|
Chronology of Islam in America (2004) Page III
July 2004
Muslims win legal fight over prison regulations
July 1: California prison officials have been barred by a Sacramento federal judge from imposing discipline or denying sentence reductions based on Muslim inmates' half-inch beards and attendance at religious services. In a 35-page order that ends the long-running class-action lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton granted summary judgment in favor of the inmates and issued a permanent injunction against the Department of Corrections. He found the two actions necessary to protect the rights of Muslim inmates under a 2000 federal statute "enacted to prevent correctional institutions from restricting religious liberty."
Islamic Institute raided in Fairfax
July 1: Federal agents swarmed into an Islamic institute in Northern Virginia that has been the target of a joint U.S.-Saudi crackdown over allegations that it promoted an intolerant brand of Islam. Dozens of FBI, customs and Internal Revenue Service agents participated in the morning raid on the Fairfax County-based Institute for Islamic and Arabic Sciences, law enforcement sources said. Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the local Muslim community is concerned that the raid is a "fishing expedition by the government.''
Bush Wins; House leaves Patriot Act as is
July 8: The Republican-led House bowed to a White House veto threat and stood by the USA Patriot Act, defeating an effort to block the part of the anti-terrorism law that helps the government investigate people's reading habits. The effort to curb the Patriot Act was pushed by a coalition of Democrats and conservative Republicans. But they fell short in a showdown that came just four months before an election in which the conduct of the fight against terrorism will be on the political agenda.
FBI Raids Muslim Center in Virginia
July 8: Federal agents raided the Institute for Islamic and Arabic Sciences in America in Fairfax, Virginia, and spent the entire day going through records, computers and paper files. They let the Institute's staff go home soon after they arrived. Late in the day, two vans loaded with boxes of records seized by agents left the building. The institute was originally funded by the government of Saudi Arabia, but the Saudi government stopped its subsidies last year. Since then, the center has fallen on hard times, said Rizwan Mowlana, the executive director of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations.
Dallas Muslim leaders speak out after Elashi verdict
July 9: Dallas Muslim leaders spoke out against what they called selective prosecution in the recent convictions of five Richardson brothers for illegally shipping high-tech goods to nations deemed sponsors of terrorism, Dallas Morning News reported. "We believe that these convictions indicate a growing disparity and climate of injustice for Muslims, who we feel are being selectively prosecuted and given unfair sentences precisely because they are Muslim or Arab," said Khalil Meek, who serves on the board of directors of the Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Mr. Meek said the federal government has imposed administrative fines rather than criminal convictions on non-Muslims who have admitted similar export violations. "This is not justice," Mr. Meek said. "This growing trend of selective prosecution only furthers much of the community's view that this is nothing but a witch-hunt against the Muslim community." A federal court jury on July 7 convicted the five brothers of conspiring to use their Richardson computer services business to make illegal shipments of high-tech goods to Libya and Syria, two nations deemed state sponsors of terrorism.
FBI quizzing American Muslims
July 17: FBI agents are interrogating Muslim and Arab Americans across the United States, asking them if they knew anyone who has recently visited Pakistan or Syria. The campaign was aimed at gleaning information that could prevent a major terrorist attack during this election year, the agency said. Officials of the regional Joint Terrorism Task Forces, which include police officers, accompany FBI agents during these interviews. These interviews have panicked the already nervous Muslim and Arab communities in the US because similar interviews in the past led to the deportation of thousands of immigrants. US Attorney General John D. Ashcroft and the US Department of Homeland Security recently issued warnings regarding a possible large-scale Al Qaeda attack in the US.
FBI starts to question Muslims about possible attacks
July 18: FBI agents are beginning another round of interviews with Muslims and Arab Americans around the country as part of an effort to root out a possible terrorist attack in the U.S. this summer or fall, Los Angeles Times reported civil rights activists and attorneys for some of the people questioned as saying. The interviewing program was announced in late May at a news conference by U.S. Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III. Officials are concerned that terrorists may seek to disrupt the national political conventions in late July and late August or the general election in November, among other possible targets. Muslim advocacy groups and lawyers said that, in recent days, the FBI had begun interviewing dozens of people in Virginia, Florida, New York and California, among other states.
CIA steps up recruitment of Arab-American agents
July 23: At the Arab Festival in Dearborn CIA recruits recruit agents and translators in metro Detroit's large Arab and Muslim communities. According to the Free Press, in recent weeks, the CIA has also taken out ads in local newspapers that feature a photo of the Statue of Liberty with the words: "For over 100 years, Arab Americans have served the nation. Today we need you more than ever." And the agency is offering bonuses of up to $25,000 for new hires who are fluent in Arabic and other crucial languages. The moves by the CIA come at a time when members of Congress and intelligence officials are pointing to a severe shortage of Arabic speakers in U.S. security agencies. Almost three years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the country is still not equipped with enough linguists to fight the war on terror, they say.
Democrats remove Aljazeera banner
July 26: Organizers at the Democratic Party convention in Boston removed Aljazeera's logotype banner from its skybox without assigning reasons. Aljazeera's skybox was one of the several that media organizations used as broadcast booths to cover the convention in Boston to confirm John Kerry's nomination as George Bush's presidential challenger in November.
US revokes visa of Tariq Ramadan
July 28: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security revokes a visa granted to Tariq Ramadan, a renowned Islamic scholar who is accused by some Jewish groups of being a Muslim extremist, effectively barring him from a teaching post he was to begin in August at the University of Notre Dame. Ramadan was appointed to teach Islamic philosophy and ethics in South Bend through the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. A resident of Switzerland, Ramadan was given a visa in February that permitted him to work in the United States, according to government officials.
Homeland Security given data on Arab-Americans
July 29 - The Census Bureau has provided specially tabulated population statistics on Arab-Americans to the Department of Homeland Security, including detailed information on how many people of Arab backgrounds live in certain ZIP codes, the New York Times reported. The assistance is legal, but civil liberties groups and Arab-American advocacy organizations say it is a dangerous breach of public trust and liken it to the Census Bureau's compilation of similar information about Japanese-Americans during World War II. The tabulations were produced in August 2002 and December 2003 in response to requests from what is now the Customs and Border Protection division of the Department of Homeland Security. One set listed cities with more than 1,000 Arab-Americans. The second, far more detailed, provided ZIP-code-level breakdowns of Arab-American populations, sorted by country of origin. The categories provided were Egyptian, Iraqi, Jordanian, Lebanese, Moroccan, Palestinian, Syrian and two general categories, "Arab/Arabic" and "Other Arab." Christiana Halsey, a spokeswoman for Customs and Border Protection, said the requests were made to help the agency identify in which airports to post signs and pamphlets in Arabic.
Arab Americans complain of bias
July 29: Fifteen per cent of Arab Americans in the Detroit area say they have experienced harassment or intimidation since 9/11. The Detroit area has the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the United States. A University of Michigan report said derogatory remarks such as "go back where you come from" or "are you a member of Al Qaeda?" were the most common form of abuse. Some complained of job discrimination but only a small number reported physical abuse. Forty-two per cent of Muslim Arabs said most Americans do not respect their religion. Nearly 60 per cent said their worries about their future in the United States after 9/11 had increased.
Texas Muslims react to Holy Land indictments
July 29: Texas Muslims say they don't know whether the Holy Land Foundation funneled charity money to terrorists, but they worry that Islamic organizations are being targeted by the U.S. government. The Richardson-based charity and seven of its leaders are accused in a 42-count federal indictment of funneling $12.4 million to support the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, including money for the families of suicide bombers. As news of the indictments reverberated throughout the North Texas Muslim community, reactions ranged from skepticism to concern about the future of other Islamic charities. Dr. Robbie Hashem, a Colleyville dentist who donated money to the foundation for an orphanage, said the allegations are shocking if true. "Unfortunately, we now live in a day when ... you don't know who you're donating to," he said.
UAE withdraws Harvard gift after Jewish complaints
July 30: The United Arab Emirates has withdrawn a $2.5 million gift to Harvard University, which was unused after a row over a UAE research centre accused of promoting anti-Jewish hatred, an official said. He said the university’s divinity school had not used the money because of pressure from Jewish lobby groups to reject it in protest at the UAE’s role in hosting the Zayed International Centre for Coordination and Follow-Up. The $2.5 million donation from Sheikh Zayed in 2000 was intended to endow a professorship for Islamic studies at Harvard Divinity School. The Zayed Centre was set up in 1999 to research regional political and economic issues, including relations between Arabs and the West. It was embroiled in controversy after hosting Arab and European intellectuals who lectured on Israel and Judaism.
August 2004
Federal court rules in favor of Muslim inmates
August 4: The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California has ruled that Muslim prisoners in one of California’s medium security prisons, California State Prison Solano, have the right to a full-time Muslim chaplain, to purchase prayer oil, attend Friday prayers (Jumu’ah Salaat) ... without loosing good time/work time credit. And, to wear beards - up to one-half inch.
Republican Rep. Katherine Harris regrets her bogus claim of Indiana terror plot
Aug. 4: Republican Rep. Katherine Harris said she regrets concerns caused by her claim that a plot existed to blow up the power grid in Carmel, Indiana. Harris made the comments about terrorism and the plot at a rally for President Bush in Venice, Fla., and a subsequent interview with the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. City officials in Carmel said they know of no such plot.
ACLU offers Muslims legal help
Aug. 5: The American Civil Liberties Union said it is offering free legal help to Arabs and Muslims caught up in the latest FBI "dragnet" interviews. "This dragnet technique used by the FBI is simply racial profiling and violates our most cherished fundamental freedoms," said Dalia Hashad, the ACLU's Arab, Muslim and South Asian advocate, in a statement. The ACLU action came in response to an announcement the FBI would launch a new round of dragnet-like interviews in Arab and Muslim communities nationwide. The ACLU said the FBI questioned more than 8,000 Muslim and Arab men in 2001 and 2002, but that questioning did not yield a single arrest of a suspected terrorist.
General Boykin’s speeches broke rules
Aug. 19: A Defense Department investigation has determined that Lt. Gen. William G. "Jerry" Boykin, the Pentagon's senior military intelligence official, violated three internal regulations while delivering controversial speeches that linked the war on terrorism to what he depicted as an enduring battle against Satan, The Washington Post reported. The 10-month internal investigation, conducted by the department's deputy inspector general for investigations, confirmed news accounts that Boykin said in his speeches that President Bush had been placed in his post by God, that radical Muslims hate America because it "will never abandon Israel" and that the U.S. military is recruiting a spiritual army that will draw strength from a greater power to defeat its enemy. The investigation recommended appropriate corrective action with respect to General Boykin.
U.S. investigates Saudi-backed charities
Aug. 19: Nearly three years after the devastating Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a number of Saudi-supported Islamic preachers, centers, charities and mosques remain under intense scrutiny, The Washington Post reported. U.S. investigators continue to look into the tangled money trails leading from Saudi Arabia to its embassy in Washington and into dozens of American cities.
Judge blasts FBI case against Albany Muslims
Aug 24: Two Muslims accused of supporting terrorism after an FBI sting operation were ordered released from jail by a judge in Albany, New York, who blasted the government's case by saying there is no evidence they have any links to terrorists. Magistrate David Homer ruled Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain should be released on $250,000 bonds and held in home detention under electronic surveillance while they await trial. The pair had been ordered held without bail earlier this month -- a ruling largely based on an address book that prosecutors said was found in an Iraqi terrorist training camp. The book referred to Aref as "the commander" in Arabic. The government now says that translation was an error and the word is "brother" in Kurdish. The order to release the two comes amid criticism that the Bush administration's anti-terrorism policies have caused authorities to leap to unfounded conclusions in cases that have fizzled or been dropped altogether after initial high-profile announcements.
September 2004
Federal judge dismisses terrorism charges against two men in Detroit
Sept. 2: Warning that the fight against terrorism must not trample on the Constitution, a federal judge on Thursday dismissed terrorism charges against two men convicted last year. But U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen ordered the two, as well as a third man, to stand trial again on charges of document fraud. The dismissal came at the request of the government after it admitted widespread prosecutorial misconduct. The case had been hailed by the Bush Administration as a victory in the war on terror but began unraveling last fall after the government acknowledged that evidence that could have helped the defense was improperly withheld. Karim Koubriti, 26, and Abdel-Ilah Elmardoudi, 38, were convicted in June 2003 of conspiracy to provide material support for terrorism and to engage in fraud and misuse of visas and other documents. Ahmed Hannan, 36, was convicted of only the fraud charge, and Farouk Ali-Haimoud, 24, was acquitted.
Muslim leaders pledge to register one million new voters
Sept. 6: American Muslim leaders gathered in Chicago for the 41st annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) ended their meeting without endorsing any presidential candidate but they pledged to register one million new Muslim voters.
Bush administration accuses Saudi charity of financing terrorism
Sept. 9: The Bush administration accused a U.S. arm of a large Saudi charity of helping to finance terrorist activities. The Treasury Department's action covers Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation's locations in Ashland, Oregon, and Springfield, Mo. The action makes a formal designation that the group is suspected of supporting terrorism. In February, the government had ordered banks to freeze the assets and property at those locations pending further investigation.The department said a federal investigation "shows direct links between the U.S. branch and Osama bin Laden," the al-Qaida leader. Further details were not provided.
Views of Islam remain sharply divided
Sept. 9: Despite the U.S. war in Iraq and the continuing threat of terrorism at home, public attitudes toward Islam have remained stable over the past year, a Pew Research Center survey said. Roughly four-in-ten Americans (39%) say they have a favorable impression of Islam, while about as many (37%) say they have an unfavorable view. The balance of opinion has not changed substantially in the past year (40% favorable in July 2003). The survey also found that a plurality of Americans (46%) believes that Islam is more likely than other religions to encourage violence among its believers, while 37% say Islam does not encourage violence more than other religions. This measure also is substantially unchanged from last year, Favorable 38 40 39 when 44% felt Islam was more likely to encourage violence. But the 2003 figure represented a substantial increase over the 25% who expressed this view in March 2002.
Racial profiling under the guise of fighting terrorism
Sept. 13: Racial profiling by US law enforcement agencies has increased over the past three years and now affects one in nine Americans, according to an Amnesty International USA report released in Washington. State and federal agencies, under the guise of fighting terrorism, have expanded the use of this degrading, discriminatory and dangerous practice, said Curt Goering, deputy executive director for Amnesty International USA. ”The government's reliance on racial profiling has grown dramatically since the September 11th attacks,”
NJ issues new rules on Muslim food labeling
Sept. 16: The New Jersey state has issued new guidelines on halal food labeling that skirt the central question many Muslims had wanted to be answered: Exactly what type of food can and cannot be considered pure in Islam? Declining to involve itself in a religious debate, the state Division of Consumer Affairs is requiring those who process and sell halal food to complete disclosure forms outlining how meat and other items are handled. That leaves it up to consumers to decide whether a particular item meets their own standards of purity. The rules leave unanswered a question many Muslims had hoped to have settled: What kind of food is and is not halal.
CA hate crimes bill signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
Sept. 22: Senate Bill 1234, authored by Senator Kuehl, was signed and passed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today. The bill enhances protections for the faith community by explicitly adding ?mosque? and ?temple? to the list of religious institutions covered by California's laws protecting religious institutions. The bill also provides additional hate crime training for law enforcement in the area of anti-Arab and anti-Islamic bias crime because of the tremendous increase in hate crimes against these communities in recent years. The new law is an attempt to prevent crimes committed against people who are targeted because of their actual or perceived race or ethnicity, gender, nationality, disability, or religion.
Georgetown University research shows American Muslims overwhelmingly back Kerry
Sept. 22: American Muslim voters overwhelmingly support Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry over Republican George W. Bush, according to a new American Muslim Poll conducted by Zogby International for Georgetown University's Muslims in the American Public Square (Project MAPS). By a margin of 76% to 7%, Muslims back the Kerry/Edwards ticket over the incumbent Bush/Cheney ticket. "This contrasts sharply with the 2000 election, when Bush garnered 42% of the Muslim vote versus 31% for Democrat Al Gore," said Dr. Zahid Bukhari, director of Project MAPS.
First Muslim on the Electoral College
Sept. 23: Mushtaque Ali Khan Mirza, a resident of Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been selected as an Elector to the 2004 Electoral College to elect the President of the United States. Mr. Mirza, an environmental engineer by profession, is also a member of the Massachusetts Democratic State Committee and has been active in local politics for over a decade. His selection to the Electoral College comes a few months after he was unsuccessful in his bid to become a member of the Democratic National Committee.
US judge rules against Patriot Act provision
Sept 29 2004: A key part of the Patriot Act, a central plank of the Bush Administration's "war on terror", was ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge, in the latest blow to US security policies. US District Judge Victor Marreo ruled in favor of the American Civil Liberties Union, which challenged the power the FBI has to demand confidential financial records from companies that it can obtain without court approval as part of terrorism investigations. The legislation bars companies and other recipients of these subpoenas from ever revealing that they received the FBI demand for records. Marreo held that this permanent ban was a violation of free speech rights.
Pre-election terrorist threats and sweeps
Sept. 30: The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) said in a statement that recent media reports indicate that agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are expected to intensify their efforts to arrest as many as 2,000 "out of status" non-citizens in anticipation of possible election-related Al-Qaeda terrorist attacks. The MPAC fears that legitimate efforts to arrest, convict and punish terrorists will be undermined by the severe lack of legal transparency and due process that have characterized counterterrorism efforts carried out since 9/11 by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. Targeting out-of-status immigrants with no known relationship to the Al-Qaeda terrorist plots is an ill-advised move that will serve to implicate countless innocent persons rather than to protect our country from real security threats.
2004 Jan-Feb-March April-May-June July-August-Sept Oct-Nov-Dec
|
