Revered Muslim cleric held in U.S.

[somapala]

One of Canada's most moderate and respected Muslim clerics was pulled off a plane Thursday and thrown in jail by U.S. immigration officials in Fort Lauderdale without any charges being laid.

Ahamad Kutty, who has preached tolerance and peace throughout North America for more than two decades, was ordered off his Orlando-bound flight from Toronto and interrogated in an airport holding cell and a local jail for 16 hours as the U.S. marked the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

He has been declared a risk to national security.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1063404610930&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154

[MSchreader]

1. I met Imam Kutty once

That these fascist thugs think he is a "national security risk" is more irrefutable proof, IMO, that the so-called "war on terror" is a war on Arabs -- much like the "war on drugs" has been a war on Blacks and Latinos. The man is gentle to the point of seeming fragile.

Martin

[Fridays Child]

7. It's all the same war. It's a war on everyone who might stand between...

...rich, white, pseudo-Christian, American men and total control of the world's resources.

[psychopomp]

11. Tell it like it is!

It's a big world, though, and the game is on.

[Fish Eye]

18. In what context was your meeting?

:)

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. I fear

that what is being started is an anti-Muslim crusade. I hope Canada applies diplomatic pressure and the Imam is released soon.

[StandWatie]

3. insane

If they are arresting Kutty they have no idea who the hell they are detaining.

[Fridays Child]

6. Or they do.

[demnan]

4. And to think that some people favor more of this garbage with

Patriot Act II.

I hope this poor man is released soon. We need all the moderate relgious leaders we can get!

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

5. America for Muslims is becoming like early Nazi Germany for the Jews.

Ignorance and bigotry seem to be on the rise.

Sigh.


Feel safe.
Ashcroft watches over us all.

[TahitiNut]

12. "Gott Mit Uns"

:eyes:

[Noon_Blue_Apples]

8. Not good for Can / US relations

cons here are dead quiet right now. Have moved on to gay marriage. There is about an ounce of credibility left for this administration. Actually, thats on the high side.

Not much sept 11 sympathy left to begin with either. Now this.

No soup for you

Good luck in Iraq

Bill

[somapala]

9. I wonder what bush do if Pat Robertson detained at Iraq Airport

National security. my ass

[loudnclear]

10. I don't know what Bush would do, but I would applaud loudly!!!

Pat preaches intolerance, racism, anti-Islamism! He is a man of hatred and bigotry. Kutty is not!

[LastDemInIdaho]

13. Kutty doesn't sound like an extremist to me

From: http://www.globeandmail.com/special/attack/pages/comment_0914_article5.html

Ahmad Kutty, lecturer at the Islamic Institute of Toronto and a former imam at several Toronto mosques, said yesterday he was still reeling from the despicable acts committed this week, and counted the ways in which whoever perpetrated these crimes had offended Islam. In addition to the injunction against suicide, he said, the Koran forbids attacking innocent people, or destroying their houses, or burning their crops. He quoted from the holy book: "Fight those who fight against you. But do not commit aggression, for God does not love aggressors." He added: "This attack is against all the values the majority of Muslims hold dear."

There is no place for the misdirected rage of those who would hold innocent people accountable for this week's barbarity, solely because of their religion or race. Save that for the real enemy.

[adityanm]

14. Let us not rush to judgement

Remember a professor of Computer Science in Tampa, Florida who had a pesonna of a legimate scholors till he himself admitted that he was part of the terrorist fund drive.
Let us wait till come up with more evidence.
It is very sad day for humanity when all the muslims are suspect until proven innocent.

[StandWatie]

16. that was all bullshit to

[Jim Sagle]

19. No it wasn't.

[lumpy]

20. He admitted he was part of the terrorist fund drive ?

I don't thnk so.

[dArKeR]

15. "one of the most bizarre cases I ever heard,"

Altaf Ali, head of the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the account was relayed to him by Mr. Hamid when he met him in prison early yesterday. "He was very embarrassed to be in orange clothes," Mr. Ali said.

Calling the story "one of the most bizarre cases I ever heard," Mr. Ali called upon the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to apologize for detaining the two men. "It's totally uncalled-for," he added.

The case appears to be the latest example of the perils facing Islamic Canadians passing through the United States.

Some outraged Canadian Muslims suggest this case bears similarities to that of Berna Cruz, an Indian-Canadian who was sent back to India after Chicago agents accused her of carrying a fake passport, and Maher Arar, a Syrian-Canadian who remains locked up on suspicion of terrorism in Syria, where he was sent a year ago after passing through New York.

http://theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030913.uimam0913/BNStory/National/

We're too busy eating to know or care what The Bush Crime Family is doing.

[Fish Eye]

17. If this is the same man...

as descibed in the link below, he is far from fundamentalist extreme. In fact there has been a Fatwa issued against him by more extremist Muslim sects. Islam is no different than any other religion in that it is divided in interpretations of Holy scriptures and the teaching of prophets. North American "Christians" like our current leadership are probably to ignorant to understand that not all followeres of Islam are terrorists.

http://www.rediff.com/news/feb/22venu.htm