Posted on 03/30/2011 9:02:20 AM PDT by jazusamo
(CNSNews.com) – A Muslim civil rights activist told Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) that she stands by the advice posted on her Web site that tells Muslims not to speak with the FBI or other law enforcement personnel unless a lawyer is present.
Kyl said he was “stunned” that Farhana Khera, president and executive director of Muslim Advocates, would “issue those kind of instructions,” given the connection between many domestic terror attacks and radical Islam and the importance of cooperation from American Muslims to help thwart those attacks.
“I would think that Muslim Americans would feel a special obligation to help intelligence agencies root this out,” Kyl said Tuesday at a hearing on the civil rights of American Muslims held by the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights.
On the home page of the Muslim Advocates Web site under the heading “URGENT COMMUNITY ALERT: Seek Legal Advice Before Talking to FBI,” the warning reads:
“The FBI is contacting Pakistani, South-Asian and other Muslim Americans to solicit information and advice about addressing violent extremism. Muslim Advocates strongly urges individuals not to speak with law enforcement officials without the presence or advice of an attorney.”
The two-page alert states cooperation with law enforcement without a lawyer present “places you and your family at great risk of criminal prosecution or adverse immigration consequences (including deportation),” and “there is no legal obligation to speak to law enforcement officials.”
The alert further says, “If approached by the FBI or law enforcement, ask for their business cards and say that your lawyer will contact them.”
Kyl recited a long list of cases from the last couple of years involving suspects with ties to radical Islam, including American Muslims who apparently had been radicalized. These included the following:
Nov. 27, 2010: Mohamed Osman Mohamud was arrested and charged with attempting to explode a car bomb at a Christmas tree lighting in Portland, Oregon.
Oct. 27, 2010: Farooque Ahmed was arrested for attempting to assist others whom he believed to be members of al Qaeda in planning multiple bombings on the Metro in Washington, D.C.
Oct. 19, 2010: Jordanian National Hosam Smadi was sentenced to 24 years in prison for attempting to blow up a skyscraper in Dallas, Texas in 2009.
Oct. 18, 2010: A federal court in Manhattan found James Cromitie, Onta Williams, Laguerre Payen and David Williams IV guilty of attempting to detonate explosives near two synagogues in the Bronx and a plan to shoot down U.S. military planes in Newburgh, New York in 2009.
Aug. 2, 2010: Russell Defreitas and Abdul Kadir were convicted of a conspiracy to attack John F. Kennedy Airport by exploding fuel tanks under the airport in 2007.
June 21, 2010: Faisal Shahzad pleaded guilty to attempting to detonate a car bomb in Times Square, New York in May 2010 and was sentenced to life in prison.
March 18, 2010: David Headley pleaded guilty to charges that he participated in planning the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, which killed 164 people.
Kyl said every American has a responsibility to fight terrorism.
“It seems to me that it’s the civil obligation of all Americans to assist in preventing these heinous crimes, especially given the participation of Muslims in all the attempted attacks that I mentioned,” Kyl said. “I would think that Muslim Americans would feel a special obligation to help intelligence agencies root this out.”
Khera said she was aware of the terrorist threat, including her personal experience of being at the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 11. But she said it is every American’s right to have a lawyer.
“So you stand by the statement on your Web site?” Kyl asked.
“I stand by all the statements on my Web site,” Khera said.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), chairman of the subcommittee, had only praise for the hearing, and its witnesses – aside from Khera, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop emeritus of Washington, and Tom Perez, assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice’s civil rights division, testified.
Durbin said that anti-Muslim “hate crimes, employment discrimination, bullying in schools, restrictions on mosque construction and Quran burnings” should be stopped.
“It is our government's responsibility to prevent and punish this kind of illegal discrimination,” Durbin said. “And it is incumbent upon all Americans who love this nation and the values our Constitution protects to make it clear to defend the civil rights of our Muslim neighbors are as important as the rights of Christians, Jews, and non-believers.”
Turban Durbin's charade of a hearing with Thomas Perez and Farhana Khera is pathetic, they're both anti-American.
I am stunned that Kyl thinks this is a bad idea. Doesn’t matter who you are, talking to LE these days is not a game for amateurs.
Considering that Holder and Company are running the DOJ and even his people are saying “Don’t talk to the FBI without a lawyer”; I take that as sincere important advise for the rest of us.
Muslims do not belong here. Take no more in and shut down the mosques. If they don’t like it, they can leave.
Muslims often say that a certain thing is “against Islam”. Well, Islam is “against” the US constitutions and the ideals and values that made this country great. No other group has been allowed to stand as a threat to our Constitution and Government. They should not be an exception.
Agreed
They're not your friends. You need to protect you. Period.
There's nothing wrong with getting a lawyer involved. It's certainly not an admission of guilt.
I agree with you...i would not speak to any law enforcement official over anything without an attorney present...and under no circumstances would i ever take a lie detector test
Dick Durbin supports illegals and terrorists on US soil.
Can there be a more traitorous senator?
Dick Durbin defines treason.
Senator Kyl is a good man, maybe he will pay closer attention now to the Islamic threat to his state as well as the nation. There are precious few Muslim Americans who act and feel American...they are terrified of their fellow Muslims to retaliate against them for standing up for America.
Apparently the Republican leadership are still leading insular lives and tone-deaf to common sense.
Oh wait, maybe they can start up the notion of a Constitutional amendment banning burning the US flag.
What a hoot. Sorry, got some deck chairs to rearrange. Keep up the good work, Republican leadership!
:-(
An oldy but goody: NEVER TALK TO THE POLICE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wXkI4t7nuc
Stasi USA here we come.
:-(
I couldn't agree more. When radical Muslim fathers kill their own daughters for wearing the wrong cloths moderate Muslims know full well they'd not hesitate to kill them for helping law enforcement stop terrorists.
Indeed, not bad advice for everyone.
She must be one of those ‘moderate’ Muslims we keep hearing about. You know from Bush’s ‘religion of peace’.
Every mosque in America is a foothold, an outpost, a conquest.
This is not the way I see it. It is what is being yelled at me every day by the ‘peaceful’ Muslims themselves.
Allah will kill the Infidels!
Allah will destroy America!
Allah is great and merciless!
How much can a guy take before you have to do something?
I understand what you’re saying but Farhana Khera is a radical Muslim activist and doesn’t work for the DOJ.
Sounds like good advice for anyone.
We should kick people out of the country because of their religious beliefs?
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