Imam shot 18 times & handcuffed?

Is this reality that the FBI shot an imam 18 times and handcuffed after he shot their DOG and didn’t point a gun at agents?  Is this reality that they shot a human being and handcuffed him without airlifting him to the hospital but airlifted their DOG to an animal hospital?

http://www.freep.com/article/20091031/NEWS02/910310367/1318/Islamic-leaders-family-urges-investigation-into-his-death

Islamic leader’s family urges investigation into his death

He was shot 18 times, they say

BY NIRAJ WARIKOO, BEN SCHMITT AND ROBIN ERB
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS

As Muslims prepare for a funeral today in Detroit for Islamic leader Luqman Ameen Abdullah, his family and a coalition of Muslim organizations are calling for an independent investigation into his death in a reported shootout with FBI agents in Dearborn

The American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections called Friday for a thorough investigation to “make public the exact circumstances in which he died.”

The family of Abdullah, the imam of Masjid Al-Haqq in Detroit, told the Free Press on Friday that the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office told them Abdullah was shot 18 times.

Contacted Friday by the newspaper, the examiner’s office would only say that Abdullah was shot multiple times and a final report on the autopsy is not yet completed.

Abdullah’s son Mujahid Carswell, 30, was granted release Friday after a detention hearing in U.S. District Court in Detroit. However, U.S. Magistrate Donald Scheer ordered Carswell’s release based on him being fitted with an electronic tether.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Cynthia Oberg said it was unclear whether Carswell would be fitted for the device before Monday, meaning he might not be released in time for father’s funeral.

Omar Regan, 34, one of Abdullah’s sons, said his family was told by authorities that after he was shot 18 times, Abdullah was handcuffed and placed on a stretcher. He complained that the FBI airlifted a police dog that had been shot while no medical helicopter was brought in for his father.

“It really is ridiculous,” Regan said.

“I’m comfortable with what the agents did,” Andrew Arena, FBI special agent in charge of the Detroit office, told reporters Thursday. “They did what they had to do to protect themselves.”

Oberg told Scheer during a detention hearing Friday that her office plans to pursue racketeering charges against Carswell.

But Carswell’s defense attorney, Jill Leslie Price, called the allegations “intimations and allusions” that were based on guilt by association.

Abdullah’s death raises questions and fears

http://www.freep.com/article/20091030/BLOG2505/91030032/1068/OPINION/Abdullahs-death-raises-questions-and-fears-

Abdullah’s death raises questions and fears

The funeral of Luqman Ameen Abdullah tomorrow morning will bring Muslim leaders nationwide to Detroit. Abdullah’s life and death have ignited debates on race and religion, police and politics.

People, from Detroit’s east side to South Africa, are questioning how Abdullah died. Left untended, questions like these often answer themselves, sometimes with conspiracy theories or worse. No one should assume government wrongdoing or impropriety, but skepticism, fear and anger have clouded the air. To help clear it, the Justice Department or some outside agency should investigate whether agents properly targeted Abdullah, or could have avoided killing him.

FBI agents killed Abdullah, 53, of Detroit, during a Wednesday raid at a Dearborn warehouse. A 43-page affidavit highlights Abdullah’s alleged hatred of government and police agencies but does not charge him with terrorism. The government described him as an Islamic fundamentalist who advocated violence to establish Muslim rule. Still, for many in the community, Abdullah was a respected imam and neighborhood benefactor.

I spoke last night on Detroit’s east side with two African American Muslims who knew Abdullah and remembered him as a man who took in the homeless and fed the hungry. Neither knew of, or defended, his alleged criminal activities, but they did question whether he had to die and why agents didn’t approach him differently. The account now widely held by community members is that Abdullah was shot repeatedly by agents, after he shot an unleashed police dog, despite official reports that Abdullah fired on the officers.

A spokesman for Dearborn police said today the investigation of Abdullah’s shooting is ongoing and the department couldn’t comment. But Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Michigan, said a government agent also told him that Abdullah died after shooting the dog. “Is this the kind of excessive force that we black Americans are all too familiar with?” Walid asked. Walid is also troubled by the use of informants and what he called agent provocateurs who entice people into criminal activities.

Abdullah’s death may mark the first killing of a religious leader by U.S. government agents since David Koresh died at the Branch Davidian ranch outside Waco, Texas, in 1993. That incident had some tragic ripples. Walid, who has been interviewed by international journalists about the killing, said Abdullah’s death will affect U.S. relations with Muslim countries — a high priority for President Obama. It could also worsen relations between the FBI and the U.S. Muslim community. Abdullah’s funeral will not bury the questions about his life or death. Government, and the people, need the truth.

Muslim Coalition Calls For Probe Into FBI Death of Mich. Muslim

Muslim Coalition Calls for Probe Into FBI Shooting Death of Mich. Muslim
American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections asks FBI not to link case to Islam

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/30/09) – The American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT), a coalition of major national Islamic organizations, is calling for an independent investigation into the death of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah, who was shot and killed by the FBI on Wednesday in Detroit during raids in which a number of individuals were arrested on charges unrelated to terrorism.

AMT is also calling on the FBI not to link the raids or the allegations against the suspects to the Islamic faith.

In a statement, the Muslim coalition said:

“It is imperative that an independent investigation of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah’s death make public the exact circumstances in which he died. And unless the FBI has evidence linking the criminal allegations to the religious affiliation of the suspects, we ask that federal authorities stop injecting religion into this case. The unjustified linkage of this case to the faith Islam will only serve to promote an increase in existing anti-Muslim stereotyping and bias in our society.”

AMT is also urging the Congressional Tri-Caucus (Black, Latino, and Asian) to call for a judicial inquiry.

In keeping with its charter, AMT works for civil rights of all Americans and plans to hold a series of meetings across the United States, culminating in a civil rights summit in Washington, D.C., to address growing civil and human rights concerns of seven to eight million American Muslims.

AMT is an umbrella organization that includes American Muslim Alliance (AMA), American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Islamic Circle ofNorth America (ICNA), Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA), MAS-Freedom, Muslim Student Association-National (MSA-N), Muslim Ummah of North America (MUNA), and United Muslims of America (UMA). Its observer organizations include American Muslims for Civic Engagement (AMCE), Islamic Educational Council of Orange County (IECOC), the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), and Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC).

– END –

CONTACT: AMT Chair Dr. Agha Saeed, 510-299-9313, E-Mail: aghaksaeed@yahoo.com

Sermon about justice & death of Imam Luqman Abdullah

Today’s khutbah was given at the Islamic Center of Saginaw.

 

The second portion of the khutbah discussed the recent arrests of 12 Muslims from Masjid Al-Haqq and the death of Imam Luqman Abdullah.

 

Click here to listen.

Wronging Ourselves

In lieu of recent events, I encourage the Metro Detroit Muslim community to listen to a sermon that I delivered over 5 years ago at Al-Ikhlas Training Academy titled “Wronging Ourselves.”