Muslim Advocates Say Brutal Beating Of Queens Man Was A Hate Crime. The NYPD Calls It A "Dispute Amongst Neighbors"

A Muslim father-of-two in Queens was hospitalized after being beaten by a neighbor who has been harassing his family for weeks, according to a lawyer with a Muslim civil rights group who is now demanding the NYPD investigate the attack as a hate crime.

Rego Park residents Khaled Aly and his wife Neamat Taha as well as their two young children were going into their apartment complex about 11 p.m. on Friday when another man and woman allegedly approached Taha. The woman grabbed Taha by her hijab while the man approached her, according to Council on American-Islamic Relations's New York chapter (CAIR-NY).

Aly demanded the suspects leave his wife alone, and they began attacking and beating him, telling the family, "we are in America," calling Aly a "fucking Muslim," and threatened to kill their family, according to the civil rights group.

Aly, a 38-year-old Egyptian-American, was hospitalized and required surgery, CAIR-NY said. He was discharged on Monday evening.

"We hope that law enforcement is taking this very seriously and investigates in a fair manner, and due to the anti-Muslim statements that were made at the time of the assault, that the Hate Crimes Task Force would be called into investigate and to decide through their investigation whether this is a biased motivated attack," said Ahmed Mohamed, the legal director for CAIR's New York chapter.

The attack happened in front of the children, ages 6 and 8.

"He and his family are going to be living through this nightmare for a very long time," Mohamed said.

CAIR-NY said the two alleged attackers are two of the family's neighbors, who live in the same apartment complex, but NYPD has not yet arrested anyone in the case.

"We're talking four days later and arrests haven’t been made to an extremely violent crime," Mohamed said in an interview Tuesday afternoon. "We know which apartment they’re in. The law enforcement officials have been told."

On Saturday at 4:30 a.m., Taha was returning to the apartment complex from the hospital after her husband was attacked. She was again confronted by the male attacker who bragged about the attack, telling her, "I'm going to burn you and burn your family," CAIR-NY alleges.

The family has not returned to their home out of fear for their safety, according to Mohamed.

The two alleged attackers have been harassing the family since late September.

Mohamed says at least two other incidents were reported to police, but Friday was when the confrontations became physically violent.

NYPD spokesperson Sergeant Edward Riley confirmed that Aly was hospitalized after being struck with some type of object, and then kicked in the face and torso.

But the NYPD is not investigating the attack as a hate crime.

Police believe the incident stems from an "ongoing dispute amongst neighbors."

"The Hate Crime Task Force determined this not to be a bias incident," Riley said. "The investigation is ongoing with the 112 Precinct Detective Squad."

The NYPD did not say whether police had questioned suspects the family has identified, nor why the Hate Crimes Task Force determined it was not a hate crime.