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US Muslim Student Body "Outraged" At Terrorism Link Allegations
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U.S. Muslim Women |
By Ayesha Ahmad, IOL Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Jan. 2 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The national Muslim Student Association (MSA) in Washington has expressed "outrage" at an Associated Press article alleging that it may be linked to terrorist groups through fundraising for charity "fronts".
"The Executive Committee of the MSA of the U.S. and Canada is outraged at the allegations that it or its chapters have any direct or indirect links with terrorism or terrorist groups," said their statement issued on December 25.
Altaf Husain, president of the national MSA, which acts as an umbrella group for local chapters throughout the country, said in the statement that the "irresponsible" article contributes to an "atmosphere of animosity" towards Muslims in America and their faith.
"The U.S. leadership, at its highest levels, called on Americans not to link their American Muslim counterparts with terrorism. Unfortunately, some journalists did not heed the call," he said.
In an interview Tuesday, he added his concern that the article implicates the entire Muslim community, as the students themselves don't have the money to give to charity.
"They're just taking the entire community and painting them in one brushstroke, saying that they're all raising money for terrorist groups, which is wrong."
The article in question, "Muslim Student Groups Probed for Terrorist Links" by the Associated Press' Don Thompson, published on Dec. 21, has a provocative lead suggesting that Muslim student organizations support terrorist groups.
"Muslim student organizations on college campuses around the country have openly raised money for groups whose assets have been frozen by the U.S. government because of alleged ties to terrorists," the article begins.
Although it adds that "no direct connection between the campus groups and terrorism" has been found, it focuses on investigation into those campus groups.
The MSA response said the article was "inflammatory" because of its general targeting of Muslim student organizations across the country, raising unjust suspicions of groups that work hard to serve Muslim and campus communities.
"…it instigates government scrutiny of an American-based student organization and its chapters [and] outlines an Orwellian surveillance of the telephone calls, bank accounts and fundraising of those chapters," the MSA said.
The group also attacked the article for using quotes by Husain in a misleading way, saying that the statement attributed to him "clearly shows malice."
The MSA president was paraphrased in the article as saying that "his organization has no plans to stop raising money for various groups unless federal authorities crack down," and quoted as saying, "We are as American as anyone else. Why should we be the ones looking for all these so-called ‘sleeper cells' or whatever?''
Husain said that the quotes were originally given during a telephone interview on Nov. 9, when the reporter asked Husain about the crackdown on Global Relief Foundation, an Islamic charity group which had already been accused of fundraising for terror groups.
The interview was about a week before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan began, an important time for Muslims to give to charity, he said, and in that context he told the reporter that the MSA would not stop raising money for charity.
"I talked to him on Nov. 9 for the quotes that he used, and those quotes were obviously out of context," Husain said Friday.
The AP article names specific groups which have been targeted by the U.S. to have their assets frozen because the U.S. suspects they raise funds for terrorist groups.
Holy Land Foundation, Benevolence International and Global Relief Foundation have all been targeted in this way, although each denies the charges and insists that they are truly charity groups.
The article mentions this, but says that the MSA encourages donations to all three groups, the first two of whose assets were frozen only after the Nov. 9 interview.
"This misplacement of the president's words leaves the reader with the impression that MSA is recklessly defying our government's attempt to cut the source of funds for terrorism," the MSA statement said.
The AP article also attacks MSA News, a news service published out of Ohio State University's MSA chapter, for publishing news releases from an Algerian group that is now on the State Department's terrorist group list, but does not say when such releases were published.
"MSA News… doesn't reflect the views and opinions and the outlook of MSA National," Husain said. "It's totally independent."
In its statement, the MSA has called on AP and the writer of the article to "issue a public apology and clarification to the readers."
Meanwhile, Husain and members of some MSA chapters worked with the San Francisco Chronicle to produce a more balanced article, published Dec. 30, about their concerns.
Chronicle writer Elizabeth Bell spoke with George Vinson, California's homeland security advisor, who had been quoted in Thompson's article as saying "shame on law enforcement if we didn't do this [investigate student groups].''
In Bell's article, Vinson said that it was logical for investigators to look into groups, but that they must have evidence and information to do so. "You can't just willy-nilly go into every Muslim student organization," he said in the article.
Husain said he appreciated the focus in Bell's article on the importance of MSA groups to their local communities, both Muslim and non-Muslim, and on- and off-campus.
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