The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) has issued a press release in support of federal officials who were continually interrupted by protestors during an event sponsored by a Tennessee Islamic group. According to the CAIR release:
WASHINGTON, June 5, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today applauded federal officials who were heckled last night in Tennessee by an anti-Muslim ‘mob.’
At an event sponsored by the American Muslim Advisory Council, a large group of protesters heckled and interrupted speeches by Bill Killian, U.S. Attorney of the Eastern District of Tennessee, and by Kenneth Moore, FBI special agent in charge of the Eastern Tennessee District.
Despite interruptions, Killian’s presentation covered the First and 14th amendments and what constitutes a hate crime. One attendee told the Tennessean newspaper she was afraid of other audience members because of their bigoted actions.
Anti-Muslim slurs heard before or during the event included ‘Islam is evil.’ The U.S. attorney was called a ‘traitor’ and ‘serpent’ for speaking out against hate crimes targeting Muslims. Other hecklers shouted ‘communist,’ ‘socialist’ and ‘Muslim’ at the officials and promoted the manufactured claim that ‘sharia,’ or Islamic principles, is being imposed in America.
‘We applaud the federal officials who, while defending First Amendment freedoms, stood up for the right of American Muslims to be free from bias-motivated attacks and intimidation,’ said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. ‘The mob mentality demonstrated at last night’s event should be a wake-up call to all Americans who value religious tolerance.’ Hooper said last night’s hate protest was organized by Pamela Geller, regarded by many as the nation’s most notorious Islamophobe. She is head of the hate groups Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) and American Freedom Defense Initiative.
Although there have been allegations that the American Muslim Advisory Council is tied to the US Muslim Brotherhood, the Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Watch is aware of no evidence in support of such allegations.
The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) describes itself as “a grassroots civil rights and advocacy group and as “America’s largest Islamic civil liberties group.” CAIR was founded in 1994 by three officers of the Islamic Association of Palestine, part of the U.S. Hamas infrastructure at that time. Documents discovered in the course of the the terrorism trial of the Holy Land Foundation confirmed that the founders and current leaders of CAIR were part of the Palestine Committee of the Muslim Brotherhood and that CAIR itself is part of the US. Muslim Brotherhood. In 2008, the then Deputy leader of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood acknowledged a relationship between the Egyptian Brotherhood and CAIR. In 2009, a US federal judge ruled “The Government has produced ample evidence to establish the associations of CAIR, ISNA and NAIT with HLF, the Islamic Association for Palestine (“IAP”), and with Hamas.” CAIR and its leaders have had a long history of defending individuals accused of terrorism by the US. government, often labeling such prosecutions a “war on Islam”, and have also been associated with Islamic fundamentalism and antisemitism. The organization is led by Nihad Awad, its longstanding Executive Director and one of the three original founders.