A Los Angeles-based comedian is suing the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office over alleged mistreatment in the county jail following his 2025 arrest at San Francisco International Airport.

Ahmed Aboubakr Ahmed, an Egyptian-American who performs as Ahmed Ahmed, is suing the county, the Sheriff’s Office, which operates Maguire Correctional Facility, and former Sheriff Christina Corpus.

The civil complaint, filed Monday in San Mateo County Superior Court, accuses jail deputies of assault, sexual battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and other offenses.

The complaint alleges Ahmed was taken into custody Sept. 27 because an airline employee accused him of creating a disturbance after a delayed flight caused passengers to miss connections late at night.

Ahmed was sent to a hotel that was overbooked and returned to the airport to seek help from the airline, according to the complaint.

‘I was scared for my life’

After his arrest, the suit alleges, he was beaten by several deputies while handcuffed and that they tried to sexually assault him. It further alleges that a hood was placed on his head and that he was put in solitary confinement, handcuffed to a chair, for six hours before being moved to another isolation cell for 15 hours.

“I have spent my life trying to bring people together through laughter, but what those officers did broke something in me,” Ahmed said in a statement. “I was scared for my life. They tortured, humiliated, beat and injured me.”

Gretchen Spiker, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office, said in a statement that the Sheriff’s Office was aware of the complaint and took the allegations seriously.

“The Sheriff’s Office had no involvement in the arrest of Mr. Ahmed, who was booked into our correctional facility by an outside agency for public intoxication,” Spiker said. “In 2025, an internal review was conducted, and the evidence disputes Mr. Ahmed’s version of events. The Sheriff’s Office will not litigate the facts through the media. The Sheriff’s Office looks forward to responding through the appropriate legal process.”

The suit doesn’t name the San Francisco Police Department, which patrols the airport, and Spiker declined to elaborate on what “outside agency” was involved in Ahmed’s arrest.

In his complaint, Ahmed denies he was intoxicated and says he was released without charges. 

“No law enforcement official ever believed him to be intoxicated because they never administered any type of tests,” the complaint says. “The claim of intoxication is false and was made up to justify the unlawful arrest.”

The suit further alleges he was denied his right to call a lawyer.

“The trauma has scarred me physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually,” Ahmed said.

“I was released without being charged with any crime because I did not do anything wrong,” Ahmed said. “I will not walk away from what happened to me without doing everything I can to hold the officers and department accountable.  By doing so, I hope to make sure this does not happen to anyone else.”

The civil complaint names the county and former Sheriff Christina Corpus for their roles in hiring, training and oversight of the jail and its employees, alleging negligence.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and was filed by Trial Lawyers for Justice and The Law Offices of Haytham Faraj.