(WND) A federal judge in Michigan has come to
the defense of a private citizen who faced a demand from Muslim activists to
produce her private emails and submit to an interrogation, all because she
worried plans for an Islamic center in her neighborhood would create traffic
problems.
The American Freedom Law Center announced Thursday that the federal judge had
quashed the “harassing and burdensome subpoenas” issued by the Council on
American-Islamic Relations to Zaba Davis.
AFLC, which sued to have the demands canceled,
said that in a “rare move,” the judge also awarded AFLC attorneys’ fees and
costs for having to bring the motion.
“Private citizens have a fundamental First
Amendment right to publicly express to their elected officials their personal
views,” said Robert Muise, AFLC co-founder.
“CAIR’s ruthless attacks demonstrate that its
objectives are dangerously at odds with the Constitution. Consequently, this
ruling was important not only for our clients, but for all private citizens who
want to speak out against CAIR.”
It started in 2012 when the Muslim Community
Association of Ann Arbor asked that Pittsfield Township rezone land for
construction of an Islamic school and community center complex.
Municipal officials cited infrastructure and
traffic concerns and turned down the request.
Then CAIR, which calls itself, “America’s
largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization,” but, according to
AFLC, “is widely known in government circles as a Muslim Brotherhood front
group,” filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the township on behalf of
the MCA.
The lawsuit claimed the decision was prompted by
discrimination against Muslims, not concern over traffic and other problems.
In the township decision-making process,
residents who lived near the proposed project “expressed concerns about the traffic
congestion that would be caused by the construction of a school and community
center in their neighborhood.”
AFLC said it submitted a petition expressing
opposition.
In response, CAIR issued subpoenas for the
personal information. Davis and her husband came home to find papers jammed in
the front door demanding production of personal emails and other documents as
well as an appearance at a deposition.
According to David Yerushalmi, senior counsel of
AFLC, CAIR files such lawsuits against municipalities all across the country
“to further the Muslim Brotherhood’s stated goal of engaging in ‘civilization
jihad,’ which the Brotherhood expressly claims will ‘destroy Western
civilization from within.’”
“This ruling represents a significant victory
against the ‘civilizational jihad’ that is being waged within our borders by
Shariah-adherent Islamists,” he said. “This case is another example of CAIR
trying to abuse the legal system to persecute its enemies.”
The court wrote that CAIR “contends that its
sole interest in deposing Davis stems from a genuine belief that she has what
it believes to be relevant information, and not from any personal malice
against her for her public opposition to the school.”
The court said it didn’t find CAIR’s demand
relevant and “to the extent information possessed by Davis is relevant, that
relevance is far outweighed by the chilling effect that allowing the subpoenas
would have on speech, not only for Davis, but for all others who wish to be
involved in public discourse on matters of public concern.”
When the case first
arose, WND
columnist Pamela Geller saw it as another example of CAIR using the U.S. legal
system to silence opponents.
“CAIR’s jihad millions buy media and men, and
now it’s going after private citizens,” she wrote
“It sends a message. It sends a message to every
single American – that if you dare to oppose Islamic supremacism, you will be
targeted, smeared, harassed and driven to bankruptcy through legal channels.”
She noted that a government memo confirms CAIR
was formed by the Muslim Brotherhood to support Hamas.
CAIR also has sued the
co-author of a WND Books expose of CAIR,
“Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld that’s Conspiring to Islamize
America.”
The national CAIR organization was named as an
unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror funding trial. A
review of the public record, including federal criminal court documents, past
IRS 990 tax records and Federal Election Commission records detailing donor
occupations, reveals that CAIR has been associated with a disturbing number of
convicted terrorists or felons in terrorism probes, as well as suspected
terrorists and active targets of terrorism investigations. The list is long and
includes:
Ghassan Elashi: One of CAIR’s founding directors, he was
convicted in 2004 of illegally shipping high-tech goods to terror state Syria
and is serving 80 months in prison. He was also convicted of providing material
support to Hamas in the Holy Land Foundation terror-financing trial. He was
chairman of the charity, which provided seed capital to CAIR. Elashi is related
to Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook.
Muthanna al-Hanooti: The CAIR director’s home was raided in 2006 by
FBI agents in connection with an active terrorism investigation. Agents also
searched the offices of his advocacy group, Focus
on Advocacy and Advancement of International
Relations, which al-Hanooti operates out of Dearborn, Mich., and Washington,
D.C. Al-Hanooti, who emigrated to the U.S. from Iraq, formerly helped run a
suspected Hamas terror front called LIFE for Relief and Development. Its
Michigan offices also were raided in September 2006. In 2004, LIFE’s Baghdad
office was raided by U.S. troops, who seized files and computers. Al-Hanooti is
related to Sheik Mohammed al-Hanooti, an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993
World Trade Center bombing.
“Al-Hanooti collected over $6 million for
support of Hamas,” according to a 2001 FBI report, and was present with CAIR
and Holy Land officials at a secret Hamas fundraising summit held in 1993 at a
Philadelphia hotel. Prosecutors added his name to the list of unindicted
co-conspirators
in the Holy Land case.
Although Al-Hanooti denies supporting Hamas, he
has praised Palestinian suicide bombers as “martyrs” who are “alive in the eyes
of Allah.”
Abdurahman Alamoudi: Another CAIR director, he is serving 23 years
in federal prison for plotting terrorism. Alamoudi, who was caught on tape
complaining that bin Laden hadn’t killed enough Americans in the U.S. embassy
bombings in Africa, was one of al-Qaida’s top fundraisers in America, according
to the U.S. Treasury Department.
Randall “Ismail” Royer: The former CAIR communications specialist and
civil-rights coordinator is serving 20 years in prison in connection with the
Virginia Jihad Network, which he led while employed by CAIR at its Washington
headquarters. The group trained to kill U.S. soldiers overseas, cased the FBI
headquarters and cheered the space shuttle Columbia tragedy. Al-Qaida operative
Ahmed Abu Ali, convicted of plotting to assassinate President George W. Bush,
was among those who trained with Royer’s Northern Virginia cell.
Bassam Khafagi: Another CAIR official, Khafagi was arrested in
2003 while serving as CAIR’s director of community affairs. He pleaded guilty
to charges of bank and visa fraud stemming from a federal counter-terror probe
of his leadership role in the Islamic Assembly of North America, which has
supported al-Qaida and advocated suicide attacks on America. He was sentenced
to 10 months in prison and deported to his native Egypt.
Laura Jaghlit: A civil-rights coordinator for CAIR, her Washington-area home was
raided by federal agents after 9/11 as part of an investigation into terrorist
financing, money laundering and tax fraud. Her husband Mohammed Jaghlit, a key
leader in the Saudi-backed SAAR network, is a target of the still-active probe.
Jaghlit sent two letters accompanying donations – one for $10,000, the other
for $5,000 – from the SAAR Foundation to Sami al-Arian, now a convicted
terrorist. In each letter, according to a federal affidavit, “Jaghlit
instructed al-Arian not to disclose the contribution publicly or to the media.”
Investigators suspect the funds were intended for Palestinian terrorists via a
U.S. front called WISE, which at the time employed an official who personally
delivered a satellite phone battery to Osama bin Laden. The same official also
worked for Jaghlit’s group. In addition, Jaghlit donated a total of $37,200 to
the Holy Land Foundation, which prosecutors say is a Hamas front. Jaghlit
subsequently was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the case.
Nihad Awad: Wiretap evidence from the Holy Land case puts CAIR’s executive
director at the Philadelphia meeting of Hamas leaders and activists in 1993
that was secretly recorded by the FBI. Participants hatched a plot to disguise
payments to Hamas terrorists as charitable giving. During the meeting,
according to FBI transcripts, Awad was recorded discussing the propaganda
effort. He mentions Ghassan Dahduli, whom he worked with at the time at the
Islamic Association for Palestine, another Hamas front. Both were IAP officers.
Dahduli’s name also was listed in the address book of bin Laden’s personal
secretary, Wadi al-Hage, who is serving a life sentence in prison for his role
in the U.S. embassy bombings. Dahduli, an ethnic-Palestinian like Awad, was
deported to Jordan after 9/11 for refusing to cooperate in the terror
investigation. (An April 28, 2009, letter from FBI assistant director Richard
C. Powers to Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. – which singles out CAIR chief Awad for
suspicion – explains how the group’s many Hamas connections caused the FBI to
sever ties with CAIR.) Awad’s and Dahduli’s phone numbers are listed in a
Muslim Brotherhood document seized by federal investigators revealing
“important phone numbers” for the “Palestine Section” of the Brotherhood in
America. The court exhibit showed Hamas fugitive Mousa Abu Marzook listed on
the same page with Awad.
Omar Ahmad: U.S. prosecutors also named CAIR’s founder and chairman emeritus
as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land case. Ahmad, too, was placed
at the Philadelphia meeting, FBI special agent Lara Burns testified at the
trial. Prosecutors also designated him as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s
“Palestine Committee” in America. Ahmad, like his CAIR partner Awad, is
ethnic-Palestinian. (Though both Ahmad and Awad were senior leaders of IAP, the
Hamas front, neither of their biographical sketches posted on CAIR’s website
mentions their IAP past.)
Nabil Sadoun: A CAIR board member, Sadoun has served on the board of the United
Association
for Studies and Research, which investigators
believe to be a key Hamas front in America. In fact, Sadoun co-founded UASR
with Hamas leader Marzook. The Justice Department added UASR to the list of
unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land case.
In 2010, Sadoun was ordered deported to his
native Jordan. An immigration judge referenced Sadoun’s relationship with Hamas
and the Holy Land Foundation during a deportation hearing.
Mohamed Nimer: CAIR’s research director also served as a board director for
UASR, the strategic arm for Hamas in the U.S. CAIR neglects to mention Nimer’s
and Sadoun’s roles in UASR in their bios.
Rafeeq Jaber: A founding director of CAIR, Jaber was the long-time president of
the Islamic Association for Palestine. In 2002, a federal judge found that “the
Islamic Association for Palestine has acted in support of Hamas.” In his
capacity as IAP chief, Jaber praised Hezbollah attacks on Israel. He also
served on the board of a radical mosque in the Chicago area.
Rabith Hadid: The CAIR fundraiser was a founder of the Global Relief Foundation,
which after 9/11 was blacklisted by the Treasury Department for financing
al-Qaida and other terror groups. Its assets were frozen in December 2001.
Hadid was arrested on terror-related charges and deported to Lebanon in 2003.
Hamza Yusuf: The FBI investigated the CAIR board member after 9/11, because
just two days before the attacks, he made an ominous prediction to a Muslim
audience. “This country is facing
a terrible fate, and the reason for that is
because this country stands condemned,” Yusuf warned. “It stands condemned like
Europe stood condemned because of what it did. And lest people forget, Europe
suffered two world wars after conquering the Muslim lands.”
IMPORTANT NOTE: The CAIR
legal attack on WND’s author is far from over. WND needs your help in
supporting the defense of “Muslim Mafia” co-author P. David Gaubatz, as well as
his investigator son Chris, against CAIR’s lawsuit. The book’s revelations have led to formal
congressional demands for three different federal investigations of CAIR. In
the meantime, however, someone has to defend these two courageous investigators
who have, at great personal risk, revealed so much about this dangerous group.
Although WND has procured the best First Amendment attorneys in the country for
their defense, we can’t do it without your help.
Source: http://www.wnd.com/2014/07/muslim-bullies-waging-war-on-ordinary-americans/ Bob Unrah, July 3, 2014
Read
more at
http://www.wnd.com/2014/07/muslim-bullies-waging-war-on-ordinary-americans/#LxCXHQCiq2m3g4dI.99
No comments:
Post a Comment