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    Saturday, May 04, 2024

    Muslim student says yearbook names her as 'Isis Phillips'

    Bayan Zehlif, 17, speaks during a news conference on Monday, May 9, 2016 in Anaheim, Calif. Zehlif posted a photo on Facebook of what she says is her picture with the name "Isis Phillips" underneath it in the Los Osos High School yearbook. She writes in the post that she's "extremely saddened, disgusted, hurt and embarrassed." She says the school reached out and told her it was a 'typo,' but she adds "I beg to differ." (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

    RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. — A Muslim high school student said Monday she's hurt after being mistakenly identified in her Southern California yearbook as "Isis Phillips."

    Bayan Zehlif, a 17-year-old high school senior, said at a press conference with Muslim community advocates that she found it "coincidental" that she was mistaken for a girl whose name is widely associated with a terror group. She was hurt by the error, but even more so after her Los Osos High School classmates blasted her for denouncing it, she said.

    "Seeing the yearbook really hurt but seeing my classmates go against me like that hurt even more," she told reporters at the offices of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Anaheim, Calif.

    Mat Holton, Chaffey Joint Union High School District superintendent, told the Los Angeles Times that Zehlif was misidentified as another student with the name Isis. He said an investigation will be conducted.

    Yearbook distribution has been halted until the error is fixed and those who already received them have been asked to return them, Holton said.

    Zehlif said she didn't personally know Isis Phillips, but has heard a girl with that name had attended the school in Rancho Cucamonga. The mix-up occurred on a candid photo, and her class photo lists her name correctly, she said.

    Zehlif posted a photo on Facebook of herself in a hijab with the name "Isis Phillips" underneath it as it appears in the yearbook. She said the school told her it was a typo, but she hopes they will investigate.

    Zehlif is not returning to school for now out of fear of a backlash from some of her classmates, but hopes to attend graduation next week as her relatives from Jordan have traveled for the ceremony, she said.

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