CAIR-Philadelphia

CAIR-Philadelphia Collage

Federal Grand Juries and Non-Criminal Investigations

The Legal Intelligencer Can a federal grand jury be lawfully used solely for purposes unrelated to any criminal investigation? The Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Philadelphia) wants to know the answer to that question. To get that answer, CAIR-Philadelphia (which I serve as legal director) has already engaged in significant litigation on this issue at the district court level, and we have filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. In particular, CAIR-Philadelphia wants to know whether federal grand juries, which typically operate solely within the context of criminal law, can be used to assist the FBI with general "intelligence gathering" national security investigations in which there is no suspected violation of federal criminal law.<

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When terrorism is falsely linked by race or religion, we all become the victims

Delaware County Daily Times A week after the cruel attack on the Boston Marathon, our nation is still trying to answer that piece of the — who, what, and why — puzzle. Despite our lack of information as to the “why,” we do know some facts as to “what” happened. We know that when the suspects placed their bombs amongst the crowd of joyous spectators, they did not check for the race or religion of their potential victims. Instead, they coldly sought a body count.

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Q&A: CAIR Philadelphia on Media’s Response to Boston

Philadelphia Weekly On Fox News, “liberal” commentator Bob Beckel suggested Muslim students should now be barred from coming to the United States. Fox and Friends host Brian Kilmeade seems to believe the U.S. should implant “listening devices” in mosques around the country and Bill O’Reilly shouted down the head of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Nihad Awad, who noted the two brothers were not representative of all of Islam. With that in mind, Philadelphia Weekly caught up with Rugiatu Conteh, Outreach and Communications Director at Council on American-Islamic Relations Philadelphia, for her take on the matter.

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CAIR-Philadelphia Collage

Muslims caution against stereotyping after Boston Marathon bombings

Philly.com "I think that a lot of stereotypes are that Muslims are violent or terrorists or criminals," said Rugiatu Conteh, the communications and outreach director for the Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. When a suspect in a crime or act of terrorism is Muslim, she said, "I think for a lot of people, it kind confirms those stereotypes."

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