City council undoes a censure of Councilman Choudhury

By Charles Sercombe
Once again, Hamtramck City Councilmembers reversed themselves on censuring one of their own.
This time, the censure involved Councilmember Nayeem Choudhury for using “profane and inappropriate language” during an alleged confrontation with an independent journalist, Ahmed Aldeen.
That initial resolution, sponsored by Councilmember Mohammed Hassan, turned into an explosive council discussion, with Choudhury angrily defending his actions.
At one point in the council meeting discussion, Choudhury erupted, pounded the table top in front of him, and said, “I am speaking. … You are dealing with a very smart man here and (I) understand those things. I can’t disrespect people, but I like to understand. I’d like to get an explanation as to why you are censuring me. What is the reason?
He then accused Hassan of causing “chaos.”
The incident in question involved an alleged confrontation Choudhury had in a city hall hallway with Aldeen after a council meeting.
Aldeen accused Choudhury of assaultive behavior, and filed a police report with the Hamtramck Police Department, which was then turned over to the state police for further investigation.
As of now, no charges have been filed against Choudhury.
Aldeen offered to give The Review a copy of the complaint, but he never followed through.
The Review subsequently filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Hamtramck Police Department, but the copy the department provided was completely redacted — in other words, blacked out.
The Review did not get an explanation for the redaction.
A few weeks after the censure was passed, a resolution was introduced, by an unnamed councilmember, to rescind it.
Mayor Adam Alharbi was the first to speak on the matter, and called for unity. In recent months, the relationship between councilmembers has been testy.
“We got to make sure we work together for the best interest of our city — to make sure we move out city forward,” Alharbi said.
Instead of focusing on the personal issues of fellow councilmembers, Alharbi urged them to “not take anything personal, and try to work together to improve our city.”
Councilmember Hassan, who proposed the censure a few weeks earlier, said that, by Choudhury apologizing for the incident, it’s “not (that) you’re guilty.”
Choudhury said he still has “no idea why I was being censured when I knew I did not disrespect any officials or any city employees. …”
He stressed that anything that happens outside the council chambers is his “personal life,” and not open for criticism by the council.
The council eventually agreed to rescind the censure, with Hassan and Councilmember Yousuf Saed voting in opposition.
Saed was the subject of a censure, prior to Choudhury’s, for a social media post that was interpreted as an attack on Councilmember Mohammed Alsomiri, but the council also had reversed that decision afterward.
Posted Aug. 14, 2026