Category Archives: USA
Tulsa police arrest Stuart Manning, suspected of assaulting woman; suspect charged with hate crime
A Tulsa man is facing a hate crime charge after an incident in December in which he allegedly yelled profanities at and assaulted a woman. Stuart Manning told police he had “a drinking relapse and did not remember the incident” for which he’s charged with assault and battery, malicious injury to property and malicious intimidation, or a hate crime, according to his arrest report.
Police say a bank security guard witnessed Manning strike the victim in the Bill and Ruth’s parking lot near Pine and North Lewis Dec. 13. The guard took down Manning’s tag number and when contacted by police identified Manning through a photo lineup.
Police contacted the Lebanese victim, who said a large white male became upset because she parked too close to his car. According to the police report, Manning said, “Hey f—ing b—- Muslim, why did you get so close to my car?”
South Carolina: Man arrested after Muslim community reports gunshots and racial slurs
Residents of York’s Islamville community are calling a recent incident in which a property owner allegedly fired a gun into the village only feet from homes and a shrine an act of terrorism.
But the neighbor who deputies accuse of public disorderly conduct and illegally discharging a firearm balks at the notion that the dispute was motivated by terrorism. Joshua Allan Casey, 37, claims that he has been wrongly accused of shooting a gun and targeting the community.
At about 8 p.m. Dec. 21, deputies were sent to Islamville, a village of Muslim families established more than 30 years ago, after residents reported hearing gunshots and racial slurs from a neighbor, according to a York County Sheriff’s report.
Ahmad Qadri, nephew to the neighbor who reported the shooting, said gunshots had been going off earlier in the day when village leaders were camping during a young men’s retreat. Hours later, he heard gunshots again. This time, he said he spotted Casey in his backyard shooting the gun in the direction of the village.
Casey’s Acclaim Drive home abuts Islamville, with an acre or so of woods separating the home from the village. Casey’s home is within walking distance of the community’s shrine for worship and prayer, and several family homes. “He started yelling obscenities,” Qadri told The Herald. “This was an act of terrorism. He terrorized our children … our women.”
Residents called deputies, describing the shooter as a bearded man in a light-colored shirt, the sheriff’s report states. Deputies saw Casey, who matched that description, walking out of the woods. Neighbors identified him as the shooter, deputies said.
Judge rules against Geller, says ad campaign demeans Muslims
A federal judge rejected a pro-Israel group’s assertion that its free speech rights were violated when the MBTA turned down a subway advertisement on the grounds that the ad was “demeaning or disparaging.”
The ad is paid for by the American Freedom Defense Initiative, a New York organization that seeks to combat the spread of Islam in the United States. With bold, all-capital-letter text placed against a stark black background, the ad reads: “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel; defeat Jihad.”
Officials with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority rejected the ad in November on the basis that it violated the agency’s advertising guidelines, which include rejecting advertisements that demean and disparage individuals and groups, promote alcohol or tobacco, and depict graphic violence.
On Friday, US District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton sided with the state’s transportation authority, saying in the ruling that “it was plausible for the defendants to conclude that the … pro-Israel advertisement demeans or disparages Muslims or Palestinians.”
McDonald’s settles Fresno lawsuit over firing Muslim employee for beard request
McDonald’s Restaurants of California Inc. will pay $50,000 to a Muslim employee who was fired in 2005 after one of its Fresno restaurants refused his request to grow a beard for religious reasons.
The payment is part of an agreement announced Friday by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunities Commission to settle a religious-discrimination lawsuit against the restaurant chain.
Shaheed Khan, who worked at a McDonald’s restaurant on West Shaw Avenue near Valentine Avenue, asked his managers in the summer of 2005 to accommodate his religious belief to wear a beard at work, according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in Fresno.
The lawsuit alleged that Khan’s request was denied and later terminated. Khan had worked at the restaurant since 2001 and was promoted to crew trainer in 2003.
‘It is just a joke’: Muslim children, teens report bullying in California schools
A new survey that tracks bullying directed at Muslim children and teens in California finds that half have at some point been subject to “mean comments and rumors” over their religion.
The survey was put together by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a national American Muslim civil rights and advocacy group. It surveyed 471 Muslim students in California public schools between the ages of 11 and 18.
For the most part, students reported “a healthy school environment in which they were comfortable participating in discussions about their religious identity” and in which they felt safe and respected by teachers and safe at school. But there were problems, too.
Of the 50 percent who reported social bullying, along the lines of name-calling and other remarks, it was “stuff you would expect,” said report author Fatima Dadabhoy, a staff attorney and civil rights manager and staff attorney with CAIR in Anaheim.
“Being called a terrorist, or ‘What is that thing on your head?’…girls being called a towel-head, or jokes like ‘Don’t throw that bomb on me’ or ‘Don’t bomb us today,'” Dadabhoy said. “These were the most common ones we heard about.”
Vandals defile Islamic Society of the Appalachian Region center
The Mercer County Sheriff’s department is investigating an act of vandalism that occurred at the I.S.A.R. (Islamic Society of the Appalachian Region) Worship Center near Princeton.
Mercer County Sheriff’s Deputy E.P. Parks is conducting an investigation into the vandalism that occurred either late Sunday or early Monday.
A person or persons unknown spray painted defamatory words with negative references to Allah, the numbers “666” making reference to the Antichrist, the word “pedophile” and other anti-Islamic words.
“This really hurts all of us because all of us feel that we are part of the American dream,” Dr. Abdul Piracha, one of the senior leaders of the regional Islamic community said. The images were spray painted on the exterior of the worship center as well as on the sign.
“We have to stand up to this kind of thing,” Piracha said. “The last time this happened after 911, the entire community came out to show their support.”
Robert Spencer lies about praising Angola’s ‘ban on Islam’
Last month Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch welcomed the news (which in fact turned out to be inaccurate) that the government of Angola had banned Islam. Now he denies that he ever said that. Loonwatch exposes Spencer’s lies.
Murfreesboro: Mosque opponents denied court intervention
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — A Rutherford County Chancery Court judge has denied a temporary restraining order request by opponents to halt any consideration of a proposed Islamic Center of Murfreesboro cemetery.
Chancellor Robert Corlew III denied issuing a restraining order Wednesday against the Rutherford County Planning Commission to prevent it from considering a proposed cemetery at the mosque, located on Veals Road in Murfreesboro.
In his ruling, Corlew cited the fact that in November the Tennessee Supreme Court denied an appeal and affirmed an appellate ruling, which overturned his decision, in favor of the Planning Commission on the grounds adequate public notice was given prior to approving construction of the mosque in May 2010.
“While the court understands (their) position, it is the duty of this court to recognize that the (Tennessee) Court of Appeals took jurisdiction over all of these matters,” Corlew said, adding a “mandate was issued enforcing the decision of the Court of Appeals.”
“This court no longer has jurisdiction to consider pleadings filed by the plaintiffs,” he said.
The ruling comes as another blow to Islamic Center opponents who have tried in vain to block the construction of the mosque, which opened in August 2012, for more than three years through numerous lawsuits.
Alabama: Fear of pro-Islamic bias delays state board’s adoption of new social studies books
Concerns that Alabama could recommend social studies textbooks with pro-Islamic bias caused the state board of education to cancel a planned vote on the books today, pending further review.
State Superintendent Tommy Bice said he would review the 12 books criticized by conservative groups and issue a recommendation to the board in January.
He had not decided whether he would recommend any of the books be excluded from the state’s recommended textbook list for social studies. “It’s not necessarily inaccurate information but possible perceived omissions and terminology that was not strong enough, things like that,” Bice said of the allegations that the books “favored Islam.”
Board Vice President Charles Elliott of Decatur said he thought four of the 12 books would be removed.