[Ppnews] Groups seek investigation of FBI killing of Imam

[Political Prisoner News]

Groups seek investigation of FBI killing of Imam

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
-- 11/22/2009
By Diane Bukowski
Michigan Citizen

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.

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.

“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.

“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?”

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.

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.”

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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!”

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.

“[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.

“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.

“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.”








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