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| Muslim leader in Florida gets mailed death threat |
| 2007-05-03 |
| The head of Florida's most prominent Muslim group told the FBI on Wednesday that he had received a death threat. Altaf Ali, executive director of the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said he received the threat calling Islam "the religion of Satan" in the mail Monday. The two-page letter came in an envelope addressed to him in large letters, he said. Inside, a handwritten message read, "Death to Islam," and called Ali "a walking dead man." It also included a cartoon picturing nuclear bombs raining down on mosques in Medina and Mecca, the two holiest cities in Islam, he said. Ali said he did not report the threat until he talked to his wife and realized how frightened she was. "It's only when my wife became alarmed that I saw this was more important," Ali said. "She said, `Listen, can you put up the hurricane shutters?'" Two FBI agents arrived at his office Wednesday morning, he said. Judy Orihuela, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Miami field office, confirmed the bureau was investigating the death threat. "We want to double-check to see if there are similar letters being sent," she said. Ali said the cartoon and the letter's text closely resembled a letter sent to the director of CAIR's Michigan branch this week. Last year, the council reported a rise in discrimination and hate crimes against Muslims in the United States, and Ali wrote in a recent South Florida Sun-Sentinel opinion piece that vandalism against South Florida Islamic centers has surged. Ali said more graffiti at local mosques and anti-Muslim discrimination often follow periods of unrest in the Muslim world, but the latest rise in vandalism seemed unrelated to news events. The most recent vandalism against Muslims in South Florida occurred at Nur Ul Islam Academy in Cooper City, where a nontoxic white powder was found spread around the school. Sofian Abdelaziz, director of the American Muslim Association of North America in Miami, described menacing e-mails as a constant in his line of work, although he has never received anything on the level of a death threat. Most aggravating, he said: Islamic texts he mails to interested people sometimes go missing. On one occasion, some of the books in a box he mailed had been replaced by Christian texts when they arrived at their destination, he said. "We have to keep reaching out," Abdelaziz said. "People who understand us better know there is bad and good in every culture. This is all coming from lack of knowledge." |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #15 Ship...the only Mojo I recall 'stealing' was the Titleist I found in the boondocks off the 6th fairway...however, there is still a lot of multi-denominational praying going on near the 18th. :) |
| Posted by: Nero Ebbomoque8052 2007-05-03 22:34 |
| #14 I will now bow down five times a day towards |
| Posted by: Raj 2007-05-03 21:54 |
| #13 Wait a second.... yawl do peak oil here? I'm minor die-off playa. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-05-03 20:05 |
| #12 grew up in Glen Ellyn, caddied at Medina CC in the 50's, That's easy for you to say, plundering Amerikkka resources and stealing the Mojo from the developing nations! Shame! Shame! Shame! |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-05-03 20:04 |
| #11 CochinoM, I grew up in Glen Ellyn, caddied at Medina CC in the 50's, (grandfather was Chief Bookkeeper there in the 20's-40's) outside of the Shriner hats, never saw a shrine there. |
| Posted by: Nero Ebbomoque8052 2007-05-03 19:10 |
| #10 The 2006 PGA Championship was at Medina. It's about 3 miles from my house. |
| Posted by: CochinoMarrano 2007-05-03 18:47 |
| #9 Where is the "Smells like bullshit" graphic? |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2007-05-03 16:52 |
| #8 I think Medina is where the US Open was played in '99. The religion of Satan wasn't entered. |
| Posted by: Galactic Coordinator Glavirong9831 2007-05-03 14:06 |
| #7 It also included a cartoon picturing nuclear bombs raining down on mosques in Medina and Mecca, the two holiest cities in Islam, he said. And the average Joe Sixpack who might be inclined to send such a missive MIGHT know about Mecca, but he sure as hell wouldn't know about Medina. I call BS. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2007-05-03 11:51 |
| #6 Death threat by envelope? No wonder they think americans are lazy.... |
| Posted by: flash91 2007-05-03 11:34 |
| #5 Candygram. Trick or treat for UNICEF. Ya got Prince Albert in a can? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-05-03 10:49 |
| #4 I hope the FBI reacted properly and laughed in his face. Proper response should have been " Good luck goat F**ker. Way overdue." |
| Posted by: Woozle Elmeter2970 2007-05-03 10:40 |
| #3 More CAIR grievance theater. Follow the link at this post. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2007-05-03 10:09 |
| #2 I believe it. Sounds pretty benign though, compared to the rantings against infidels from various mosques every day. I mean it's not like Joe Skinhead actually HAS nukes to drop on Mecca. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2007-05-03 09:56 |
| #1 I wonder who mailed it, himself, or someone from his entourage? |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2007-05-03 09:49 |