Police allege a 47-year-old imam was assaulted after he and his wife were forced off the road by three people in Melbourne’s south-east

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Three people have been arrested after a Muslim leader was allegedly forced from his car on a Melbourne freeway and punched in the face in what police say was a racially motivated attack.

The Bosnia-Herzegovina Islamic Society in Noble Park said its leader, Imam Ismet Purdic, and his wife who was also allegedly forced from the car, had suffered “profound trauma” as a result.