(This map was publised in 2002 and I have been told that more Mosque's have sprung up across the US since. I am trying to get an updated map). Search for International Terrorist Entitie
FBI Raids Connecticut Mosque Leader's Home in Terror Probe
By Matt Apuzzo
Published in: Associated Press
October 15, 2004 WOLCOTT, Conn. -- FBI agents raided the home of a Waterbury Islamic leader as part of an investigation into a Sudanese charity that federal officials recently accused of supporting Osama bin Laden and other terrorists.
Majeed Sharif, president of United Muslim Mosque, would not discuss what investigators took from his Wolcott home on Wednesday. But he told The Associated Press that he did volunteer work for the Islamic African Relief Agency, a charity the Bush administration said Wednesday was financing terrorism.
Source: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ct--terrorfinancing1014oct14,0,7111496.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire
http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=2436848
http://www.cair-ct.com:
Islamic Leaders Suspicious Of FBI Visits
Saturday, October 16, 2004 Islamic Leaders Suspicious Of FBI Visits
Muslims wary of improper questioning tactics during Bureau 'outreach' program
By BETHE DUFRESNE
General Assignment Reporter/Columnist
Published on 10/15/2004
Groton - The FBI paid a visit to local Muslims two weeks ago as part of a national effort to assess security risks for the presidential elections, but upon arriving at the mosque here found no one home.
Since then, directors of the mosque, known as the Islamic Center of New London, have contacted a lawyer from the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union who has pledged to be present if and when the FBI calls on them again.
" What happened was we got a call from an FBI agent saying they needed to urgently talk to the board," Imran Ahmed, president of the mosque, said Thursday. He spoke on the eve of Ramadan, a monthlong observance commemorating the beginning of divine revelations to the prophet Muhammad, founder of Islam.
The message left by the federal agent said it was all part of an "outreach program," said Ahmed. But having heard reports from other Muslims about being asked questions "outside the scope" of what's proper when no one is charged or suspected of anything, he said, board members weren't eager to meet without a lawyer present.
" Luckily we were left messages," said Ahmed. "He couldn't contact us directly, and then he missed us when he came to the facility two weeks ago, so he just left us his card."
Ahmed said an FBI agent showed up about the same time at a satellite mosque in Norwich, unnerving members. "They (agents) have you face-to-face to create a sense of urgency," said Ahmed, "and people who aren't trained, they don't know how to act."
" A lot of them were Muslim immigrants," he said, "and they got really shocked. They said, "Did they do anything wrong?'"
The Washington, D.C.-based Council for American-Islamic Relations, which last month opened its first office in New England on State Street in New London, says the FBI is interviewing members of mosques around the nation in response to intelligence reports that al-Qaida plans an attack in America around the elections.
" Just about every mosque we've spoken to has been contacted," said Ahmed, small and large, from New London to Hartford.
Since Islamic terrorists attacked New York and Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11, 2001, security agents also have been treating Ramadan as a time of heightened risk.
The national Interfaith Alliance, a nonpartisan group that claims to have 150,000 members, last week condemned the government program of "volunteer interviews" just prior to the election and during the holy month of Ramadan.
" The nation would be outraged if this were to happen to Jews or Christians during Passover or Easter, for any reason," said the Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, charging that it "has a chilling effect on our democracy."
Ahmed said Islamic Center board members would willingly meet with the FBI but want to be sure their civil rights are protected.
" CAIR warned us," said Ahmed, that the FBI "will ask questions from many, many angles. We contacted CAIR just in time," he said, adding, "It's fortunate they just established an office here." CAIR put them in touch with a CCLU lawyer, he said.
According to information from CAIR and circulars from other mosques, said Ahmed, the FBI's "modus operandi" is to open a friendly chat and then ask who comes to the mosque and how often, their names, and where they came from.
Many mosques have come under surveillance during the past three years by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. But this was a first here, said Ahmed. "I'm not commenting on any conspiracy theories," he said. But if it was truly "outreach," he asked, why weren't non-Muslims in the community also contacted?
Ahmed said people at the mosque recognize the importance of security. "If someone comes in that we have never seen before," he said, "we will reach out and talk to that person, but always in a very nice, very cordial, respectful way."
" That's our way of being vigilant," he said, adding, "The best way of vigilance is to police yourself."
Muslims were anticipating this weekend's start of Ramadan, during which they fast during the day. The Quran, the holy book of Islam, mandates the fast as a means of introspection and learning self-restraint.
Ahmed wasn't sure whether Ramadan would start today or Saturday, because it is a lunar month, tied to a visual sighting. "It's very hard to see the moon (here) because it's very cloudy," he said. "Somebody in California may see it."
" There's a 50-50 chance" it will begin Friday, he said, but "a 100 percent chance for Saturday."
Ahmed said the lawyer from CCLU has called the FBI agent who visited and left a message that the board would be happy to answer questions any time with the lawyer present. "We're not comfortable or trained in legal lingo," said Ahmed.
But the FBI hasn't called back. Now, said Ahmed, "The ball is in their court."
b.dufresne@theday.com
