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Chronology of Islam in America (2007)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
August 2007
Chertoff discusses security and civil liberties with young Arab, Muslim, Sikh, S. Asian American leaders
August 1: In Dearborn, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff met with more than 40 young American Arab, Muslim, Sikh, South Asian and Middle Eastern leaders on July 25 to cap a unique two-day roundtable designed to gauge the views and aspirations of young people from these communities. The participants, ages 18-25, took part in a "Roundtable on Security and Liberty: Perspectives of Young Leaders Post-9/11. The roundtable was organized by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in collaboration with George Washington University Homeland Security Policy Institute and occurred at George Washington University Law School. The roundtable afforded an opportunity for Federal officials to directly hear the perspectives of young community leaders on topics including: The State of Arab, Muslim, Sikh, South Asian, and Middle Eastern American Youth; Civil Rights in America: Challenges and Opportunities; Toronto, London and Madrid: Can it Happen in America? And Careers in the U.S. Government. (Press & Guide)
Plight of Muslim Immigrants in Post-9/11 America
August 1: In their no-frills documentary, “Out of Status,” Pia Sawhney and Sanjna N. Singh examine the actions of the Immigration and Naturalization Service after 9/11 and the devastating repercussions for America’s Muslims. Focusing on the experiences of four Muslim families between January 2003 and July 2005, the film portrays the immigration services (the I.N.S. was dissolved in 2003 and absorbed into the Department of Homeland Security) as a “uniquely dysfunctional” bureaucracy whose actions were motivated less by effectiveness than by the desire to appear proactive. Many Muslims of unresolved status were forcibly removed from their homes and deported, like the Egyptian citizen Akram Said, whose application for political asylum had been denied but who had received no notification to leave the country, according to his wife, Carma, and an immigration lawyer, Robert Kuhnreich. Others fled to an overcrowded refugee shelter in Buffalo, hoping to enter Canada. (New York Times)
President meets with Muslim-bashing radio hosts
August 1: In a blog entry on Townhall.com, syndicated radio host Hugh Hewitt wrote that "President Bush invited ten talk show hosts into the Oval Office for an hour of conversation today -- Glenn Beck, Bill Bennett, Neal Boortz, Scott Hennon, Laura Ingraham, Lars Larson, Mark Levin, Michael Medved, Janet Parshall and me. This was an off-the-record conversation, and so I won't be quoting the president." Blogger (and Media Matters for America Web producer) Oliver Willis noted Hewitt's post, and Talkers Magazine's website published a photo of the group. (Media Matters)
Report criticizes use of Taser on UCLA student Tabatabainejad
August 1: Even with use of force policies that are "unduly permissive," a UCLA police officer violated department rules when he repeatedly shocked a student with an electric Taser gun last fall during a confrontation captured on video and posted on the Internet, according to a report released today. Los Angeles police accountability expert Merrick Bobb found that the decision to use the Taser on student Mostafa Tabatabainejad was "unnecessary, avoidable and excessive." Tabatabainejad, then a 23-year-old senior at UCLA, was in the campus library one night last November when a security guard asked him to provide identification during a routine check to make sure everyone in the library after 11 p.m. was a student or otherwise authorized to be there. Tabatabainejad, a U.S. citizen of Iranian descent, refused repeated requests to provide his identification, explaining later that he thought he was being singled out because of his Middle Eastern appearance. In an ensuing confrontation with university police, Tabatabainejad was shocked at least three times with a Taser when he failed to get on his feet and walk out of the library as officers demanded. Much of the encounter was captured by students with cellphones or digital cameras. (Los Angeles Times)
NY Transit worker allowed to attend Islamic prayers
August 2: The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) said today that a transit worker in that city will now be allowed to attend Islamic Friday congregational prayers, or "Jummah," after initially being told he would have to wait months to receive religious accommodation. CAIR-NY contacted the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) after receiving a complaint from the Muslim employee who said he was scheduled to work during the Friday services despite being told by MTA's Policy and Compliance Board that he qualified for religious accommodation. (CAIR Bulletin)
Tancredo defends threat to bomb Muslim holy sites
August 5: Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo continued to defend his comments that threatening to bomb Muslim holy sites would be the right way to “deter any kind of aggression” from terrorists and said that anyone who wouldn’t do the same “isn’t fit to be president” on Sunday morning. “I’m telling you right now that anybody that would suggest that we should take anything like this off the table in order to deter that kind of event in the United States isn’t fit to be president of the United States,” the GOP presidential candidate said. During a campaign stop in Iowa on July 31 Tancredo said that “an attack on this homeland of that nature would be followed by an attack on the holy sites in Mecca and Medina.” Tom Casey, a deputy spokesman for the State Department, told CNN that Tancredo’s comments were “reprehensible” and “absolutely crazy.” But Tancredo said that when the State Department complains about things he says, he feels more confident. (CNN)
Muslims welcome GOP rejection of threat to attack Mecca
August 6: The Council on American-Islamic Relations today welcomed remarks by several Republican presidential candidates repudiating threats made by fellow White House hopeful Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) to attack Islamic holy sites. The CAIR also called on Tancredo to retract and apologize for remarks he made last week advocating threats to bomb the holy cities of Mecca and Medina as part of his proposed anti-terror policy. In a statement issued today, CAIR said: "The Republican candidates and the Department of State are correct in rejecting threatened attacks on Islamic holy sites as a deterrent to terrorists. Representative Tancredo's extreme and counterproductive proposal to threaten Mecca and Medina fails any reasonable test for strategic viability. It only serves to further damage our nation's interests and image in the Muslim world and will inevitably be used as rhetorical fodder by extremists.” (CAIR Bulletin)
Arizona mosque targeted in acid bomb attack
August 6: A pop bottle bomb hurled outside a Glendale mosque landed close to an Islamic religious leader involved in a high-profile lawsuit against Tempe-based US Airways. Glendale police spokesman Sgt. Jim Toomey said the incident occurred 1 a.m. today outside the Albanian American Islamic Center at 67th Avenue and Greenway Road when Imam Didmar Faja, head of the center, and another mosque official were standing outside the mosque. The bottle, which contained chemicals, exploded 20 to 25 feet away. No one was hurt. Toomey said investigators are treating the incident as a possible hate crime, although it could be a case of mischief. (East Valley Tribune)
Serbian immigrant admits link to genocide group
August 6: A 56-year-old resident alien from Bosnia, Milenko Stjepanovic, who has been living in the Salt Lake City area admitted in federal court today to failing to mention in immigration documents his involvement with a military group accused of genocide in the massacre of Bosnian Muslims. Federal immigration laws forbid the entry of someone who is considered an "oppressor" in a conflict. Stjepanovic admitted in court that on his application for a green card, he noted that he served in the Yugoslavian People's Army from 1969 to 1970 but failed to disclose that he also served with the Army of the Republica Srpska, or the Vojska Republica Srpska (VRS). A war-crimes inquiry found that members of the VRS participated in human-rights violations, including the massacre of thousands of Bosnian Muslim boys and men at Srebrenica in 1995. The Srebrenica incident has been classified as genocide by the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Stjepanovic is one of five Bosnian immigrants living in the Salt Lake area who were indicted in June 2006 for Visa fraud. All of them had applied for refugee status but failed to disclose their service with the VRS. (Deseret Morning News)
Woman admits 2004 bomb hoax
August 6: A former Daemen College student admitted today to sending hoax letters threatening the bombing of the 2004 Daemen College graduation ceremony by an Arab-American man, U.S Attorney Terrance P. Flynn reported. Carmalla Arrington, 51, of Buffalo NY, faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine after admitting before U.S. District Chief Judge Richard J. Arcara to a federal felony of sending hoax threat letters through the mail in March and May 2004. Arrington sent multiple letters through the mail implicating an Arab-American man in a plot to detonate an explosive at the Daemen College graduation ceremony in Kleinhans Music Hall on May 22, 2004, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy C. Lynch. (Buffalo News)
Muslim cemetery gains early approval in South Carolina
August 7: The Spartanburg County Planning Commission gave preliminary approval today for a new Muslim cemetery, to be built by the Islamic Society of Greenville, South Carolina. The new cemetery is believed to be the first cemetery of any kind to be built in Spartanburg County in at least 15 years. The land was donated to the society by one of its members, Riaz Khan, who owns a total of 40 acres. Chaudhry Sadiq, the president of the South Carolina chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said that the only cemetery he knows of in South Carolina that is devoted solely to Muslims is a 10-acre site near the town of Cope, about 12 miles southwest of Orangeburg. It is owned by the Islamic Center of Columbia. (Spartanburg Herald-Journal)
Muslims garner 2 of top 3 spots on Hamtramck council (Michigan) primary ballot
August 7: In a display of their emerging political power, Muslims were two of the top three vote-getters in today’s primary election in Hamtramck for City Council (Michigan). Shahab Ahmed, an incumbent, received 574 votes, the most out of 12 candidates on the ballot. Delawar Mohamed Hussain came in third, with 428 votes. The Top 6 out of the 12 will advance to the general election in November. Another Muslim candidate, Abu Sayed Mahfuz, narrowly missed advancing. Mahfuz came in seventh place, garnering 376 votes, just nine votes behind incumbent Robert Zwolak, who got 385 votes. Muslims make up half of Hamtramck’s six-member City Council. (Detroil Free Press)
Boy reunited with family, but questions unanswered
August 7: A groggy little boy from Morocco was reunited with his parents today at Reagan National Airport after a two-year separation caused by bureaucratic problems with his immigration papers. Abdeloihab Boujrad, 38, a U.S. citizen originally from Morocco, and his wife, Leila, had been trying since June 2005 to obtain the paperwork necessary for their now 3-year-old son, Ahmedyassine, to join them in the United States. It's unclear why his paperwork was held up, but an Islamic civil rights group that took up the family's cause suspected that it was because Ahmedyassine is similar to the name of the Palestinian founder of the Islamic militant group Hams, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, who was assassinated by Israel in 2004. In June, after media reports highlighted the Boujrads' plight, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services approved the paperwork allowing Ahmedyassine to immigrate. (Washington Post)
Federal agents look for Hizballah activity in charity raids
August 7: Federal agents were looking for information on terrorist operations and Hizballah activity when they raided two Muslim charities last month, court records show. The agents hauled away computers, files, money and other items from the Dearborn offices of Al-Mabarrat Charitable Organization and Goodwill Charitable Organization, two Muslim groups that raised money in metro Detroit. According to an affidavit filed with the search warrant for the raids, agents were looking for financial ties to "foreign Lebanese or Iranian affiliated charitable organizations" as well as "anti-United States or anti-Israel propaganda." Agents also raided the homes of two men on the same day as the raids. As with the charities, agents were looking for material "dealing with Hizballah, martyrdom, suicide operations, bombings or other terrorist attacks," the affidavit says. The men were listed as Mike or Majed Safiedine of Dearborn Heights, who is president of Goodwill, according to 2005 tax records the group filed, and Ahmed Ali Ghosn of Dearborn. (Detroit Free Press)
Religious accommodation are becoming more common at schools
August 7: As the nation's Muslim population grows, issues of religious accommodation are becoming more common, and more complicated. Many public school districts are grappling with questions about prayer rooms for Muslim students, halal food in cafeterias and scheduling around important Muslim holidays. As Muslim students point out, the school calendar already accommodates Christians, with Sundays off and vacations around Christmas and Easter. Nationwide, more than a dozen universities have footbaths, many installed in new buildings. On some campuses, like George Mason University in Virginia, and Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Mich., there was no outcry. At Eastern Michigan, even some Muslim students were surprised by the appearance of the footbath — a single spigot delivering 45 seconds of water — in a partitioned corner of the restroom in the new student union. (New York Times)
Charity probes worry South Asians
August 8: There is concern in the large South Asian community in Metro Detroit that efforts to provide relief for flood-ravaged Bangladesh and India will be discouraged by recent federal investigations of Muslim charities. In the past year, at least three local charities have been raided, including Life for Relief & Development in Southfield and Al-Mabarrat in Dearborn. No charges have resulted, and contributions to both organizations remain lawful because neither is banned by the federal government. But Muslims in Metro Detroit raising money for relief or other efforts remain wary. And the recent raids are of particular concern to Metro Detroiters of Bangladeshi and Indian descent, who are mobilizing to send relief to both countries, where 1,500 people are dead and 19 million displaced in floods from monsoon rains this summer. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are about 208,000 people of South Asian descent in Michigan. (Detroit News)
Two Lebanese Americans falsely called terrorists win slander damages
August 8: A state appeals court has ruled against a former Tioga County (NY) police chief who admitted spreading lies that two Lebanese-American men were involved in terrorism. According to court documents, James DeVita, then police chief in the village of Owego, made the allegations after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. The chief admitted going around town in uniform, claiming that pizza shop owners Michael Yammine and Hassid Kazan, both naturalized Americans and fathers with long-standing ties to the community, were drug and gun runners in league with Osama bin Laden. He also admitted knowing that the claims were false, the court said. Neither of the men is Muslim. Last June, the state Supreme Court ruled for the shop owners in a slander lawsuit against DeVita and awarded $200,000 each for damage to their reputations and their business. The police chief, who retired about the same time, appealed the decision. But last week the appellate court upheld the damages, which will likely come out of the village's insurance policy. (Rochester Democrat & Chronicle)
Israeli agent testifies against Holy Land Foundation
August 9: In Dallas, Texas, Prosecutors and lawyers for a Muslim charity accused of funding terrorists clashed today over whether jurors should see documents that Israeli soldiers seized during raids of Palestinian organizations. An Israeli agent testified about the documents during the trial of five leaders of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. The agent was not identified, and before he testified the courtroom was cleared of spectators except the families of the defendants. Spectators were allowed in another room to listen to the proceedings. Prosecutors believe the documents seized by Israeli soldiers will show that the Holy Land leaders knew they were sending millions of dollars to groups controlled by Hamas, which is illegal because the U.S. government calls Hamas a terrorist organization. Defense attorneys tried to cast doubt on the authenticity and significance of the documents, which included pamphlets, brochures and posters that are presumably pro-Hamas. Jurors hadn't seen the documents because at midday Thursday, the judge had not ruled on whether to allow them into the case. Defense lawyers suggested that the evidence did not meet the standards for trial in a U.S. court. (International Herald Tribune)
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