Prosecutors Admit a Drug Charge Against Homeless Advocate Ibrahim Mubarak Had No Merit

Ibrahim Mubarak

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Prosecutors have decided "the facts did not support" a drug charge against respected homeless advocate Ibrahim Mubarak, after police accused him of knowingly having meth in the car he was driving while helping a homeless person avoid being swept earlier this year.

On September 6, four months after Mubarak's May 2 arrest, court records show Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Jenna Plank moved to dismiss a single misdemeanor charge of possession of methamphetamine.

"The decision they made was fair and correct," Mubarak told the Mercury on Thursday.

In explaining her decision to dismiss, Plank gave credence to the a version of events Mubarak's supporters gave after his arrest was reported in late July by the Portland Tribune—a story Mubarak now confirms.

He says he'd been helping a homeless Portlander avoid being swept in early May, and still had the person's belongings in the vehicle he was driving. He was pulled over by police—they may have seen him making frequent stops and dropping people off, he says, and become suspicious—who said they saw a pipe in the car and initiated a search.

"They told me it was mine because I was driving," says Mubarak. " I asked them to drug test me anytime they wanted to. I asked them to drug test me right there."

He was going to take the matter to trial, but prosecutors wound up dropping the case after hearing from what Mubarak says were more than 100 supporters, and obtaining more information.

"Following the issuance of this case additional material was obtained significantly impacting the question of whether the controlled substance at issue belonged to Mr. Mubarak and/or whether he knew it was in his vehicle when he was stopped by law enforcement," Plank told the Mercury via email. "After a subsequent review of all of the available information we determined that the facts did not support, certainly not beyond a reasonable doubt, that the controlled substances were either Mr. Mubarak’s or that he knew they were in his vehicle (possessed them). Once that determination was made we promptly moved the court to dismiss the charge, as it would best serve the interests of justice, and the court granted our motion and dismissed the case."

The dismissal is vindication for Mubarak, but he's also reticent about speaking about it. He says the incident might reinforce the notion that all homeless people are drug users, which is not the case.

"I don’t want to put that negative connotation just on houseless people," he says. "All houseless people don’t do drugs. It was a freak thing."

He goes further, too, arguing the incident never would have occurred without official policies for clearing campsites around town.

"This wouldn't happen if the police wouldn’t be sweeping people—moving them from stop to stop," Mubarak says. "That’s what's going through the outreach workers' minds: 'Hey we’re trying to help humanity. We’re not asking are you're a drug user.' I’m not going to do a background check on a person who needs help."

The Mercury interviewed Mubarak about his advocacy for self-managed homeless communities earlier this year.