The Investigative Project is reporting that the Washington State Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is seeking religious Muslim volunteers to work with state prison inmates. According to the report:
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) chapter in Washington State is seeking religious Muslim volunteers to work with state prison inmates. That has veteran corrections official Patrick Dunleavy concerned that the program could result in the radicalization of prisoners and create security problems. It’s not the presence of Muslim volunteers, but the track record of the people and organization involved. Syed Arsalan Bukhari, executive director of the Washington CAIR chapter, issued an Internet call last week saying that “Muslim volunteers” are “direly needed in the 20 or so state institutions across our state to lead study/discussion/halaqah sessions for inmates, lead prayers and just generally insure that inmates are receiving the services they need.”
The Investigative Project report also provided some examples of Mr. Bukhari’s past statements:
- In December 2009, the Seattle Weekly reported that Bukhari was discouraging Seattle-area Muslims from cooperating with the FBI’s efforts to investigate Al-Shabaab terrorist recruitment. “There’s nothing to gain from talking to law enforcement,” he said. “I can’t emphasize enough…you have the right to remain silent, so use it.
- In May 2009, Bukhari objected to a racial awareness program produced by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, claiming the group has “an anti-Muslim agenda.” Bukhari and CAIR said the Wiesenthal Center should be disqualified from training Seattle police because of the organization’s role in producing “Ever Again,” a film on anti-Semitism and European Jihadists. *
- At a CAIR-Washington January 24, 2009 banquet, Bukhari refused to condemn terrorism:“How many of you are asked, ‘why don’t you condemn, I won’t use the ‘T’ word. I call it ‘political violence.’ I assure you that every Muslim organization has condemned ‘political violence.’”
- In May 2008, Bukhari and other CAIR officials met with the chief of the Port of Seattle to express their concerns about a course entitled “The Threat of Islamic Jihadists to the World,” conducted by Security Solutions International. They complained that the course, which claimed to be based on “Israeli experience” fighting terrorism, would “promote stereotypes and religious and ethnic profiling.”
Documents released in the Holy Land Trial have revealed that the founders and current leaders of CAIR were part of the Palestine Committee of the Muslim Brotherhood as well as identifying the organization itself as being part of the U.S. Brotherhood. A recent post discussed an interview with the Deputy leader of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in which he confirms a relationship between his organization and CAIR. Investigative research posted on GMBDW had determined that CAIR had it origins in the U.S. Hamas infrastructure and CAIR and its leaders have a long history of defending almost all individuals accused of terrorism by the U.S. government, frequently calling such prosecutions a “war on Islam.”