[Ppnews] The Second Assassination of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah

[Political Prisoner News]

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

http://panafricannews.blogspot.com/2010/04/second-assassination-of-imam-luqman.html


<http://panafricannews.blogspot.com/2010/04/second-assassination-of-imam-luqman.html>The 
Second Assassination of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah


Community anger grows over assassination while 
corporate media attempts to slander martyred Muslim leader

By Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire

On March 27 a community meeting was held to 
announce the launching of an independent 
investigation into the assassination of Detroit 
Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah. The event was held at 
the Historic New Bethel Baptist Church on the 
city’s west side, just several blocks east of the 
location of the Masjid al-Haqq where Imam 
Abdullah served as leader for over two decades.

Imam Abdullah was shot 20 times by FBI agents on 
October 28, 2009 during a series of raids carried 
out by a multi-jurisdictional law enforcement 
task force that consisted also of police from 
Dearborn and Detroit. The Masjid al-Haqq had been 
infiltrated by the FBI for over two years where 
informants sought unsuccessfully to encourage 
illegal activities among the members.

Abdullah and several of his members were lured to 
a warehouse in neighboring Dearborn under the 
guise of assisting in the unloading of 
merchandise. When they arrived the FBI sent in a 
dog that attacked the imam who was later killed in a hail of bullets.

The rally on March 27 was attended by several 
hundred local activists and religious leaders 
from both the Muslim and Christian communities. 
This event was co-sponsored by the Council on 
American-Islamic Relations of Michigan (CAIR) and 
the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality 
(DCAPB), with endorsements from the Michigan 
Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice 
(MECAWI) and the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to 
Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shut-offs.

Ron Scott, spokesperson for the DCAPB chaired the 
meeting and presentations were made by the Nation 
of Islam, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, the Detroit 
Chapter of the NAACP, CAIR, Congressman John 
Conyers and MECAWI. Appeals were made for the 
defense fund to cover legal costs in the cases of 
10 others members of the Masjid al-Haqq who are 
still facing felony charges stemming from the raids of October 28.

Imam Dawud Walid, the executive director of CAIR 
in Michigan, spoke on the problems associated 
with having the evidence gathered by law 
enforcement released to the Abdullah family and 
the general public. The Wayne County Medical 
Examiner’s report on Imam Abdullah was not issued 
until February 1 at the request of Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad.

Imam Walid addressed the efforts to have the 75 
autopsy photographs released by the medical 
examiner which were also held up at the behest of 
the Dearborn Police. A request for a review of 
the assassination by the Justice Department has 
gone unanswered by the United States Attorney General Eric Holder.

A number of local and national organizations have 
demanded a Justice Department review of the 
actions by the FBI including the use of 
informants in religious organizations. Detroit 
Congressman John Conyers, the Chair of the House 
Judiciary Committee, wrote a letter in February 
to Eric Holder requesting such an investigation.

Corporate Media Slander on Eve of Release of Photographs

The much anticipated release of the autopsy and 
crime scene photographs took place on April 8. 
There were five photos made public by CAIR that 
illustrated the brutal nature of the assassination.

However, just one day prior to the release of the 
photos, the Detroit News published a front page 
story that attempted to undermine the growing 
community support for the Masjid al-Haqq members 
and the family of Imam Abdullah. The article 
claimed that in 1980, a 22-year-old Abdullah 
attempted to grab the revolver of a Livonia 
police officer during a routine traffic stop. (Detroit News, April 7)

This April 7 article claims that, “Christopher 
Thomas, who later became Imam Luqman Ameen 
Abdullah, struggled with the officer for control 
of the gun, according to a report prepared soon 
after the Dec. 5, 1980 arrest by Livonia Police 
Officer Robert Stevenson, now the city’s police 
chief. Only after a second officer arrived was 
Abdullah disarmed, reports show.”

The article continues saying “The Livonia police 
reports detail the incident that led to 
Abdullah’s 1981 conviction for felonious assault 
on a police officer, for which he served 26 days 
in jail. They provide another view of the man 
some supporters have described as a peaceful 
observer of Islam but a criminal complaint 
describes as a radical separatist intent on killing police officers.”

However, it is unlikely that an African-American 
youth accused and convicted of felonious assault 
against a suburban Detroit police officer in 1980 
would have only served 26 days in jail. Atty. 
Nabih Ayad, a Canton Township lawyer who is 
representing the Abdullah family was quoted in 
the same article as saying that this incident, 
which is three decades old, has no real bearing on the death of Imam Abdullah.

Ayad said that the incident was “extremely 
far-fetched and without any credibility to 
somehow make a relation between that incident” 
and what transpired on October 28 when the imam 
died from multiple gunshot wounds in Dearborn.

One of the photographs released by CAIR shows the 
imam handcuffed, lying face down and riddled with 
bullets. This photograph was published by the 
local newspapers, however, other more graphic 
pictures were not printed in the corporate press.

At a community meeting held by the Detroit 
Coalition Against Police Brutality on April 11 at 
the St. Peter’s Episcopal Church downtown, Imam 
Walid of CAIR presented two other photographs 
that show deep lacerations to the face of Abdullah from the apparent dog bites.

The Detroit Free Press stated in an editorial on 
April 8 that “Efforts to manage community 
sentiments by withholding information always 
fail­and often backfire. With many lingering 
questions about how Abdullah died, Abdullah has 
become a national and even international 
figure­and in some circles, a martyr. Meanwhile, 
law enforcement agencies have lost credibility 
with many of the Muslim-American groups they are 
trying to build relationships with in the post 
9/11 era.” (Detroit Free Press, April 8)

CAIR executive director Dawud Walid was quoted in 
the same Free Press editorial saying “This isn’t 
going to go away until there are answers.” 
Numerous organizations have issued letters and 
passed resolutions decrying the assassination and 
demanding justice in the case.

These groups include the NAACP, the Democratic 
Party 14th District Caucus, MECAWI, the Detroit 
Board of Police Commissioners, the Congress of 
Arab-American Organizations, the Michigan 
Coalition for Human Rights, among others.

In an interview with the son of Imam Abdullah, 
Mujahid Carswell, a well-known hip-hop artist, 
who is also a defendant in the Detroit 10 case, 
told this writer that the claims made against his 
father in regard to the purported incident in 
Livonia in 1980 were unlikely. Mujahid, who is 
known in the recording world as “Mu”, said that 
the authorities are attempting to take attention 
away from the gross injustice done to his father, his family and his followers.

Both Mujahid and Abdullah’s other son, Omar 
Regan, who is also a well-known stage and 
television performer in California, have 
expressed their appreciation for the work of 
MECAWI in organizing three demonstrations. The 
first in response to the assassination, the 
second during the appearance of Attorney General 
Holder in Detroit last November and the third 
after the delayed release of the autopsy report on February 1.
Posted by Pan-African News Wire at 
<http://panafricannews.blogspot.com/2010/04/second-assassination-of-imam-luqman.html>2:37 
AM




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