<html>
<body>
<font face="Verdana" size=3><b>Groups seek investigation of FBI killing
of Imam<br><br>
</b></font><font size=1>
<a href="http://www.michigancitizen.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=1&twindow=&mad=&sdetail=8010&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=1070&hn=michigancitizen&he=.com" eudora="autourl">
http://www.michigancitizen.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=1&twindow=&mad=&sdetail=8010&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=1070&hn=michigancitizen&he=.com<br>
</a></font><font face="Verdana" size=2>-- 11/22/2009<br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#333300"><b>By Diane
Bukowski<br>
</b><u>Michigan Citizen<br><br>
</u>SOUTHFIELDA group of organizations is calling on the U.S. Department
of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division to investigate the killing of Imam
Luqman Abdullah by an FBI joint terrorism task force which included
Detroit and Dearborn police.<br><br>
Imam Abdullah, leader of the Musjid Al-Haqq mosque on Detroit’s near west
side, was shot 18 times during a raid on a warehouse and trucking
facility in Dearborn.<br><br>
“Now that some of those who were arrested at the scene have been released
on bond, we have been hearing third party versions of what happened
there,” said Imam Dawud Walid, director of the Michigan Chapter of the
Council on American-Islamic Relations. Walid is also assistant Imam at
the Masjid Wali Muhammad mosque on Linwood, the oldest African-American
Muslim mosque in Detroit, which celebrated the 50th anniversary at that
location in October. <br><br>
“Was Imam Abdullah forced to pull a gun on the dogs that were attacking
him?” asked Walid. “Was he lying down when he was shot? Did the FBI
agents say “sic em” to the dogs?”<br><br>
An FBI canine was shot and killed during the raid, and airlifted to a
hospital. The FBI later held a memorial service for the dog. <br><br>
CAIR attorney Lena Masri said, “We are concerned about the serious nature
of a religious cleric being killed by 18 gunshots. This is outside the
auspices of the FBI. We do not trust their methods and actions.”<br><br>
Leaders of CAIR, the Michigan ACLU, the Congress of Arab-American
Organizations, the Detroit Coalition against Police Brutality, Inc., the
Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, the Michigan Emergency
Committee Against War and Injustice (MECAWI), and the National Lawyers
Guild sent a letter to DOJ civil rights division head Chief Mark
Kappelhoff Nov. 16.<br><br>
The letter additionally asked Kappelhoff to investigate, “Whether Imam
Luqman Abdullah surrendered before the FBI canine was unleashed to attack
him, whether [he] suffered bodily injuries as a result of the attack by
the FBI canine, whether [he] shot the FBI canine as an act of
self-defense, whether [he] shot any FBI agents exluding the FBI K-9 . . .
whether excessive use of deadly force was employed by the federal agents
[and] whether Imam Luqman Abdullah was dead at the time he was
handcuffed.”<br><br>
The FBI has said that none of their human agents were injured during the
raid. The Wayne County Morgue has yet to release results of the Imam’s
autopsy. A Freedom of Information Act officer there said they would let
the Michigan Citizen know by Nov. 24 whether the results, which are
public record, would be released.<br><br>
Walid said their alliance has already discussed the matter with U.S.
Congressman John Conyers, head of the U.S. House of Representatives
Judiciary Committee, and will refer their request for an investigation to
him if Kappelhoff takes no action.<br><br>
Mike Kelly, of the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, said, “CAIR
is acting in the interest of the security of us all. A transparent review
of the enforcement of the law is altogether appropriate. Ever since 9/11,
the Muslim community has been wrongly stereotyped, and African Americans
have always been treated as if they are not integral to the life of our
nation.”<br><br>
Leaders of the groups said they have all requested to meet with U.S.
Attorney General Eric Holder Thurs. Nov. 19, when he attends a banquet
sponsored by ALPACT (The Advocates and Leaders for Police and Community
Trust). The event is being co-chaired by Andrew Agenda, head of the
Detroit FBI who was ultimately responsible for the raid Masjid Al-Haqq
Mosque members.<br><br>
MECAWI called for a demonstration outside the banquet, to be held at the
Renaissance Marriott. A flyer promoting the demonstration declares in
large bold type, “WE DON’T DINE WITH FBI KILLERS!”<br><br>
Another organization, the New York-based International Action Center, has
condemned recent seizures of Muslim mosques and other assets of the Alavi
Foundation in the U.S. by the federal government.<br><br>
“[We] denounce attempts by the U.S. Government to seize four Muslim
houses of worship built with funds from the Alavi Foundation. The claims
that this foundation was somehow involved in funding an Iranian nuclear
program are as false as previous claims from Washington about alleged
weapons of mass destruction in Iran and Iraq,” said the Action Center in
a release.<br><br>
“Attempts to seize the assets of the Alavi Foundation, a not-for-profit
501(c)3 charity that works to promote interfaith dialogue and to teach
Islamic culture, Persian language and literature, is just the latest act
in an ongoing campaign of demonization, disinformation, sanctions, and
threats targeting the people of Iran. It is no coincidence that on the
same day that the U.S. government unleashed its attacks on the mosques,
the White House renewed the long-standing U.S. economic sanctions against
Iran, once again using false claims about “weapons of mass
destruction.<br><br>
“This attack is a clear violation of the basic human rights to assemble
and worship, just two weeks after FBI agents gunned down Imam Luqman
Ameen Abdullah in Detroit. It is part of an escalating number of
political attacks, legal frame-ups and media slanders against Muslim
people.”<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#008000">415 863-9977<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#0000FF">
<a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.Freedomarchives.org</a></font><font size=3> </font></body>
</html>