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September 30, 2006

US: Boston Islamic Society's Lawsuit Progresses

Yesterday, states the Boston Globe, the Islamic Society of Boston was given a further signal from a US judge that its vindictive court case could continue. The ISB is mounting a lawsuit against a number of individuals and organizations, including Fox television station Channel 25 and the Boston Herald, for defamation.

We first reported on this case back on January 2 in an article entitled: Boston Islamic Society: The Enemy Within?, when its attempted defamation suit was by then an ongoing concern, after being filed in May of last year.

ISB was founded in 1982. It has been linked with a dodgy land deal with Boston City, itself the subject of another lawsuit which is mounted against Boston and was allowed in November 2005 to progress through the courts by a Suffolk Superior Court judge. This case is being made against the city of Boston and the Boston Redevelopment Authority by James Policastro.

The land was sold to ISB at a knock-down price of $175,000 by the Boston Redevelopment Authority, even though its market value was said to be worth nearly half a million dollars. The land at Roxbury was to be used for the construction of a giant mosque which will, when completed, be the largest mosque in North America. On November 7, 2002, ISB officials and members of the City establishment posed with shovels for the cameras as the first "groundbreaking" took place. John Kerry praised ISB for its "outstanding work" and said the mosque was being built at a time when people needed cross-cultural understanding and cooperaton."

The mosque's construction costs are estimated at $25 million. It will have a 125-foot high minaret and a 75 foot high dome.

Boston Islamic Society decided that anyone who even remotely criticised its work in constructing the giant eyesore would be sued for defamation. Those who are listed in its suit are welcoming the chance to fight their arguments in court. Another enthusiastic supporter of repression of free speech via litigation, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) joined the fray in January.

As well as mounting punitive lawsuits, there are other issues which connect CAIR and the Islamic Society of Boston - anti-semitism, terrorism and extremism. As some of CAIR's former officials have been imprisoned for terrorism offenses, the same can be said of the Boston Islamic Society.

One of the eight founders of the Boston Islamic Society is Abdurahman Alamoudi, currently serving a 23-year prison sentence for being involved in an assassination plot. Listed by the US treasury Department as a fund-raiser for al-Qaeda, Alamoudi was an outspoken supporter of terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

In March, 2004, Dr Walid Fitaihi, another founder of ISB and also a trustee and treasurer, reputedly wrote in an Arabic newspaper that Jews were the "murderers of Prophets". He has been accused of making other anti-semitic comments, such as Jews would be punished for their "oppression, murder, and rape of the worshipers of Allah" stated the Boston Herald.

After the accusations, made in the Boston Herald, ISB wrote a statement on its website in September 2004: "Ultimately, we decided, based on what we know of Dr. Fitaihi's views, the historic and linguistic context of the articles, as well as Dr. Fitaihi's internal statement on the issue, to accept his contention that the articles were intended to condemn particular individuals whom he believes were working to destroy one of Islam's holiest sites, killing innocent children, and thereby blocking the possibility of peace in the Middle East; the articles were not meant to incite hatred of an entire faith or people."

The Anti-Defamation League persisted in exposing Fitahi's obvious anti-semitism. On October 14, 2004, the Boston Globe reported that ISB had publicly distanced itself from Dr Fitahi. In a letter signed by seven board members, ISB wrote: "We unequivocally condemn all hateful, insensitive, and divisive statements. Furthermore, we have expressed these sentiments to Dr. Fitaihi in writing." Despite this, Fitahi remained on the board of trustees.

One of the original listed trustees of the ISB in its tax returns was the Qatari-based spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Sheikh Yusef al-Qaradawi, who has publicly supported the use of suicide bombers against innocent Israelis. In 2003, an Islamic scholar found several publications and videos in the ISB library which promoted hostility to the US and denigrated other faiths.

As well as Fox Channel 25 and the Boston Herald, a further 14 individuals and groups are named in ISB's defamation suit. These include TV presenter and terrorism pundit Steve Emerson, who is described in the defamation suit in defamatory terms as a "widely discredited and self professed 'expert' on radical Islam and Islamic terrorism".

Another is Charles Jacobs, who belongs to a group, the David Project which aims to come to a "fair and honest understanding of the Middle East conflict." Mr Jacobs is a founder-chairman of the American Anti-Slavery Group, which for more than a decade has helped free 80,000 slaves, and also someone who has drawn attention to genocides in Darfur. Anna Kolodner, the David Project's director of education is also on the list.

Another of those who are being hounded by ISB is the group Citizens for Peace and Tolerance, who provide more details of the case on their website.

The Jewish Advocate noted that the lawsuit had been expanded to claim that the defendants conspired to deprive the plaintiffs of "their basic rights of free association and the free exercise of religion."

On Thursday, 5 January, Boston's Jewish Advocate newspaper carried a full page advertisement, in which ISB was accused of using litigation to suppress discussion, and also of failing to adequately respond to Jewish leaders' questions. Jewish leaders have, since London's 7/7, where mosques have been cited as sources of extremism, been concerned about mosques with possible terror links.

There are an estimated 240,000 Jews in Boston, and 70,000 Muslims. The American Jewish Committe's branch in Boston is headed by Larry Lowenthal, who said in January of the leading figures in ISB: "There is a great deal of anxiety.... The distance that I think has to be established between these current leaders and their colleagues who have made troubling statements ... that distance has to be clearly distinct and established."

On July 20 Judge Janet L. Sanders said that a 1994 law, which was designed to protect private citizens who brought legal cases against developers, was not applicable when applied in a defamation case, and said that the lawsuit could go ahead.

Howard Cooper, the attorney for the Islamic Society of Boston, said: "For many months since my clients simply sought to file a lawsuit and redress their rights in court, all we heard was that we were attempting to intimidate people and we would end up having to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorneys' fees. The court has now rejected the defendants' arguments in their entirety and ruled that the ISB filed its lawsuit appropriately."

He also invited the defendants to enter mediation, and if they did so, ISB would drop its suit.

Now more than ever, no-one should give in to such bullying tactics. Enough citizens rights are being threatened in different parts of the world by Muslims who intimidate yet claim to be "peace-loving". There are many unpleasant skeletons in ISB's cupboards concerning its former founder, Abdurahman Alamoudi, and a court case will give the defendants a chance in a wide arena to really expose the other unpleasant aspects of ISB.

Yesterday, Superior Court Judge Janet L. Sanders dismissed a claim by the defendants. ISB had made claims that the stories disseminated by the defendants had caused mosque donations to dry up. The defendants' lawyers had stated that the claims of conspiracy and defamation were related to stories which were protected under the First Amendment. This, the defendants argued, should mean the litigation should be abandoned. Judge Sanders rejected this line of argument and said that ISB's case should be heard in court.

And while ISB wastes its funds (now where do there funds come from?) on litigation, the proposed giant mosque remains in a state of incompletion at Roxbury Crossing.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at September 30, 2006 7:20 AM

Comments

Posted by: Terror-Free Oil at September 30, 2006 7:40 PM

Posted by: theantimike at October 3, 2006 1:24 AM

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