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A Boston Municipal Court judge on Friday dismissed the assault and battery charges in a case against two Harvard graduate students who were charged following an altercation at a pro-Palestine protest last year.
Harvard Law School graduate Ibrahim I. Bharmal and Harvard Divinity School graduate Elom K. Tettey-Tamaklo were charged with assault and battery and a civil rights violation for their involvement in an October 2023 die-in protest at the Harvard Business School. A judge dismissed the civil rights violation charge in February.
The two pleaded not guilty to charges of assault and battery last November — after arraignment proceedings were punted three times — and were ordered in April to participate in pretrial diversion programming, allowing them to avoid criminal trial.
The pretrial probation terms included anger management programming, a Harvard course on negotiation, and 80 hours of community service. The Friday hearing was set for Judge Stephen W. McClenon to determine whether their completion of the program was sufficient to dismiss the charges.
McClenon ruled that the two, who appeared on Zoom at the hearing, had completed their pretrial probation terms successfully and dismissed the case.
The defendants’ attorney Monica R. Shah and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office both declined to comment on the cases’ dismissals.
The charges stem from an interaction with Yoav Segev, an Israeli HBS graduate, who alleges that the men physically assaulted him. In videos of the incident — which were posted online and quickly garnered national attention — Bharmal and Tettey-Tamaklo can be seen approaching Segev, who was attempting to record protesters.
A group of demonstrators — wearing fluorescent yellow safety vests — surrounded Segev, holding up keffiyehs and vests to block his phone camera and demanding that he leave. In a post on X after the incident, the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee wrote that the crowd were trained “student marshals” in place to ensure protest safety.
In the video, Segev can also be heard saying “don’t touch me” and “don’t grab me” as protesters approached him. Lawyers for Bharmal and Tettey-Tamaklo have argued that the two did not make physical contact with him, though at least some demonstrators did.
In a May 2024 police report, HUPD officers wrote that protesters “got so close to him that they contacted him with their torsos.” Segev told officers that he was hit by “many individuals,” but identified Tettey-Tamaklo, Bharmal, and a third unidentified individual as the “most prolific and aggressive.”
Lawyers for Bharmal and Tettey-Tamaklo have alleged that the assault and battery charges stem from racially biased policing by the Harvard University Police Department. The defendants’ attorney alleged that Tettey-Tamaklo, who is Black, and Bharmal, who is of South Asian descent, were racially targeted by HUPD. They argued that white protesters involved in the altercation were not disciplined.
The police report on the protest was written by HUPD sergeant Thomas F. Karns, who has repeatedly come under public scrutiny in his nearly two-decade career at HUPD.
Karns was temporarily suspended from the department in 2019 after he reportedly called a Black officer a racial and homophobic slur. While Karns disputed the use of the racial slur, an investigation found that he used a homophobic slur. Karns also came under scrutiny from the American Civil Liberties Union in 2008, when he photographed demonstrators to gather intelligence in civilian clothes.
A HUPD spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
But HUPD is not the only party accused of mishandling the incident. Segev filed a federal lawsuit against Harvard and HUPD last week, accusing the University of failing to protect him from the incident and obstructing the subsequent investigation.
Segev’s suit argues that Harvard is obliged to investigate and reprimand Tettey-Tamaklo and Bharmal under its own policies, contending that he attempted to pursue disciplinary action through Harvard’s internal process. He alleged that administrators implemented “a facially absurd” policy that prevented the students from being reprimanded during an ongoing criminal investigation.
Segev — who graduated from HBS in May — is seeking monetary relief from the lawsuit for both punitive and compensatory damages, as well as a jury trial.
A University spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Trump administration has seized on the charges against Tettey-Tamaklo and Bharmal as it strips federal funding from Harvard. Federal officials cited a fellowship awarded to Bharmal by the Harvard Law Review before his graduation when they cut $450 million in federal funding in May, though did not identify Bharmal by name.
Harvard is still locked in a two-front legal battle with the Trump administration. The University is attempting to win back federal funds in one lawsuit and asking a federal judge to throw out restrictions on its ability to host international students in another.
—Staff writer Megan L. Blonigen can be reached at megan.blonigen@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X at @MeganBlonigen.
—Staff writer Caroline G. Hennigan can be reached at caroline.hennigan@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @cghennigan.
—Staff writer Laurel M. Shugart can be reached at laurel.shugart@thecrimson.com. Follow them on X @laurelmshugart.
