Former Cambridge City Councilor Nadeem Mazen is facing several charges following an incident at a Cambridge hotel last month. According to a police report and court records, Mazen has been accused of kidnapping, witness intimidation, and destruction of property. Boston.com detailed the allegations stemming from an event on April 16, when Cambridge Police responded to a disturbance at the Holiday Inn Express on Monsignor O’Brien Highway.
The officers reported finding Mazen apparently to be in a state of agitation, described as "foaming from the mouth" and exhibiting paranoid behavior. Boston.com reported that at the time of his arrest, Mazen was climbing over a fence and suffering from a bleeding hand cut, with torn clothing. He also allegedly resisted medical assistance before being sedated and taken to the hospital.
The series of events allegedly began when Mazen invited a woman to the hotel, then took her cellphone and locked her in the bathroom. The woman has not been publicly identified, but she reported that Mazen was "very high" on cocaine and ketamine, claims that he later denied, as mentioned on The Harvard Crimson. When she managed to exit the bathroom and threatened to call the police, Mazen allegedly threw the hotel's landline phone at a window, resulting in its breakage. Mazen's lawyer, Zachary R. Barry, told Boston.com, Mr. Mazen "categorically denies the charges brought against him."
Mazen, who had served on the Cambridge City Council from 2014 to 2017 and was at one time the state's only Muslim elected official, pleaded not guilty in Cambridge District Court on April 17. He has been released with the conditions to avoid contact with the woman and to absolutely refrain from using drugs and alcohol, with a pretrial hearing scheduled for June 25. His attorney emphasized in the statement that Mazen "remains committed to the values that have guided him both personally and professionally," as mentioned on The Harvard Crimson. Despite the charges, no additional drug-related allegations have been made against him up to this point.
