CRITICS SAY CANER ISN'T ONLY SELF-STYLED EX-MUSLIM - TOP
Omar Sacirbey, Religion News Service, 6/22/10

...Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Caner, Shoebat, Saleem and others like them belong to an "industry" that is often perpetuated by fundamentalist Christians. "The people that are doing this do it to make money, or get converts, or to get some personal benefit," Hooper said...

Despite the evidence against them, Hooper believes these people will continue to be welcomed by some institutions because they preach what some audiences want to hear.

"As long as you attack Islam and demonize Muslims, you're going to get a platform," he said. "It doesn't matter if your facts and background are wrong." (More)

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CAIR VIDEO: ILLINOIS STATE POLICE REVOKE MUSLIM CLERIC'S CHAPLAINCY - TOP
ABC 7 News, 6/23/10

View the video.

The Illinois State Police have rescinded its offer to a prominent Muslim imam who was to be the department's first-ever Muslim chaplain.

In statement, the state police officials say the appointment of Sheikh Kifah Mustapha as a volunteer chaplain is "being denied" following a background investigation...

On Wednesday morning, the director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations will hold a news conference calling it shameful that the state police revoked Mustapha's chaplaincy. Other Muslim groups will announce they are suing the website operator. (More)

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STEVEN EMERSON'S CRUSADE - "WHY IS A JOURNALIST PUSHING QUESTIONABLE STORIES FROM BEHIND THE SCENES?" - TOP
By John F. Sugg, Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting, Jan/Feb 1999

Emerson's willingness to push an extremely thin story--with potentially explosive consequences--is also consistent with the lengthy list of mistakes and distortions that mar his credentials as an expert on terrorism. (More)

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CAIR: LEGAL BATTLE BREWS OVER BAN ON 'ANTI-ISLAM' BUS ADS - TOP
Mara Gay, AOL News, 6/23/10

While a controversial ad campaign targeting Muslims is getting a cold shoulder in Detroit, its ads may soon be appearing on the side of Motown buses anyway.

A conservative legal group has asked a federal judge to force a Michigan bus company to run ads that offer support to Muslims who want to leave their religion, saying the ads are protected under the First Amendment.

"Fatwa on your head?" one of the slogans reads. "Is your family or community threatening you? Leaving Islam? Got questions? Get answers!"

The "Leave Islam Safely" ad campaign is paid for by the Freedom Defense Initiative, an anti-jihadist group co-founded by Pamela Geller, a New York woman who is also working to stop a controversial mosque from being built near New York's ground zero.

The ads aren't new: They raised eyebrows when they ran earlier this year in New York. And in Miami, they were removed from buses after local Muslim leaders called them a "smoke screen for hatred," although a court ordered the ads reinstated...

Raheem Hanifa of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said that kind of sentiment is offensive. "The ads presuppose that Muslims are violent and irrational. That's just not the case," he told AOL News. "This is just another instance of fear-mongering and hate-mongering." (More)

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Backgrounder: Who's Behind the Anti-Islam Bus Campaign? - TOP

The anti-Islam New York bus ad campaign and the campaign to block construction of a mosque and Islamic community center in New York are both headed by an extremist Muslim-basher who claims that "Hitler and the Nazis were inspired by Islam."

Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA), the anti-Islam hate group behind both efforts, is led by Pamela Geller.

[NOTE: The United States Patent and Trademark Office recently refused to grant SOIA a trademark because: "The applied-for mark refers to Muslims in a disparaging manner because by definition it implies that conversion or conformity to Islam is something that needs to be stopped or caused to cease."] (More)

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VIDEO: CAIR CONCERNED ABOUT FBI QUESTIONING OF 'HENDERSON 7' - TOP
KLAS-TV, 6/23/10

View the video.

They are known in Islamic circles as the "Henderson 7". The group of young Muslim men gained notoriety after they were detained by Henderson Police last December. The men stopped in a convenience store parking lot to perform their sunset prayers. Someone called police...

Now, the FBI is getting involved. The agency questioned five of the Muslim men last Thursday. The Council on American-Islamic Relations or CAIR calls the FBI visit "outrageous". "The agents who visited them said they were following up on a lead involving Department of Defense manuals they say were located in the vehicle during the December stop," said CAIR staff attorney and Deputy Executive Director Ameena MirzaQazi. "We're extremely perplexed as to why FBI agents would ask them about these books." (More)

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CAIR TAKES UP RENDITION CASE OF VA YOUTH - TOP
The Muslim Link, 6/18/10

On June 16, 2010 the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) held a press conference to discuss the barring of an American citizen, Northern Virginia youth Yahya Wehelie, from entering the United States. His brother, Yusuf Wehelie, was with him in Egypt and was also detained, but later was allowed to return home. Yusuf spoke at the press conference and described his ordeal:

"I was put in the back of an Egyptian police car, blindfolded and driven to what I believe to be the Police Ministry...I was kept in this location until May 11th, when I was permitted to leave. In order to leave they made me sign a paper in Arabic; I asked for a translation, but they refused to translate it." (More)

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CAIR-CAN CONDEMNS 'HONOR' KILLINGS - TOP

Ihsaan Gardee, The Globe and Mail, 6/23/810

Marcus Gee criticizes me for pointing out something he himself acknowledges in his piece, namely, that the crime of "honour" killings can unfortunately be found within various religious and cultural communities (Aqsa's Parents Give A Name To Her Murder: An Honour Killing – June 19).

As executive director of an organization whose mandate includes dispelling the myths and stereotypes surrounding Islam and Muslims, it is only logical that I would address this point.

Offering this clarification in no way contradicts our unequivocal condemnation of what happened to Asqa Parvez or in any way mitigates the horror we, or any decent human being, feel in the wake of such a crime.

In an address to constituents last Friday, CAIR-CAN released a statement that is clear in its condemnation of Aqsa Parvez's murder and acknowledges that community leaders must do more to protect women and ensure not only "honour" killings, but all manifestations of violence against women, are eradicated.

Ihsaan Gardee, Executive Director, CAIR-CAN (Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations)