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Executive Editor: Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Chronology of Islam in America (2015)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
December 2015 page two
Somali restaurant fire triggers FBI probe in North Dakota
Dec 10: A possible arson attack reported Tuesday (12/8/2015) at a Somali restaurant in Grand Forks, North Dakota has triggered an FBI investigation, but the business’s owners are determined to rebuild. Ilhaam Hassam, one of the owners of the family-owned Juba Coffee House and Restaurant, said she was "in shock" the morning she and her husband, Abdulaziz Moallin, heard of the damage inflicted in their business. The restaurant was damaged in a fire police say was deliberately ignited about 2 a.m. Tuesday inside the business. The blaze occurred days after the words "go home" and "SS" in the style of a Nazi symbol were spray-painted on the restaurant's front windows. An 11-second video released by police shows a suspect smashing in the restaurant's front windows moments before the fire began. Police are still investigating the attack, and the FBI opened a probe into the fire to determine whether any federal laws were broken, FBI spokesman Kyle Loven confirmed. [inforfum.com]
Lawsuit: No-fly list has left Muslim Air Force veteran detained in Turkey
Dec 11: A U.S. Air Force veteran living abroad is alleging in a lawsuit filed Friday that he has been unjustly detained in Turkey because of his inclusion on the U.S. no-fly list and that his plight demonstrates that the list is unconstitutional. Saadiq Long, 46, who was born in Oklahoma but considers Qatar his home, alleges that he was detained by Turkish authorities in October because he was on the list and his passport was flagged. He has not, according to the suit, been charged in Turkey with any crimes.
The episode was not Long’s first encounter with the no-fly list. In 2012, according to the suit, he was prevented from flying to the United States to visit his sick mother, and after he was eventually allowed to do so, he had to take a bus to Mexico to fly out. And while Long’s suit seeks specifically to have him removed from the no-fly list so that he can leave Turkey, it is broadly critical of the way the United States uses terror watch lists to strip citizens, especially American Muslims, such as him, of their rights. “Through extra-judicial and secret means, the federal government is ensnaring individuals into an invisible web of consequences that are imposed indefinitely and without recourse as a result of the shockingly large federal watch lists that now include hundreds of thousands of individuals,” the lawsuit alleges. The suit comes as the no-fly list is at the center of a curious national debate. President Obama and other Democrats are pushing to have it expanded to gun buyers, while some in the Republican Party are resistant to that idea. The lawsuit alleges that inclusion on the no-fly list can have consequences for those on it beyond denying them the ability to board a commercial airliner. It notes that Connecticut’s governor has said he intends to issue an executive order banning gun sales to those on federal terror watch lists.
The suit was filed in federal court in Alexandria, Va., where a judge this year ruled that the way the United States implemented its no-fly list was unconstitutional years ago, when it was used to detain a Virginia teenager in Kuwait. That decision wasn’t especially groundbreaking — a federal judge in Oregon had declared as much — but Gadeir Abbas, who represented the Virginia teen and is now representing Long, said Long’s lawsuit could have more-far-reaching ramifications. That is because Long’s lawsuit challenges the no-fly list more directly, asserting that putting him on it violated his right to “substantive due process,” Abbas said. The suit names U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch, FBI Director James B. Comey and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, among others, as defendants. A Justice Department spokeswoman said officials had just received the suit and were reviewing it. Julia Mason, a State Department spokeswoman, wrote in an email that officials there were “aware of reports that a U.S. citizen was arrested in Turkey” but declined to provide other details, citing “privacy considerations.” [Washington Post]
Vandals spray-paint Hwthorne, CA mosque
Dec 13: Hawthorne (California) police received a call of vandalism at the Islamic Center of Hawthorne in the 12200 block of South Hawthorne Way. The front of the building was spray-painted with the phrase, "Jesus is the way."The FBI is working with Hawthorne police to investigate the incident, which are being classified as hate crimes. [ABC7]
Ohio 7th grader charged for threatening to shoot Muslim student
Dec 13: A seventh-grader accused of threatening to shoot a sixth-grader faces expulsion in addition to the criminal charges filed against him. The boy made the threat to the six grader around 2:30 p.m. Dec. 7 aboard a bus after it left Morton Middle School in Vandalia, Ohio. The victim called in to the police station early Dec. 8, stating that the seventh-grader called the student a “towel head,” a “terrorist” and was responsible for bringing down the twin towers. The older boy also called him “the son of ISIS” and asked if he was going to bomb him. The victim said he did not hear the gun threat, but said he believed the older boy would harm him and other students, according to the report. The seventh grader was arrested and charged with ethnic intimidation and aggravated menacing. Before he was taken to the Montgomery County Juvenile Justice Center, he wrote an apology letter at the police station, telling the younger boy he was sorry for what he said and for scaring him, the report stated. Vandalia-Butler City Schools released a statement about the incident, saying district officials are actively working with police. Administrators met with the student’s parents and processed paperwork calling for a 10-day suspension with a recommendation for expulsion on the seventh-grader. “It is important for our students and their parents to understand we take them at their word when they make these threats. We will treat all threats seriously, taking immediate and decisive action to protect the safety and welfare of our students, staff and community.” [Arab American News]
Alabama residents are being recruited by the KKK to stop the ‘Spread of Islam’
Dec 15: After Republican front-runner Donald Trump announced his ideas to curb terrorist activities in the U.S. by banning all Muslims from entering the country, the Ku Klux Klan has apparently joined the fight against Islamic militants. Charisma News wrote that several media outlets reported that the KKK is attempting to recruit new members in Alabama cities to “fight the spread of Islam in our country.”“The KKK Wants You! HELP US FIGHT THE SPREAD OF ISLAM IN OUR COUNTRY,” the fliers, showing an Uncle Sam-type character dressed in the traditional KKK white hood state. “TO JOIN CALL THE HOTLINE OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE,” it continues.Alabama Today reports that after the latest terrorist attacks in San Bernardino, California and the Paris, France attacks before that, residents in the Alabama neighborhoods of Cullman and Decatur reportedly found themselves being recruited by the KKK. The Alabama chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest civil liberties advocacy organization in the U.S., is demanding that state legislators do something about denouncing the hate group, the outlet further reports. “Our state’s leaders must speak out against the rising anti-Muslim bigotry nationwide that is apparently inspiring a new recruiting effort by racists,” said Khaula Hadeed, executive director of CAIR-Alabama. “The KKK must be repudiated, whether it targets African-Americans, Muslims or any other minority group with hatred and intimidation.” [All Christian News]
Anti-Muslim rhetoric during GOP debate harms U.S. national security
Dec 16: Civil rights and humanitarian organizations say the anti-Muslim rhetoric seen in Tuesday's (Dec 15) Republican Party debates only provides further fuel for Islamic extremists to target the U.S. The last Republican debate of the year saw candidates in both the undercard and primetime debates doubling down on statements that Muslims should be barred from entering the U.S. and that the U.S. should cease accepting refugees from war-torn Syria. Ibrahim Hooper, spokesperson for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, says presidential candidates are using frightening and inflammatory rhetoric in attempt to capitalize on the fears American feel in the wake of the San Bernardino and Paris terror attacks. "It sends the message that will be perceived as America being hostile to the entire faith of Islam. And that's an entirely counterproductive message in terms of our nation's security," Hooper says. "But the Republican Party doesn't seem to care. They just are pandering to the lowest common denominator of anti-Muslim fear and hysteria because they find that it works and it gains them a boost in the polls."
Donald Trump proposed last week that the U.S. should ban all Muslims from entering the country "until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on." Republican Party officials, including Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus and House Speaker Paul Ryan, condemned the proposal. But on Tuesday, Trump defended it, saying such a measure would protect the U.S. against terrorist attacks. "We are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security," Trump said when asked if his policies of "isolation" were really the best way for America to deal with threats. Abed Ayoub, legal and policy director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, says it's frightening that such rhetoric is present at such a high level of American politics as a presidential debate. "It's xenophobic and there's no room for this type of commentary and these types of positions in politics, particularly for running for president of the United States," Ayoub says. "It does have a direct impact on the community. We've seen over the past few weeks. The number of hate crimes targeting Arab Muslim communities is on the rise." [US News]
Teen pleads guilty to hate crime for hitting Sikh-American man
Dec 16: An American teenager accused of brutally beating an elderly Sikh man in the US and calling him a “terrorist” and “bin Laden” has pleaded guilty to one count of hate crime, a media report said.The 17-year-old pleaded guilty on December 7 to hitting Inderjit Mukker, 53, of Darien and will be sentenced in February in juvenile court. Mukker was assaulted on September 8 when the Willowbrook teen pulled up to his car yelling racial slurs, including, “Terrorist, go back to your country, bin Laden!” A US citizen and father of two, Mukker was on his way to a grocery store and was repeatedly cut off by a driver. He pulled over to the side of the road to let the driver pass, but the driver instead stopped in front of his car. The assailant then reached into the car and repeatedly punched Mukker in the face, making him unconscious, bleed profusely and suffer a fractured cheekbone and a laceration to his cheek. He was rushed to the hospital, where he received six stitches, treatment for lacerations, bruising and swelling. Harsimran Kaur, the coalition’s legal director and Mukker’s attorney, said Mukker was in the courtroom when his attacker entered his plea. “We are pleased the defendant is accepting responsibility for the impact of his actions on Mukker and the Sikh community,” Kaur was quoted as saying by the Chicago Tribune. “We believe it’s important to acknowledge hate when it happens. We will continue to monitor the case when it goes to sentencing,” she said. [Hindustan Times]
Man gets 8 years for trying to kill Muslims with X-Rays
Dec 16: An upstate New York man who admitted helping build what he thought was a mobile X-ray device to kill Muslims has been sentenced to eight years in prison. Fifty-seven-year-old Eric Feight, of Hudson, pleaded guilty in 2014 to providing material support to terrorists. He was sentenced today in federal court in Albany, NY. Feight was arrested in 2013 along with 51-year-old Glendon Scott Crawford, of Galway. Crawford is awaiting sentencing after his conviction in August of conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction and other charges. Investigators began tracking Crawford in 2012 after he approached two Albany-area Jewish groups. They also learned Crawford sought help from a Ku Klux Klan grand wizard who was an FBI informant. Authorities said the device was inoperable. Nobody was hurt. Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Belliss said earlier "Mr. Crawford hated Muslims and other politically liberal people," Belliss told the jurors. He replayed earlier Friday the first secretly taped conversation of Crawford with another FBI informant in which Crawford said, "I think Islam is an opportunist infection of DNA" and "Radiation poisoning is a beautiful thing." According to the prosecutor, Crawford's tireless pursuit of the plan drove the investigation. The evidence showed he was "cold, calculated" and "committed." He was not "cartoonish" or "a goofy simpleton," as the defense suggested, the prosecutor said. In one videotape, when asked about the best viable local targets, Crawford mentioned an Albany storefront mosque and the New York governor's mansion. Luibrand said federal agents and their informants kept making contact with Crawford over the 13-month investigation and they eventually provided an X-ray device that never worked. His client, a Navy veteran, had no criminal history, he said. [CBS]
CAIR-Oklahoma releases civil rights report
Dec 16: The Council on American-Islamic Relations Oklahoma Chapter recently released its first ever civil rights report following what leaders said is an increase in "Islamophobia" and anti-Muslim sentiment in the wake of the attacks in Paris, France, and San Bernadino, Calif. The report summarizes the complaints and incidents received by CAIR-OK's civil rights department, which serves the Oklahoma Muslim community through the CAIR-OK Oklahoma City office. Of the calls received, about half of them show evidence of discrimination or anti-Muslim bias, including denials of religious accommodations, harassment, bullying, and hate incidents, CAIR-OK leaders said in a news release today. "This report is an in-depth look at the state of Muslim civil rights in Oklahoma," said Veronica Laizure, CAIR-OK civil rights director. "It details the major work that we've done over the past year as well as some of the common issues we've identified, and will provide a foundation for more targeted civil rights work in the future." Laizure said in particular, the Muslim advocacy group has seen an increase in anti-Muslim sentiment due to recent world events. "Our report tracks the discrimination and harassment that our Muslim community members face. We also hope that it will help our leaders and community services address the needs of their Muslim constituents," she said. [CAIR]
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