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June 1, 2006

US: Islamist Group Says Hijab Girl Was Discriminated Against

Many of those who have held important roles in the organisation CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) have ended up in prison on terrorism charges, as documented by Anti-CAIR and Americans Against Hate. The head of the Florida branch of CAIR, Ahmed Bedier, has said that in 1994 (when CAIR was founded) it was then "not immoral" to support Islamic Jihad.

In fact Bedier still appears to think it is not immoral to support the terrorist group, considering the attempts he made to whitewash the case of Sami al-Arian and pretend the Florida professor was innocent. Al-Arian is now imprisoned after confessing to sponsoring Islamic Jihad.

But Bedier carries on undaunted. In October he tried to introduce Muslim Eid included as school holidays by Hillsborough County School Board. As a result of his interfering, the board scrapped ALL religious holidays, until a review reinstated the original Good Friday and Yom Kippur holiday, without including Eid.

Bedier is still campaigning to impose Muslim school holidays, and is still meddling in schools' internal affairs. His latest crusade involves the case of a young hijab-wearing student called Alana Scot (pictured with her mother LaTisha Jones).

According to the Florida Times Union, the Daytona Beach News Journal and Associated Press via the Gainesville Sun, the child is said by Bedier to have been repeatedly discriminated against because of her religion.

The case began when Pine Forest Elementary School of the Arts held a concert on April 25. The students were told to bring their uniform for the concert. 10-year old Alana Scott, who was due to play the cello, did not bring her school uniform, and was not allowed to take part in the concert. According to the school principal, Denise Ahearn, Alana was not the only child to be prevented from playing because of failure to bring the requisite performance uniform. Ms Ahearn states that the child would have been allowed to wear her hijab or Muslim headscarf, as long as she also wore the uniform.

Ms Ahearn said: "What is so distressing about this is that diversity is so inherent in this school. Our policy is that no child will be discriminated against. We celebrate every child who walks through our doors."

The concert was to have been made with other schools and involved lunch and an afternoon rehearsal before the big event. The students had been told to wear their school T-shirts for the lunch and rehearsals, and to bring the performance uniform for the concert.

The uniform comprised black dress slacks, white dress shirt, green cummerbund and bow tie.

Bedier claimed Alana was given "excuses why she could not perform with the orchestra". He said a teacher "forcefully kicked her off the bus, threatening to have her arrested....That was a hateful way to treat a student."

Bedier said that LaTisha Jones and Alana Scott had had a meeting to discuss the incident with Principal Ahearn, but "the principal dismissed it all as a misunderstanding."

Bedier was accompanied by Ken Hurley of the Greater Jacksonville branch of the ACLU, and Imam Zaid Malik, leader of the Islamic Society of Northeast Florida while he made his public announcement.

He said "It was never mentioned to us that other students were not allowed to perform, but we know for a fact that no other students were threatened with arrest if they didn't get off the bus."

LaTisha Jones had told Bedier that Scott had been "consistently mistreated" by her music teacher. This 'mistreatment" involved the teacher asking her: "why are you wearing that nun thing on your head?"

The teacher's question is valid, if it is true. It is required by Muslim women to cover themselves, according to the Koran, Al-Ahzab 33:59. This states: "O Prophet! Tell thy wives and thy daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks close round them (when they go abroad). That will be better, so that they may be recognised and not annoyed. Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful." The word "annoyed" means sexual harassment or rape. A girl of 10 has little chance of being seen as a sexual object by normal individuals, so there is no need for her to be dressed in a "nun thing".

Brenda English, the spokeswoman for the School Board, has said that the school does not have a policy of discussing details of investigations until they are completed.

Unfortunately, CAIR has a habit of jumping in on issues concerning the internal affairs of educational establishments, and making them public to the world , as they did with Michigan State University in April.

Ms Ahearn said: "What is so distressing about this, is that diversity is so inherent in this school. Our policy is that no child will be discriminated against. We celebrate every child who walks through our doors."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at June 1, 2006 2:55 PM

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