7 charged over Amish beard-cutting 'terror'

Sect leader: Samuel Mullet
By Emine Sinmaz12 April 2012

Seven men have been charged with hate crime in the US following a wave of hair-cutting attacks that has left the Amish community living in fear.

Amish men have had their beards cut off and women have lost their hair in assaults blamed on a hardline breakaway group terrorising communities in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana.

Its leader, Samuel Mullet, 66, and three of his sons, are among the seven detained. They could face life in jail.

Mullet was arrested in an FBI raid on a compound in eastern Ohio before dawn yesterday. He is said to have allowed beatings of those who disobeyed him, made some members sleep in a chicken coop, and had sex with married women to "cleanse them".

He has denied ordering the attacks. Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla said: "You've got Amish all over Ohio and Pennsylvania and Indiana that are concerned. We've received hundreds and hundreds of calls from people living in fear.

"They are buying mace, some are sitting with shotguns, getting locks on their doors because of Sam Mullet."

Hair-cutting is viewed as particularly offensive in the community, where women do not trim their hair and men grow beards once they marry. One victim told the FBI he would rather have been "beaten black and blue than to suffer the disfigurement and humiliation of having his hair removed," according to court papers.

The arrested men are Mullet; his sons Johnny, Lester and Daniel; Levi Miller; Eli Miller; and Emanuel Schrock. About 60,000 Amish live in Ohio.

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