WASHINGTON — The federal government decided Thursday not to seek charges against Aliya Rahman, the Minneapolis woman who was arrested and dragged out of President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address in February for standing up, Rahman’s lawyer told HuffPost.

“The government did the right thing today when it ultimately decided not to file any criminal charges against Aliya,” Jessica Gingold, senior counsel at the MacArthur Justice Center and Rahman’s attorney, said in a statement.

“Aliya should never have been arrested in the first place — she committed no crime and did nothing wrong,” said Gingold. “While we celebrate that no criminal case will go forward, the experience of being singled out for standing and roughly arrested has not been without its costs to Aliya and is now yet another thing from which Aliya must heal.”

Rahman, a Bangladeshi American software engineer who is autistic and has physical disabilities, was attending the address as a guest of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.).

She had previously endured a violent encounter with federal immigration enforcement agents in Minneapolis, during which she was dragged out of her car by officers and then locked up in a brutal federal detention center. She had testified to Congress about the incident, which she believes nearly killed her.

During the State of the Union address, Rahman says she and others near her had already stood up a few times when police approached her and told her she “couldn’t stand up.” Moments later, they grabbed her, dragged her into a stairwell without her cane and put her in handcuffs. Officers were aggressive enough with her that she had to be taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. She was later booked at Capitol Police headquarters.

Capitol Police said Rahman was arrested for “demonstrating,” which can carry a sentence of up to six months in prison. She won’t face any charges now.

“The impact of this arrest has been a weight on me since the State of the Union, a particularly heavy weight considering the fact that for the second time in two months I was arrested in a heavy-handed way for committing no crime,” Rahman said in a statement.

“I am grateful that the government chose not to file charges,” she said. “I will continue my steadfast focus on helping my community in Minneapolis and healing from the wounds inflicted on me by my own government.”

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