Muslim dating at center of bitter lawsuit

NEW YORK, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- A New York stockbroker is suing a Muslim imam she alleges attacked her physically and publicly after she ended their relationship.

Stockbroker Cherine Allaithy alleges in her lawsuit that after meeting Tarek Youssoff Hassan Saleh on a Muslim dating Web site, their relationship soon became a heated war of words that escalated into violence, the New York Post reported Sunday.

The 32-year-old woman alleges her troubles began when she rejected the 42-year-old imam's proposal that she become one of his four future wives.

Allaithy, who is suing Saleh and his mosque, alleges Saleh physically assaulted her during a dispute and besmirched her reputation in the Arab press. Her suit also targets several Arab newspapers.

Saleh has countered those allegations by claiming Allaithy destroyed two of his mosque's laptop computers and threatened to file rape charges against him.

Allaithy told the Post she now fears she could become an al-Qaida "honor killing" due to her alleged public defamation.