Two U.S. Mosques Burned in One Week

Two U.S. Mosques Burned in One Week, CAIR Calls on Feds to Rule Out Possibility of Hate Crimes

12/9/2004 4:45:00 PM

To: National Desk

Contact: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726 or ihooper [at] cair-net.org, or Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441 or rahmed [at] cair-net.org, both of the Council on American-Islamic Relations

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 /U.S. Newswire/ -- A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today called on federal authorities to help rule out the possibility that fires this week at mosques in Massachusetts and Arizona were anti-Muslim hate crimes. The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says that Muslim communities in Arizona and Massachusetts need to be reassured that they are not being targeted.

A fire last night heavily damaged the Al-Baqi Islamic Center in Springfield, Mass. Arson investigators have not yet determined the cause of the fire, but did say that the blaze was not sparked by electrical problems.

See: "Mosque Burns; Cause Probed" http://www.masslive.com/hampfrank/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-6/110258195857981.xml

Yesterday, CAIR's Arizona office held a news conference to call for an FBI investigation of a fire that destroyed a Phoenix- area mosque. The blaze broke out early Tuesday morning in the Al Sadiq Mosque in Glendale, Ariz. After initially saying the fire was of "suspicious origins," local investigators now say the cause is "undetermined."

See: "Muslims Seek FBI Aid in Fire Investigation" http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/1209wvmosque09.html

In a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, CAIR Legal Director Arsalan Iftikhar wrote:

"Given the recent pattern of incidents targeting Islamic institutions in the United States, and the Muslim community's concerns about the rising tide of Islamophobic rhetoric in our society, I would respectfully request that the Department of Justice assist in ruling out the possibility that these most recent incidents were bias-motivated hate crimes."

Iftikhar also noted that in late November, CAIR called on the FBI to assist in the investigation of a fire at a Virginia gas station that may have been motivated by anti-Muslim or anti-Arab bias. Racist graffiti such as "F--- Arab go home" was left in the vicinity of the Sikh-owned station. (Since the 9/11 terror attacks, a number of Sikh men who wear turbans have been targeted because they were mistaken for Muslims.)

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CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has 29 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada.

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