Posted on 10/07/2005 6:24:23 PM PDT by Pikamax
OU's Muslim Students Fearful After Explosion Authorities: No Evidence Hinrichs Had Ticket, Tried To Buy Ticket To Game
POSTED: 9:42 am CDT October 7, 2005 UPDATED: 11:11 am CDT October 7, 2005
NORMAN, Okla. -- Many Muslim students at the University of Oklahoma are laying low after rumors spread that a terrorist plot was behind a deadly explosion near a packed football stadium, Muslim leaders say.
"A lot of students are taking precautions, staying at home," said Houda Elyazgi, an officer with the Muslim Student Association. "I wear the scarf, so I fear for my security now because of all this speculation."
In an e-mail sent Thursday afternoon to students, faculty and staff members, OU President David Boren encouraged all not to "judge others or jump to conclusions about others on the basis of color, race, gender, economic status or freely exercised religious beliefs.
"To rush to judge others or make assumptions about them on that basis is nothing short of prejudice. It has no place in America and it certainly has no place at the University of Oklahoma."
Investigators believe the bomb blast that killed OU engineering student Joel Henry Hinrichs III, 21, was a suicide. Boren reiterated in the letter that there is "no evidence of a conspiracy involving others which creates an ongoing threat to our OU community."
Oklahoma Muslim leaders feared their community would be targeted after the explosion.
"When it first happened, we said, 'Oh, God. Here we go again,"' said Imad Enchassi, president of the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City.
Enchassi remembered how suspicion fell on the Muslim community in the days after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, as did Boren, who noted that some speculated early on that the explosion that killed 168 people was the work of a Middle Eastern terrorist.
"As we all now know, the person responsible was not someone from the Middle East but was Timothy McVeigh and at least one other American who assisted him," the statement read. "We can only hope that all of us, including some media outlets, would have learned from that recent rush to incorrect conclusions."
At least four Muslim students were handcuffed and questioned after the OU explosion, and Muslim leaders fielded telephone calls from reporters.
Hinrichs' Pakistani roommate, Fazal M. Cheema, is Muslim, although not particularly religious, according to regulars at the Norman mosque.
Cheema worked at the football stadium, according to the OU student directory, and the men lived at Parkview Apartments, a university-owned property popular with Islamic students because it is adjacent to the local mosque.
Some media reported that Hinrichs spent time recently at the mosque, which was denied by the president of the mosque, who asked that his name not be used for fear of retaliation.
Hinrichs' father, Joel Hinrichs Jr., said this week his son was skeptical of ideology and was not Muslim.
Meanwhile, OU officials addressed allegations that Hinrichs had tried to enter the Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, which sits about 100 yards from the spot where the explosion happened.
University spokeswoman Catherine Bishop said OU officials reviewed their ticket records and determined that Hinrichs, of Colorado Springs, Colo., didn't purchase a football ticket from any university outlet.
Bishop also said university officials hadn't heard anything to indicate Hinrichs tried to buy a ticket from one of the fans selling them outside the stadium.
The FBI has reviewed video surveillance tapes and, so far, haven't uncovered anything that indicates Hinrichs tried to enter, Boren said.
Norman police, however, reported that an officer became suspicious when he overhead Hinrichs trying to purchase ammonium nitrate fertilizer from a local feed and seed store two days before he died.
The manager of Ellison Feed and Seed said the store no longer carried that kind of fertilizer, which was used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
As for the Muslim community, Elyazgi said it has been particularly difficult because Wednesday marked the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when the faithful fast from dawn to dusk.
"I'd rather be focusing on my fast and this joyous month than having to worry about my back," Elyazgi said.
Congressman Billybob
"Every last Muslim is now an enemy of the Republic."
In the early 70's they would have been thrown off campus by now at my school.
Thank You...
The Senate doesn't know whats naughty or nice.
I say we were nice, after all didn't they put a pair of these on the terrorists heads,
instead of a pair of these?
Yes, that's been reported before on threads that still appear in the side bar.
Also the attack was on the same date, and almost the same hour as the Bali attacks (although 12 hours later due to timezone).
No way I'm buying the lonely loser crap.
Yet
Lepanto was the name of our yearbook at Nolan Catholic High School in Fort Worth, TX, FWIW
You lived up to your name Spunky!
Hey you a@@*holes!
How about instead of whining with your headscarfs flying in the breeze...
YOU F..ING MUSLIMS GATHER ALL YOUR STUDENTS TOGETHER AND LEAD A HUGE PROTEST AGAINST TERRORISM EVERY DAY SO WE CAN SEE WHOSE SIDE YOU ARE ON!!!AND ANNOUNCE THAT YOU WILL BE TURNING IN MUSLIM TERRORISTS!
(whew, good thing these threads don't get me upset.)
I hate to say it, but with all of the BS going on this month, maybe it's time to revisit a WW2 scenario.
internment camps or deportation.
Wasn't there something on another thread that said he was "Atheist" because he was angry at God for his hearing loss? Is that what Muslims call you when you aren't "particulary religious"?
Jayna Davis pointed out that the day Jihadi Joels atoms went hyperenergetic was the 10 year anniverary of the sentencing of the blind sheik.
I read this slop in the paper today and thought how cowardly for these (at best) fellow traveling terrorists try to evoke the "victim" angle.
Here in Norman, if they strike, we'll strike back with as little disregard for individual justice as they choose to mete out.
Student tickets are purchased through the Bursar's office. They'd have a record of it.
Stfu you moron, I'm so tired of muslims using Tim Mcveigh this TIM MCveigh THAT. Nichols had ties to Islamic Extremists that supplied him with a large sum of money so he could leave the country.
"Some investigators contend that Timothy McVeigh and his accomplice Terry Nichols had ties to Islamic terrorism through Ramzi Youssef, the Al Qaeda operative who planned the 1993 WTC bombing, and through a series of meetings with Islamic terror group Abu-Sayef members in the Philippines."
http://www.answers.com/topic/timothy-mcveigh
"He sometimes traveled to the Philippines alone, while she remained in Kansas. Cebu City at the time was a reputed base for several militant organizations, including Liberation Army of the Philippines, the Communist Huk, and the Al-Qaida affiliate Abu Sayyaf. Stephen Jones, the trial attorney who first represented Tim McVeigh, cited evidence of a meeting in Davao City, in Mindanao in 1992 or 1993, when Yousef members, Abdul Hakim Murad, Wali Khan Amin Shah and a "farmer" met to discuss the Oklahoma bombing. Jones said the FBI was aware of the meeting."
http://www.answers.com/topic/terry-nichols?method=8
All one thing in common...American in origin but corrupted by the hate filled message of Islam.
And who do they blame ??
BUSH !?
>> "A lot of students are taking precautions, staying at home,"
They are not "staying at home", they are staying in America and have to lay low until the local people forget about the threat they pose.
Give it a week and all will be well again.
Yet.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.