoing harassment by her then-boss for years, but she felt like she had to deal with it because she was an at-will employee.

“He would take these pictures, and I asked him eventually, ‘What are you going to do with these pictures?’ and he said he was going to make a calendar,” Williams said.

Judge El-Amin once made a crude comment indicating he was aroused by a skirt she wore, Williams said. He also told Williams he liked the way her behind looked in a dress she wore, she said.

He also found a way to be inappropriate with evidence from a case over which he presided, she said.

“It had something to do with, I think, sexual abuse, or something like that, and he had explicit pictures, and he called me in his office to show me these pictures,” Williams said.

She finally became fed up, filed a complaint and hired an attorney. But his behavior got worse, she said.

“When he told me I wasn’t giving him enough attention, I just needed to seek help,” Williams said.

She said she began seeing a therapist.

After filing her complaint, a letter to Williams’ attorney from the Maryland Attorney General’s Office said, “Remedial action was taken to both address and prevent any potential harassing conduct.”

Williams feels there should be more transparency, as the letter said the discipline is confidential.

“A lot of people ask me, ‘Well, what’s going on Denise?’ You know, ‘What are they doing?’ I don’t know. You know why I don’t know? All I’m told is that he’s been sanctioned,” Williams said.

After she filed her complaint, all of the judges in the 7th Judicial Circuit–which includes Charles County, St. Mary’s County, Calvert County and Prince George’s County were trained again on appropriate office behavior.

Williams still works at the Prince George’s County courthouse, but she’s been reassigned so she no longer works with Judge El-Amin.

El-Amin was appointed to the District Court in 2000, becoming the first Muslim named to the bench in Maryland.

When asked how he feels as a Muslim American in his role, Judge El-Amin reflected how he was worried about conflicts when he first took his job as a judge. However, he had “great confidence in the constitution of America and the great principles and Quranic principles [within it], such as the sanctity of human life and the free will that every man and woman possesses.”

“In many, many ways the legal system in this country is more Islamic than in some Muslim countries,” says El-Amin.

In 2006, El-Amin organized and conducted a workshop entitled, “What Judges Need to Know About Islam” at a Maryland Judicial Conference in Cambridge, Maryland.

“There is so much misunderstanding [about Islam],” notes El-Amin. “A lot of exposure that judges and the judicial system get to Islam is through prisoners [who convert to Islam during incarceration for violent crimes]. Between ‘terrorists’ and ‘criminal converts’, a lot of people in the justice system get a very skewed perspective on Islam.”