The mayor of Hamtramk is suing the city council after they voted to fire the city manager, alleging the council’s action was illegal and unjust.
Filed on Monday, June 15, by attorney Nabih Ayad in Wayne County Circuit Court on behalf of Hamtramck Mayor Adam Alharbi, the lawsuit asks a judge to block the termination a week prior, on June 8, of city manager Adel Al-Adlani. Alharbi opposed the council’s firing of Al-Adlani, who had been hired in February.
“The firing itself is illegal … a violation of the contracts, violation of the city charter, violation of the law, a violation of the Open Meetings Act,” Ayad told the Detroit Free Press.
The position of city manager in Hamtramck is important because the city has a weak-mayor type of government, where the elected officials are part-time, while the full-time city manager assumes many of the key roles in city governance.
The resolution to terminate Adel Al-Adlani passed 4 to 2, with Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Mohammed Hassan, and councilmen Abu Musa, Yousuf Saed, and Muhtasin Sadman voting to fire Al-Adlani, while councilmen Nayeem Choudhury and Mohammed Alsomiri voted against his firing. Ayad said Hassan brought forth the resolution to fire Al-Adlani, noting that Hassan currently faces criminal charges for election law violations.
“He’s under felony charges in the state of Michigan, and yet he’s continuously violating … the city charter and the laws of the city of Hamtramck,” Ayad said.
Hassan currently faces charges of violating election law/forgery; election law/forging a signature on an absentee ballot application; and election law/false statement in application for absentee ballot, according to Wayne County court records. A pre-trial is set for June 26. Hassan did not return an email on Monday seeking comment.
The council meeting on June 8, during which Al-Adlani was fired, featured frequent disputes among the city council members, who shouted at times at each other. Clips of their loud arguments appeared on some social media sites, drawing criticism of the council.
“Councilman Hassan continues to act in blatant disregard of the law, and on June 9, 2026, at a Hamtramck City Council meeting — shouted down the Chair, Plaintiff Mayor Adam Alharbi — and forced an outrageous vote to ‘suspend the laws’ of the Hamtramck City Charter, so that the council could proceed to unlawfully terminate a chief city official, the City Manager,” the lawsuit reads. “At no point during the ensuing chaos was a reason given for the termination of the City Manager.”
It’s unclear exactly why Al-Adlani was fired. During the meeting, Saed alleged Al-Adlani had “20 violations” and “three big complaints against him.”
“He’s not fit for that position,” Saed added. “He’s not qualified for that position.”
But Saed did not specify what those complaints were. Hassan also did not give specifics, saying “I don’t want to disclose everything to the public” because “I respect him.”
Choudhury, who voted against the firing, praised Al-Adlani, saying, “he followed the rules. He obeyed the instructions of the city manager role.”
Choudhury said the actions of the council were embarrassing for the city and for Muslims. All of Hamtramck’s six city councilmen and the mayor are Muslim, the only city in the U.S. whose local elected officials are all Muslim.
“It’s a disgrace,” Choudhury said. “It’s a shame as being a Muslim adult, a Muslim American being here and serving, and you are not … honest and transparent to the people.”
Choudhury said that “majority Muslim elected” officials should be a “role model,” not acting like a “disgrace.”
During the contentious meeting, Mayor Alharbi also admonished elected officials in Hamtramck.
“We shouldn’t act unprofessional,” decrying what he called the “constant chaos in our city.” He said that it will be difficult to find a replacement for Al-Adlani.
“Nobody wants to apply to be a city manager in Hamtramck,” Alharbi said. In August, the city council fired a previous city manager, Max Garbarino, who later filed a lawsuit against the city.
Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Hamtramck mayor sues city council for firing city manager
Reporting by Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
