A press conference held by the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood, further illustrates connections between the U.S. Brotherhood and the political far-left. According to a CAIR press release, the April 15 press conference to demand the released of imprisoned Islamic Jihad leader Sami Al-Arian was to include the following individuals:
Ramsey Clark
Sara Flounder, Co-Director, International Action Center
Imam Siraj Wahhaj
Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid, Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood
Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director of the National Lawyers’ Guild
Aliya Latif, CAIR-NY Civil Rights Director
Laila Al-Arian, Daughter of Sami Al-Arian
Malaak Shabazz, Daughter of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Malcolm X)
Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, as well as Sara Flounder, are both active in the International Action Center which was founded by Clark and which has its roots in the far left Worker’s World Party. Previous posts have detailed the close relationship between Clark, the antiwar group known as A.N.S.W.E.R and the Muslim American Society, another U.S. Brotherhood group. Clark was also in Cairo last July to protest the Egyptian military trial of Muslim Brotherhood leaders there. The National Lawyers Guild is another far-left organization that is sometimes found in coalitions with U.S. Muslim Brotherhood groups.
In 2005, a federal jury deadlocked on eight of nine charges related to aiding terrorists but Al-Arian pleaded guilty to one count of supporting a Palestinian terrorist organization. Having already served most of his sentence, it was expected that Al-Arian would be released and deported but his re;ease has been delayed by his ongoing refusal to testify before a grand jury investigating the SAAR Foundation, a network of Islamic organizations located in Northern Virginia that was raided by the Federal government in 2003. CAIR and other U.S. Muslim Brotherhood organizations have championed Al-Arian since the time of his arrest.
(Note: Video of the press conference is available here.)