CAIR SEEKS PROBE OF BIAS MOTIVE FOR MINNESOTA MOSQUE VANDALISM
Minnesota, 27 Rajab 1434/6 June 2013 (MINA) – The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) Wednesday called on state and national law enforcement authorities to investigate repeated vandalism targeting a mosque in that state as a possible bias-motivated crime.
Officials with the Muslim Society Center in Owatonna, Minn., contacted CAIR-MN after a window of the facility was broken early Saturday on 12th Street Northeast. Mosque leaders say it does not appear that an object was thrown at the window, but rather that someone approached the mosque and broke it using a bat or other object.
It is the second time in two weeks and the third time in a year that a window has been broken at the mosque, Online media CNBC quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
“The repeated nature of this vandalism seems to indicate that the vandalism is targeted rather than random,” said CAIR-MN Executive Director Lori Saroya. “Any such attacks on a house of worship must be investigated with the possibility of a bias motive in mind.”
Ali Farah, one of the leaders at the mosque, said they don’t understand why they’re being targeted, the southernminn.com reported.
“We are members of the Owatonna community, and our building has been attacked three times,” Farah said, speaking through an interpreter, Olad Ahmed. “We have been attacked two times in the last month.”
The building is monitored by security cameras, but Ahmed said whoever is breaking the windows knows the layout of the building and is moving the cameras in order to obscure the acts.
“We don’t know what we’re doing wrong. We’re not bothering anyone,” said Abdulkadir Sharifali, another one of the mosque leaders.
Sharifali said he feels like the building could be being targeted because it is a worship center for followers of Islam in Owatonna.
“I’ve never heard of any church being targeted in Owatonna,” Sharifali said. “I’ve lived in Owatonna since 2000, and I’ve never heard of anything like that in the news or anywhere else. I don’t know why we’re being targeted. I don’t know if it’s because we’re a worship place for Islam or what.”
“It’s really scary. We are fearing for our lives,” Farah said. “We don’t know what could happen next. Our people and our children pray here all the time.”
“These are bad people. We are a peaceful community,” Farah said. “We’ve never harmed anybody. This is a worship place. This is the place we use for our culture. Anyone who wants to know that is welcome all the time.” (T/P09/E1).
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).
