UIC student cleared in 'Fifty Shades' rape case, cleared again for online photos

A Chicago college student who was recently cleared in a rape case in which he allegedly re-enacted a scene from “Fifty Shades of Grey” now has had another set of charges related to that incident dropped without explanation.

Mohammad Hossain, a University of Illinois at Chicago student, had been cleared in the sexual assault case just days after he was charged with allegedly re-enacting with a woman a sexual encounter from the popular bondage-theme film.

Last week, he was back in court on fresh charges he allegedly sent pictures of the Feb. 21 incident to his friends on social media, but on Friday, that case was dropped without explanation.

When Hossain appeared in court in Branch 64 Friday, prosecutors announced they were dropping the charges of unlawful photography and unlawful dissemination of the pictures.

It was what defense attorney Joshua Kutnick had hoped for since Hossain came before Cook County Judge James Brown on June 3.

Kutnick stressed to Brown that Hossain had “not committed a crime” because the statute he was charged under requires that the photographs be taken outside the accused’s residence.

“It is unlawful for any person to knowingly make a video record or transmit live video of another person in that other person’s residence without that person’s consent,” the statute reads.

Kutnick said he was not given any reasons the latest charges were dismissed.

“Any lawyer or non-lawyer has got to know these charges were not applicable,” the defense attorney told the Sun-Times Friday.

“He’s a 19-year-old college kid. They’re dragging him through the coals. . . . I’m certainly questioning the motives behind the charges.”

In March, Judge Peggy Chiampas released Hossain after she said prosecutors failed to meet their burden of proof in his rape case.

Hossain had said the sex he had with his fellow freshman was consensual and that they were re-enacting a scene from “Fifty Shades of Grey.”

Hossain’s accuser said she met up with him in his dorm room in the 900 block of West Harrison Street after watching the film. They had had sex before, she testified, and while she agreed to be tied up that night, she did not consent to sex, she said.

Hossain recently surrendered himself to UIC police when they uncovered the four photos of his accuser blindfolded and gagged.

In two of the pictures prosecutors said he sent his friends, the woman, then 19, was nude. She was wearing only her bra and underwear in the other two photographs, prosecutors said.

Hossain, of the 6500 block of North Bell Avenue, has since been suspended from UIC, according to Kutnick.

Kutnick said Hossain’s ordeal with the court system has left him stressed.

“[After the rape charges were dropped] he was trying to progress, get back to his life and boom, they charge him again,” Kutnick said.