Tenn. Mosque Targeted by Islamophobia (ABC)
Last night, more than 600 people jammed a lobby and a county boardroom saying, quite openly, they don't want to live next to Muslims.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CAIR-LA Calls FBI Questioning of Muslim Men 'Outrageous'
'Henderson 7' previously detained for praying while traveling through Nevada

(LOS ANGELES, CA, 6/21/10) The Greater Los Angeles Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) today called the FBI's early morning questioning of five Southern California Muslim men last week "outrageous" and is seeking answers as to why the men were questioned in the absence of any indication that they were engaged in criminal activity.

The men questioned last Thursday morning by the FBI were among seven detained for "suspicious behavior" last December by police in Henderson, Nev., after they prayed in a commercial parking lot during a stop on a road trip.

SEE: Calif. Muslims Detained for Praying in Nevada

One of the men questioned by FBI agents for an hour on Thursday in his Los Angeles apartment said the agents produced a book containing information on war tactics, titled "Afghanistan." They allegedly told the man that Henderson police officers had found and taken photos of two of these books during the December search of the men's vehicle. FBI agents asked the individual whether he had any knowledge of the books, and reportedly told him they were there to follow up on the books.

However, the men say there were no such books in the vehicle. Also, an officer with the Henderson Police Department told CAIR-LA that the department has no information that such books were photographed or taken by officers during the December stop. [The Henderson Police Department initiated an internal investigation into the December incident in response to a misconduct complaint filed by CAIR-LA. That investigation is ongoing.]

FBI agents further questioned the young man, a U.S. Army veteran, about his trip through Henderson and about the various stops made during the trip. He was allegedly asked if he and his friends had any weapons when they went hiking. The agents also asked who led the seven men on the road trip, who of his six travel companions he would consult for religious advice and if he became religious before or after active military duty.

Toward the end of the questioning, the FBI agents allegedly told the man they were looking for people with military backgrounds who speak Arabic because they would be an asset for the FBI.

CAIR Alert: Know Your Rights when Visited by FBI/JTTF Agents

"It is outrageous that these young men must continue to face government scrutiny for engaging in protected First Amendment activity," said CAIR-LA Staff Attorney andDeputy Executive Director Ameena Mirza Qazi. "They were not 'suspicious' when they prayed in a parking lot six months ago, and they're not suspicious now. It's worrisome that our intelligence resources are being expended to track down what seems to be manufactured evidence or to assume a nefarious motive for the normal American activity of a bunch of guys going on a road trip."

"This seems to be yet another example of faith moving from a personal choice to probable cause," said CAIR's National Legislative Director Corey Saylor. "The young men's simple act of worship -- something most Americans engage in routinely -- has now led to questioning by both local and federal law enforcement agents."

In the past several years, Muslim community members have complained of FBI harassment, harsh interrogation and coercive tactics, and informant recruitment through FBI intimidation.

Early last week, CAIR released a letter it sent to Attorney General Eric Holder calling for the return to the United States of American Muslim citizens barred from returning home from trips overseas and subjected to FBI pressure tactics that are being called a form of "extraordinary rendition."

SEE: CAIR Asks AG Holder to Help Muslim Citizens Barred from U.S.

CAIR chapters across the country are noting a growing trend of individuals who receive unwarranted attention from law enforcement or federal agencies in one instance, and then face repeated issues in immigration, traveling or additional FBI or Joint Terrorism Task Force visits.

Several of the "Henderson 7" say they have faced travel issues, such as one of the men who was subjected to a secondary search for the first time when returning from India, and another who was detained and questioned for an hour and a half at the Canadian border earlier this year. Another one of the young men reports that his wife's green card interview was abruptly cancelled in March, and that they have not heard from immigration authorities since that time.

CAIR-LA noted a pattern of cross-agency interaction in the adjudication of immigration applications and filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request last Wednesday with other civil rights groups to uncover such practices in the naturalization process.

SEE: CAIR-LA, ACLU/SC and NILC File FOIA Request to Uncover Racial and Religious Profiling

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Choosing-to-Wear-the-Muslim-Headscarf

Nine years ago, I danced my newborn daughter around my North Carolina living room to the music of Free to Be...You and Me, the '70s children's classic whose every lyric about tolerance and gender equality I had memorized as a girl growing up in California. My Libyan-born husband, Ismail, sat with her for hours on our screened porch, swaying back and forth on a creaky metal rocker and singing old Arabic folk songs, and took her to a Muslim sheikh who chanted a prayer for long life into her tiny, velvety ear. She had espresso eyes and lush black lashes like her father's, and her milky-brown skin darkened quickly in the summer sun. We named her Aliya, which means "exalted" in Arabic, and agreed we would raise her to choose what she identified with most from our dramatically different backgrounds.

I secretly felt smug about this agreement—confident that she would favor my comfortable American lifestyle over his modest Muslim upbringing. Ismail's parents live in a squat stone house down a winding dirt alley outside Tripoli. Its walls are bare except for passages from the Qur'an engraved onto wood, its floors empty but for thin cushions that double as bedding at night. My parents live in a sprawling home in Santa Fe with a three-car garage, hundreds of channels on the flat-screen TV, organic food in the refrigerator, and a closetful of toys for the grandchildren. I imagined Aliya embracing shopping trips to Whole Foods and the stack of presents under the Christmas tree, while still fully appreciating the melodic sound of Arabic, the honey-soaked baklava Ismail makes from scratch, the intricate henna tattoos her aunt drew on her feet when we visited Libya. Not once did I imagine her falling for the head covering worn by Muslim girls as an expression of modesty.

Last summer we were celebrating the end of Ramadan with our Muslim community at a festival in the parking lot behind our local mosque. Children bounced in inflatable fun houses while their parents sat beneath a plastic tarp nearby, shooing flies from plates of curried chicken, golden rice, and baklava.

Aliya and I wandered past rows of vendors selling prayer mats, henna tattoos, and Muslim clothing. When we reached a table displaying head coverings, Aliya turned to me and pleaded, "Please, Mom—can I have one?"

She riffled through neatly folded stacks of headscarves while the vendor, an African-American woman shrouded in black, beamed at her. I had recently seen Aliya cast admiring glances at Muslim girls her age. I quietly pitied them, covered in floor-length skirts and long sleeves on even the hottest summer days, as my best childhood memories were of my skin laid bare to the sun: feeling the grass between my toes as I ran through the sprinkler on my front lawn; wading into an icy river in Idaho, my shorts hitched up my thighs, to catch my first rainbow trout; surfing a rolling emerald wave off the coast of Hawaii. But Aliya envied these girls and had asked me to buy her clothes like theirs. And now a headscarf.

In the past, my excuse was that they were hard to find at our local mall, but here she was, offering to spend ten dollars from her own allowance to buy the forest green rayon one she clutched in her hand. I started to shake my head emphatically "no," but caught myself, remembering my commitment to Ismail. So I gritted my teeth and bought it, assuming it would soon be forgotten.

That afternoon, as I was leaving for the grocery store, Aliya called out from her room that she wanted to come.

A moment later she appeared at the top of the stairs—or more accurately, half of her did. From the waist down, she was my daughter: sneakers, bright socks, jeans a little threadbare at the knees. But from the waist up, this girl was a stranger. Her bright, round face was suspended in a tent of dark cloth like a moon in a starless sky.

http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Choosing-to-Wear-the-Muslim-Headscarf

SEE ALSO: CAIR Testimony on Racial Profiling Submitted to House Committee
At a hearing held by the House Judiciary Committee on "Racial Profiling and the Use of Suspect Classifications in Law Enforcement Policy," lawmakers heard from representatives of the Sikh, African-American and American Muslim communities.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CAIR: Racial Slurs Used During Attack on Iowa Muslim
Iraqi refugee allegedly called 'raghead,' 'terrorist,' 'camel jockey'

(CEDAR RAPIDS, IA, 6/18/2010) -- The Iowa chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-IA) today called on local, state and national law enforcement agencies to investigate an allegedly bias-motivated attack on an Iowa Muslim as a possible hate crime.

CAIR-IA said an 18-year-old Iraqi refugee and his mother were reportedly assaulted following a recent softball game at Cedar Rapids' Tait Cummings Park by a member of the opposing team.

During the game, supporters of the opposing team allegedly shouted racial slurs at the victim and his team members. After the game, the victim was allegedly hit in the jaw by an assailant from the opposing team who shouted slurs such as "raghead," "terrorist" and "camel jockey." The victim's jaw was broken in the alleged assault. The victim's mother was allegedly assaulted by the same person when she tried to defend her son.

[Other players on the victim's team, who are members of minority groups, were also allegedly called "n**ger" and "spic."]

No arrests were made at the time of the incident, but CAIR-IA has since worked with a representative of the Linn County attorney's office to have a warrant issued for the alleged attacker.

"Hate crime charges are appropriate whenever evidence indicates that an attack was motivated by bias," said CAIR-IA Executive Director Miriam Amer. "Law enforcement authorities should bring the alleged perpetrator to justice and community leaders should speak out against the intolerance that leads to such incidents."

She said the recent beating of a California Muslim is being investigated as a hate crime. Other attacks on Muslims nationwide have included the bombing of a Florida mosque.

SEE: Beating of Calif. Muslim was Hate Crime (Video)
CAIR Video: Fla. Mosque Attack Called Terrorism, Reward Offered

Amer said these incidents can be attributed in part to growing anti-Islam sentiment in American society.

CAIR Video: Islamophobia Surfaces at Meeting on Tenn. Mosque

The Washington-based Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization is urging American Muslim individuals and institutions to review advice on security procedures contained in its "Muslim Community Safety Kit" and to report any similar incidents to the nearest CAIR office.

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

CAIR-LA JOINS FOIA REQUEST ON ANTI-MUSLIM BIAS IN NATURALIZATION - TOP

(LOS ANGELES, CA, 6/17/10) – The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA), along with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California (ACLU/SC) and the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), yesterday filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request demanding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provide a full record of all internal policies and practices relating to the treatment of naturalization applicants from Muslim countries.

In the FOIA request, the groups stated:

"[W]e are concerned that USCIS subjects naturalization applicants from Arab and Muslim countries or countries perceived to be Muslim, to heightened scrutiny and discriminatory treatment in the adjudication of their applications, scrutiny and treatment that other applicants do not face. We would like to know what policies and procedures account for this heightened scrutiny and discriminatory treatment for applicants from Arab or Muslim countries."

The request includes information on a possible "critical country list," or list of countries whose nationals are selected for special processing, lists of questions to be asked of people from certain countries, and policies and procedures regarding the sharing of information between USCIS and other federal agencies, including the FBI.

CAIR-LA Staff Attorney and Deputy Executive Director Ameena Mirza Qazi said:

"A systematic pattern of discrimination - evident through extended administrative reviews, naturalizations interviews being postponed or canceled and queries regarding religious affiliations - involving Muslims has emerged over the years, bringing a new meaning to the concept of ‘second-class citizen.’ The degradation of our naturalization process must end and the integrity of our immigration system fully restored."

Additionally, the ACLU/SC today sued the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service for denying the naturalization application of a 50-year-old Riverside Muslim man, Tarek Hamdi, based on misleading FBI files and questionable tactics. This disturbing denial is part of what CAIR-LA, the ACLU/SC, and the NILC believe is a broader pattern of racial and religious profiling in the naturalization process aimed at blocking citizenship for individuals of Muslim countries and coercing them to become FBI informants.

SEE: Riverside Man Files Suit Alleging He was Denied Citizenship Because He is a Muslim from Egypt

CAIR-LA had consulted with Hamdi and referred him to ACLU attorneys to handle his appeal.

CAIR-LA continuously advocates on behalf of immigrants who have experienced problems in the processing of their applications or have not acquired their citizenship in a timely manner. Last year, clients assisted by CAIR-LA were granted citizenship.

Also in 2006, CAIR-LA along with the ACLU/SC and the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project filed suit on behalf of Muslims who had been waiting for a long time to get their citizenship.

SEE: CAIR-LA Applauds Decision to Grant Muslims Citizenship

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

CONTACT: CAIR-LA Communications Manager Munira Syeda, 714-776-1847, info@losangeles.cair.com

-----

CAIR-NY ACTION: URGE MAYOR TO INCLUDE MUSLIM HOLIDAY IN NYC PUBLIC SCHOOLS -TOP

(NEW YORK, NY, 6/16/10) – On the one year anniversary of the city council vote (50-1) in favor of Muslim holidays, CAIR-NY, as part of a diverse coalition of more than 80 interfaith, civic and labor groups is urging the NY community to attend a rally and demand that Mayor Michael Bloomberg incorporate Eid in NYC public schools.

See: Eid in NYC NOW!

The Coalition of Muslim School Holidays, the group whose advocacy effort lead to the passage of Resolution 1281 on June 30, 2009, is expecting hundreds to turnout in support, including elected officials.

WHAT: Muslim Holidays Rally and Press Conference
WHEN: Wednesday, June 30th at 11 a.m.
WHERE: Steps of City Hall

Take the 4, 5, 6 to City Hall/ Brookyln Bridge or 2, 3 Park Place or A, C, to Chambers or R, W trains to City Hall

Contact: For more information, contact fali@cair.com or meligyxxi@yahoo.com.

Immediate ACTION REQUESTED: (Please post, copy and distribute widely)

1. Demand. Join us on June 30 to demand that Mayor Bloomberg incorporate Eid in the NYC public school calendar.
2. Support. Make announcements at your local mosque and community centers urging them to come out to the rally.
3. Share. Invite your friends and family to do the same by posting this message on Facebook and Twitter.

SEE ALSO:

WTC MOSQUE OPPONENTS MADE THREATENING PHONE CALLS TO COMMUNITY BOARD -TOP
Julie Shapiro, DNAinfo, 6/17/2010

Community Board 1 has received threatening phone calls since members backed a controversial plan to build a mosque near the World Trade Center.

Shortly after the board voiced support for the Cordoba House, a 13-story mosque and community center two blocks north of the World Trade Center site, the community board office and at least one board member received menacing calls, and notified the NYPD. (More)

-----

CAIR-OKLAHOMA RECEIVES 2010 CENSUS PARTNER APPRECIATION AWARD - TOP

(OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – 6/16/10) - On Saturday June 12th, the U.S. Census Bureau recognized CAIR-Oklahoma with the 2010 Census Partner Appreciation Award.

In an award ceremony at the Oklahoma State Capitol in the Governor's Blue Room, diverse partners from Oklahoma's interfaith, ethnic and civic communities were recognized for support in raising awareness of and inspiring participation in the 2010 Census.

CAIR-OK Executive Director Razi Hashmi received the award from Dr. Robert Groves, Director of the U.S. Census Bureau, on Saturday on behalf of CAIR-Oklahoma.

"We were humbled to be recognized for this award, and believe it is the civic responsibility of every American to partake in the census so that everyone is counted," stated Hashmi. "It is especially important in an economic crisis that we can guarantee that funding is allocated equitably nationally and within our state."

CAIR chapters nationwide were actively involved as partners in the 2010 Census.

See: Action: CAIR Asks Muslims to Participate in "Census Day"

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

CONTACT: CAIR-OK Executive Director Razi Hashmi, 405-248-5853, E-mail: rhashmi@cair.com; CAIR-OK Chair Michael Aziz Gipson, E-Mail: mgipson@cair.com

SEE ALSO:

CAIR-OK: OK STATE REP. SAYS 'DANGEROUS FOOLS' WANT TO IMPOSE SHARIA LAW IN U.S. COURTS - TOP
Jillian Rayfield, Talking Points Memo, 6/16/10

Oklahoma State Rep. Rex Duncan (R) is worried that "dangerous fools in black robes" are going to impose sharia law on the U.S. court system.

And Fox News' Brian Kilmeade is right there with him.

Duncan is pushing a ballot measure to prohibit courts from considering international or sharia law when handing down decisions, something he called a "commonsense" proposal on Fox News today. (More)

-----

CAIR-CA: MAN ATTACKED FOR BEING MUSLIM, PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICIAL SAY - TOP
By Lisa Fernandez, Mercury News, 6/15/10

Sunnyvale public safety officers are trying to track down two young men who struck someone in the face on a busy street, apparently simply for being a Muslim man who was wearing a black cap and holding a Koran...

The attackers approached the 40-something man on El Camino Real at Sycamore Terrace on Friday. He was waiting for a ride to pick him up and take him to a 1:30 p.m. prayer service, called a Juma'ah, according to Zahra Billoo, program director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Santa Clara. (More)

SEE ALSO:

CAIR VIDEO: MUSLIM MAN'S BEATING IN SUNNYVALE INVESTIGATED AS HATE CRIME -TOP
Foxreno.com, 6/17/10

Police are investigating the beating of a Muslim man in Sunnyvale last week as a hate crime and are seeking two suspects in the case.

At about 1 p.m. on Friday, the victim was on El Camino Real near Sycamore Terrace waiting for a friend to pick him up when two males approached him and asked if he was Jewish, Department of Public Safety Capt. David Verbrugge said. (More)

-----

CAIR NEWS CONF. VIDEO: AG HOLDER ASKED TO HELP MUSLIM CITIZENS BARRED FROM U.S. - TOP

Watch the press conference here.

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 6/16/10) --- A prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization today released a letter it sent to Attorney General Eric Holder calling for the return to the United States of American Muslim citizens barred from returning home from trips overseas and subjected to FBI pressure tactics that are being called a form of "extraordinary rendition." (More)

SEE ALSO:

CAIR: US STUDENT ADDED TO NO-FLY LIST, STUCK IN EGYPT (AP) - TOP
Associated Press, 6/16/10

A Virginia man, stuck in Egypt for the last 6 weeks living in a cheap hotel and surviving on fast food, said Wednesday his name was placed on a U.S. no-fly list because of a trip to Yemen. (More)

---

CAIR: FAIRFAX MAN RETURNING FROM YEMEN STRANDED IN CAIRO AFTER LANDING ON NO-FLY LIST - TOP
Peter Finn, Washington Post, 6/17/10

...Yahya Wehelie, 26, said Wednesday that after landing at the airport in Cairo in early May, he was told he would not be able to board his connection to New York and would have to go to the U.S. Embassy for an explanation. Embassy officials later told Wehelie and a younger brother with whom he was traveling that they would have to wait for FBI agents to arrive from Washington...

Civil liberties groups say the case is part of an emerging pattern in which American citizens are barred from flying to the United States so they can be questioned overseas by U.S. agents without counsel. The Council on American-Islamic Relations cited Wehelie's case and that of other Americans stranded abroad in a letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. this week. (More)

---

CAIR: CIVIL RIGHTS GROUPS DECRY US MUSLIM'S NO-FLY PLIGHT - TOP
Michelle Ruiz, AOL News, 6/16/10

U.S. civil liberties groups are protesting the case of a 26-year-old Muslim-American man who was placed on the no-fly list and barred from returning to the States after spending 18 months in Yemen. (More)

---

CAIR: AMERICAN STRANDED IN EGYPT DUE TO NO-FLY LIST (AP) - TOP
Paul Schemm, Associated Press, 6/16/10

A Virginia man, stuck in Egypt for the last six weeks living in a cheap hotel and surviving on fast food, said Wednesday his name was placed on a U.S. no-fly list because of a trip to Yemen...

"How can he travel home if he can't fly?" Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said in an interview with AOL News. "We're just concerned that this is part of a pattern of government officials stopping Muslim travelers, American Muslim citizens, to pressure them to give up the constitutional rights that they would normally have if they were on American soil." (More)

---

CAIR: US CITIZEN BARRED FROM RETURNING FOLLOWING YEMEN - TOP
Democracy Now, 6/17/10

A US citizen says he’s been prevented from returning to the United States after ending an eighteen-month stay in Yemen...

The Council on American-Islamic Relations says the no-fly list is being used as a form of "extraordinary rendition" and is calling on the Obama administration to intervene. (More)

---
CAIR: FBI ACCUSED OF USING NO-FLY LIST TO KEEP SOME MUSLIM AMERICANS ABROAD - TOP
Jerome Socolovsky, VOA News, 6/17/10

U.S. authorities have beefed up enforcement of a no-fly list after several recent terror plots nearly succeeded. Now, an American Muslim group says the authorities are using the no-fly lists to prevent some Muslim Americans from returning to their country...

"We are witnessing what appears to be a new policy by the Obama administration of barring American citizens from coming home based on suspicions," said Nihad Awad. (More)

---

CAIR VIDEO: FBI PREVENTS VA. MUSLIM FROM RETURNING TO U.S. - TOP
NBC4, 6/16/10
A local Muslim organization is calling on the FBI to release a 26-year-old Virginia man, who was detained and put on the no-fly list while on his way back from Yemen. (More)

-----

CAIR VIDEO: MUSLIM STUDENT UNION BANNED ON CALIF. CAMPUS - TOP
ABC7, 6/15/2010

The Council on American-Islamic Relations calls the controversial and unprecedented action "heavy-handed."

"What they would be doing is sending a very wrong message that will stifle free speech, not only at UCI but probably on campuses around the country," said Hussam Ayloush, Southern California executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. (More)

-----

CAIR: FAMILIES OF TERROR SUSPECTS SERVE AS KEY INVESTIGATIVE TOOL FOR ASSISTING FBI - TOP
Star-Ledger Staff, NJ.com, 6/16/10

Wiretaps. Informants. Financial records. All play vital roles in U.S. government investigations to prevent terrorist attacks.

But during the past six months, another investigative tool has received increased attention -- cooperation from suspects’ families.

Also in December, the FBI arrested five Virginia men in Pakistan after their families, concerned the men were in Pakistan to join a terrorist group, alerted the Council on American-Islamic Relations. CAIR then persuaded the relatives to contact the FBI, said Ibrahim Hooper, a CAIR spokesman. (More)

SEE ALSO:

NEWBURGH TERRORISM CASE MAY ESTABLISH A LINE FOR ENTRAPMENT - TOP
William Glaberson, New York Times, 6/15/10

When four Muslim converts from Newburgh, N.Y., were charged last year with planning to bomb Bronx synagogues and shoot down military planes at Stewart International Airport, officials described the plan as a chilling effort to commit local terrorism. (More)

VIDEO: KEITH OLBERMANN SLAMS RACIST NY ANTI-MOSQUE PROTESTERS - TOP
MSNBC, 6/8/10

Watch the video here.

But our winner: Rupert Murdoch. His "New York Post" has been beating the drum of race hatred here in New York. A columnist inspired a protest of a Muslim county center in lower Manhattan which the newspaper has incorrectly described called the "ground zero mosque." Well, Rupert got what he wanted, 500 protesters showed up at our most hallowed ground as they hated Muslims as hard as they could hate them.

That's when they spotted two dark-skinned men who were speaking Arabic to each other. Part of the group surrounded the pair and witnesses report shouts of "get out" and "go home." Then as it bordered on true ugliness, New York's Finest stepped in and pulled the men out for their safety even as one of the men with an Egyptian shouted, half fearful, half startled, "I'm a Christian."

Both of them were. Joseph Nassralla and Karam El Masry, immigrants from Egypt to California where they work for a Christian satellite TV station. They are Egyptian Coptic Christians. "I flew nine hours in an airplane to come here," Nassralla said, "to protest the community center." He repeated, "I'm a Christian." The problem, sir, is not what you are, but what the rest of them are. They were brought there by Rupert Murdoch, today's "Worst Person in the World."

SEE ALSO:

'LEAVING ISLAM' ADS ARE PREJUDICE DISGUISED AS ASSISTANCE - TOP
By Joyce Dubensky, New York Daily News, 6/9/2010

Is it free speech, subliminal stereotyping or hatemongering? It is all three.

Last month, about 30 buses in New York City's fleet started running ads professing to assist individuals trying to leave Islam; they'll continue to run through the middle of next week.

These are messages of hate masquerading as messages of help - and all New Yorkers who believe in peaceful coexistence should reject them.

Sponsored by an organization called Stop the Islamization of America, led by Pamela Geller, the ads read like something aimed at battered women trying to escape abusive relationships: "Fatwa on your head? Is your community or family threatening you? Leaving Islam?" Readers are then directed to a Web site aimed at providing support as they "escape" their religion.

The implication: Countless American Muslims are trapped in an oppressive and violent faith, dying to get out. And if they dare try, they could be injured or killed.

These are lies, and offensive ones at that. We should be clear: Few of the 5 million to 7 million Muslims in America want to escape their faith - and those who do are free to do so. (More)

---

CAIR: 'BOMB THAT MOSQUE!!' - TOP
KTRH host hopes for violence
By Richard Connelly, Houston Press, 6/10/10

Michael Berry, the former city councilman who hosts a talk show on KTRH each afternoon, has had a federal complaint filed against him by CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

For some reason, they don't like the fact that when a caller to Berry's show supported building a mosque near Ground Zero in New York, Berry responded: "No, no, Tony, you can't build a mosque at the site of 9/11. No, you can't. No, you can't. And I'll tell you this -- if you do build a mosque, I hope somebody blows it up...I hope the mosque isn't built, and if it is, I hope it's blown up, and I mean that." (More)

---

BACKGROUNDER: WHO'S BEHIND NY'S ANTI-ISLAM BUS, MOSQUE CAMPAIGNS? - 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)

-----

TERRORISM AGAINST JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA ISLAMIC COMMUNITY GOES UNDER-REPORTED - TOP
Jason Linkins, Huffington Post, 6/10/10

Hey, have you heard about all the terrorist attacks that have been going on down in the Jacksonville, Florida region? Probably not, actually, because the would-be victims of these attacks have been members of Florida's Islamic community, and I'm pretty sure they aren't deemed eligible by the media to be victims of terrorism. Which is too bad, because they are getting terrorized like the dickens!

Back in May, someone planted and detonated a pipe bomb at the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida while 60 people were inside. Fortunately nobody was hurt. But despite the fact that this bomber managed to do what Captain Crotchfire Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad couldn't do -- successfully explode a device -- the event failed to get as much media attention, for, you know, some reason. (More)

-----

DETROIT MUSLIMS TO PRAY FOR END TO GULF OIL SPILL - TOP

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 6/10/10) -- On Friday, June 11, Detroit Muslims will offer prayers for an end to the Gulf oil spill and the environmental disaster it is causing.

WHAT: Muslims Pray for end to Gulf Oil Spill
WHEN: Friday, June 11, 2010, 1:40 p.m.
WHERE: Muslim Community of Western Suburbs, 40440 Palmer Rd, Canton, MI
CONTACT: CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid, 248-842-1418, E-mail: dwalid@cair.com

The prayers are part of an initiative by the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which is urging prayer leaders (imams) in the nation's more than 2,000 mosques to use sermons at congregational prayers this Friday to offer special supplications for a speedy end to the oil spill crisis.

Mosque officials are also being asked to encourage community members to volunteer to assist in Gulf Coast relief efforts as part of CAIR's ongoing "Muslims Care" volunteerism initiative.

Religious leaders of other faiths are being requested to offer similar prayers and supplications based on their own traditions.

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com; CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, 202-341-4171, E-Mail: arubin@cair.com

SEE ALSO:

CAIR: CONN. MUSLIMS TO PRAY FOR END TO GULF OIL SPILL - TOP

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 6/10/10) -- On Friday, June 11, Connecticut Muslims will offer prayers for an end to the Gulf oil spill and the environmental disaster it is causing.

WHAT: Muslims Pray for end to Gulf Oil Spill
WHEN: Friday, June 11, 1 - 1:35 p.m.
WHERE: Islamic Association of Greater Hartford, 1781 Berlin Turn Pike, Berlin, CT
CONTACT: CAIR-CT Executive Director Mongi Dhaouadi (guest imam) (860) 514-8038

The prayers are part of an initiative by the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which is urging prayer leaders (imams) in the nation's more than 2,000 mosques to use sermons at congregational prayers this Friday to offer special supplications for a speedy end to the oil spill crisis.

Mosque officials are also being asked to encourage community members to volunteer to assist in Gulf Coast relief efforts as part of CAIR's ongoing "Muslims Care" volunteerism initiative.

Religious leaders of other faiths are being requested to offer similar prayers and supplications based on their own traditions.

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com; CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, 202-341-4171, E-Mail: arubin@cair.com

---

CAIR RALLIES MUSLIMS TO PRAY FRIDAY FOR END TO OIL SPILL - TOP
Bridget Johnson, The Hill, 6/09/10

The Council on American-Islamic Relations put out a call Wednesday for Muslims to pray for an end to the BP Gulf oil spill.

CAIR asked imams across the country to use sermons this Friday to pray for a resolution to the oil crisis and ensuing environmental disaster.

Mosque officials are also being asked to rally community members to volunteer for Gulf Coast relief efforts as part of the group's "Muslims Care" initiative. (More)

---

CAIR: THOUSANDS PRAYING IN FACE OF OIL SPILL - TOP
Bruce Nolan, The Times-Picayune, 6/9/2010

...Around southeast Louisiana, people who know nothing of the daily technical battle to stem the 52-day-old spill, including many who do not have family or friends yet affected, nonetheless say that concern about the oil spill has landed heavily in their interior lives, where they pray quietly in search of understanding or ask for comfort for themselves or others, according to the dictates of their faiths. ...

...And the Council on American-Islamic Relations asked Muslims around the country this week to include special prayers for oil spill relief in their Friday worship services. (More)

-----

ACTION: CONTACT CONGRESS ON MINN. ATTORNEY HELD IN RWANDA - TOP

(ST. PAUL, MN, 6/10/10) -- The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) today called on American Muslims and all people of conscience to contact their representatives in Congress and urge them to support H. Res. 1426.

The resolution, introduced by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), urges the Government of the Republic of Rwanda and President Paul Kagame to immediately release Minnesota human rights lawyer Professor Peter Erlinder from jail and allow him to return to the United States.

SEE: McCollum, Ellison Introduce Resolution for Erlinder's Release
H. Res. 1426

Erlinder has been a vigorous advocate for civil and human rights, both internationally and locally. He has served as a lead defense attorney for the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania. Erlinder was in Rwanda to provide legal defense for opposition leader Victoire Ingabire and has been jailed there since May 28, 2010, on charges of "genocide ideology." On June 7, a Rwandan judge denied Erlinder's request for bail.

SEE: American Lawyer Denied Bail in Rwanda (New York Times)

"Attorneys around the world understand the principles of defending their clients zealously," said CAIR-MN Civil Rights Director Taneeza Islam. "Peter is jailed for his duties as a defense attorney and for his academic ideas." Ms. Islam added that Erlinder has played an active role in defending the legal rights of all individuals.

Last year, Erlinder provided "Know Your Rights" trainings and legal representation to the Minnesota Muslim community in the midst of a federal investigation into the possible link between a terrorist group and the disappearance of Somali men in the Twin Cities.

Erlinder is scheduled to speak on a panel CAIR-MN is organizing for local attorneys who represent individuals in FBI interviews and grand jury hearings.

Members of the Muslim community are urged to contact their elected officials to ask them to support H. Res. 1426 and to request the immediate release of Peter Erlinder.

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUESTED:

CONTACT elected representatives at:

HOUSE: https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
SENATE: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
WHITE HOUSE: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

CONTACT: CAIR-MN Civil Rights Director Taneeza Islam, Esq., 651-587-4712, E-Mail: tislam@cair.com; CAIR-MN President Lori Saroya, 612-327-6700, E-Mail: lsaroya@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com