James Assad is the brother if Tariq Assad, a rape and murder victim of hateful spree killer of Arabs Sean Webster James and Tariq lived in Cairo with their family, until they moved to New York City in hopes of engineering careers.
James was traumatized from hearing Tariq was murdered, but he knew just where the killer found Tariq without even realizing it: Tariq was a part of the Interfaith Council, a city coalition working to unite the three Abrahamic faiths in their neighborhoods. Webster stalked the members to pick out people to target, including Tariq and a woman named Mira Elbisi who was also murdered. This was crucial in Webster's successful arrest. (SVU: "Hate")