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Are Muslim Defendants Getting Special Treatment in Court?
Legal threats against police are being used to get criminal charges dropped against Muslims.
An otherwise unremarkable hearing in the Fairfax County, Virginia, general district court last Thursday marked an ominous trend with respect to the cherished American judicial principles of the rule of law and equality before the law. The hearing on four misdemeanor charges against Dr. Mustafa Ahmed Abbasi featured all of the usual players — judge, bailiff, clerks, prosecutors, police officers, criminal attorneys, and defendant — but with one notable addition to the judicial drama, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
CAIR’s intervention in the Abbasi case is a manifestation of a larger campaign against law enforcement to use political alliances and legal threats to intimidate police in cases involving Muslim defendants and to establish separate and preferable treatment for Muslims in the American legal system.
The circumstances concerning the charges against Dr. Abbasi are as unremarkable as last Thursday’s hearing. On February 9, Abassi committed an improper turn which prompted a traffic stop by Fairfax County police. After consent for a search of the vehicle was given, police discovered loose pills, needles, and prescriptions written to other individuals in the trunk of the car, violations of Virginia law. Dr. Abbasi admitted that he treated members of his mosque out of his vehicle, also a violation of Virginia medical rules (it should be noted that he is also a U.S. Customs and Immigration Service-approved immigration doctor). Abbasi received a summons for unlawfully prescribing drugs and three others for possession of controlled substances, and was allowed to leave the scene on his own recognizance.
More than two months later, a letter was sent from CAIR national legal counsel Nadhira Al-Khalili to Colonel David Rohrer, chief of the Fairfax County Police Department, claiming that the traffic stop was made on the basis of profiling and that Dr. Abassi’s consent to the vehicle search was never given. She also claimed that Abbasi’s arrest was part of a pattern of “religious discrimination” by the department.
The CAIR letter made a series of demands, including an internal affairs investigation of the incident, a reprimand for the officer who made the stop, a written apology for Dr. Abbasi, a dash-cam video of the traffic stop, audio of the related police radio transmissions, and the institution of CAIR’s workplace sensitivity and diversity training for the entire Fairfax County Police.
An important fact to note is that CAIR’s narrative was derived entirely from Dr. Abbasi’s own self-serving account. Al-Khalili’s letter admitted that they had not even attempted to review any factual evidence that might exist in the case (dash-cam video and police radio transmissions), which could have been easily obtained through an open records request before making their accusations of religious discrimination. Before then, she had not asked for any evidence. It seems that CAIR’s demands were clearly aimed at having their “diversity” training instituted by the police department, as there was no indication that Al-Khalili was acting as counsel for Abbasi (she did not appear at last week’s hearing), but was rather acting in CAIR’s own organizational interests.
CAIR’s hysterical claims in this case — Al-Khalili’s letter raises the specter of “the Fairfax County Police Department’s repeated and relentless attacks on American Muslims” — are belied when reviewing the special relationship between CAIR and Fairfax County officials, including the chief of police, Col. David Rohrer, and the County Board of Supervisors chairman, Gerry Connelly.
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Patrick Poole is a regular contributor to Pajamas Media, and an anti-terrorism consultant to law enforcement and the military.
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39 Comments
1. Boris:“Are Muslim Defendants Getting Special Treatment in Court?”
Sounds like a “no” to me.
“I hate Muslims” post in 3….2….1….
Jul 16, 2008 - 4:22 am 2. Morton Doodslag:Straw man OT post at 4:21 a.m. …
Jul 16, 2008 - 6:31 am 3. Morton Doodslag:… Make that 4:22 a.m. …
Jul 16, 2008 - 6:32 am 4. misanthropicus:RE Boris: “Are Muslim Defendants Getting Special Treatment in Court?”
Sounds like a “no” to me.”
Boris, Muslims generally do not get preferential treatment in courts, Universities, as cabbies, terrorists, polygamists, embezzlers, welfare chiselers, loan sharks, pimps, Acorn activists, etc. Yet there are circumstances in which special interests (like those represented by CAIR) wdege themselves in public affairs trying to inflence their outcome, which this situation in Fairfax may well be.
Jul 16, 2008 - 7:12 am 5. Vinny Vidivici:Remember the adage: “I might be paranoid, yet this doesn’t lessen the fact that I am followed all day long.”
The legal, media and educational institutions that define the West’s open societies have always been suceptible to gaming by antagonists and special pleading.
Soviet funding of the ‘anti-war’ movement, Al Sharpton’s shakedowns, con artists posing as diplomats at the UN, ‘no-strings-attached’ university endowments, gangsters masquerading as liberators and men of the people, the entire greivance anf gult industry, the hijacking of the ‘human rights’ movement, ‘Piss Christ’ vs. Motoons . . . you get the idea.
Of course, it doesn’t help that naifs like Boris can’t tell when they’re being snookered, or that these frauds are actively aided and abetted by a dishonest press, star-chamber speech tribunals and those seeking political or financial gain, or that our gullibility and capacity for delusional wishful thinking can, at times, be bottomless.
In the end, it’s up to us to call ‘b*llsh*t’ on rackets like CAIR. Our spineless so-called leadership classes and our clueless elites can’t be counted on to do so.
Jul 16, 2008 - 7:19 am 6. Vinny Vidivici:The legal, media and educational institutions that define the West’s open societies have always been suceptible to gaming by antagonists and special pleading.
Soviet funding of the ‘anti-war’ movement, Al Sharpton’s shakedowns, con artists posing as diplomats at the UN, ‘no-strings-attached’ university endowments by foreign governments, gangsters masquerading as liberators and men of the people, the entire greivance and guilt industry, the hijacking of the ‘human rights’ movement . . . you get the idea.
Of course, it doesn’t help that naifs like Boris can’t tell when they’re being snookered, or that these frauds are actively aided and abetted by a dishonest press, star-chamber speech tribunals and those seeking political or financial gain, or that our gullibility and capacity for delusional wishful thinking can, at times, be bottomless.
Jul 16, 2008 - 7:22 am 7. Johnnie:No such thing as the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service. U.S. CIS is the U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Jul 16, 2008 - 9:33 am 8. 11B40:Greetings:
It looks like CAIR is still developing its Al Sharpton act.
Jul 16, 2008 - 9:35 am 9. IndianTiger:American friends, this comes from an Indian well-wisher: These Muslims will use your own laws and liberal institutions to kill you. Trust me, I have seen this in my own country time and again. Muslims in my country use exactly the same tactics. They are trying to cripple our police and intelligence agencies by crying “profiling”.
BTW, an overwhelming majority in my country views USA very positively.
Jul 16, 2008 - 10:43 am 10. mzmarlena:Notice..Jonathan Pollard is still in jail. It has been 23 years and most spied who are not guilty of causing a death get only 2 or 3 years of actual jail time. But, Pollard is Jewish.
Yes, Jews run this country. After all there are 15 million of them and only a billion or so Muslims in the world.
Who has the oil?
Jul 16, 2008 - 10:53 am 11. Roy M:Strange article. It promised that “legal threats are are being used to get criminal charges dropped against Muslims.” and then told a story about how it didn’t happen.
This is a very PJM thing. Happens all the time.
Are the headlines and tags written by the authors of articles?
Jul 16, 2008 - 1:36 pm 12. Rubicon:Seems to me what the article does point out is that there was what the author & others believe was an attempt to shakedown the Fairfax Co. Police Dept. Based on the fact that the letter writer claiming discrimination had not even reviewed or asked to review the evidence prior to making demands, it appears there was an attempt to use the threat of action to intimidate.
Jul 16, 2008 - 2:36 pm 13. Philip:Why is the Dr. operating out of his car? Custom? I seriously doubt the Muslim faith mentions anything about Dr.’s operating out of their auto trunks!
Why is it if I am stopped & go through this same procedure, there is no problem. But if a minority is stopped, its a travesty of justice?
It appears to me that if any sensitivity training is needed, it is to teach respect for the law, not for any religion, color of skin, sex, or sexual orientation!
CAIR can shut the f*** up. I don’t get special treatment and I served my country in the first gulf war. The only way to save a terrorist in the U.S. legal system is to cry foul on the basis of “Religious Discrimination!” I guarantee the first words out of the arresting officer’s mouth were not:
“Are you a muslim?”
Jul 16, 2008 - 3:08 pm 14. LBR:If you didn’t like our laws, our beliefs, our customs, etc then why in the hell did you come here for? If you want to live in a muslim country with muslim laws then move!!!!! I’m sure people will pitch in to help with your plane ticket(s).
Jul 16, 2008 - 3:55 pm 15. Sean:Here’s an easy defense for the Fair Fax country police: How are they supposed to figure out some one’s religion based on the car they drive?
Jul 16, 2008 - 4:01 pm 16. Are Muslim Defendants Getting Special Treatment in Court? You bet your ass they are… « Tizona’s Weblog:[...] Pajamas Media [...]
Jul 16, 2008 - 4:02 pm 17. Elroy Jetson:Sitting through a CAIR diversity training class or a root canal?
For me root canal wins hands down.
Jul 16, 2008 - 4:09 pm 18. Barbarossa:The obvious was apparently lost on Roy M. Does he think that CAIR sent the demand letter to assist in the doctor’s prosecution? Just because they weren’t successful in getting the doctor off doesn’t mean that there wasn’t an attempt to get the charges dropped. Clearly there was. And even though he pled no contest to one charge, he can still appeal based on the religious discrimination claims. No doubt with CAIR’s help. The ACLU lost many cases for years making arguments they began to win later on. Best to call this out now.
Jul 16, 2008 - 4:13 pm 19. Twok:As another Indian, I’ll second what IndianTiger has said.
Americans and Brits just don’t get it – they don’t comprehend what Muslims are capable of. Isrealis, Indians, etc. have dealt with this for a very long time.
But Americans and Brits still assume that Muslims will ‘play by the rules in good faith’. They will not.
Jul 16, 2008 - 4:50 pm 20. ronnor:Why can’t congress make this organization register as an agent of a foreign government or ideology. Make all 1700 members of CAIR register. Decertify them as a religion also, this is a death cult or personality cult like the Stalinists. This is not a benign organization, its a cancer that should be taken care of.
Jul 16, 2008 - 5:46 pm 21. usmcret:If we are unfortunate enough to have Barack Hussein Obama elected, with a Democrat controlled Congress, there will be many more Fairfax Counties in the future, and God help us. The left wing-politically correct will accelerate the demise of the U. S., as we know it. They’ve already crippled the UK. I just returned from there. The UK is on the downside slide. We’re next. As a retired U.S. Marine officer and combat veteran of Viet Nam, I’m sad to see this happen to our country and glad that I won’t be around to see the end. Go ahead. Vote for Obama. As the old chinese proverb says” Be careful what you wish for, It may come true”.
Semper Fi and God Bless America
Jul 16, 2008 - 6:10 pm 22. BMoon:We need to be tolerant and more understanding of the cultural diversity within our midst, to learn of our differences and learn to adjust. Arabs are brilliant traders and negotiators, extremely discerning of how to use “the system” to their advantage.
My mother had to learn this as a emergency room nurse at a private hospital in a large US city. One night it came time to give to hospital bill for services rendered to a man from certain “ethnicity.” True to expectations, he ranted and raved, putting on quite the drama in the ER office before an astounded audience. My mother, well aware of what she was dealing with, approached the man with an apologetic, submissive attitude. “I am sorry sir,” she grovelled, “we must have made a mistake. Let me talk to my boss and see if we can fix it.”
She came back a bit later subserviently smiling, “Here sir, we fixed the bill to 50% of what it was.” The man smiled smugly and proceeded to whip out a monstrous wad of bills, peeling them off carefully until the amount was paid, and stomped off in feigned offendedness.
My mother’s so-workers were aghast. “Why did you lower that rat’s bill by half!?? You let him get away with robbery!”
“No, he paid what he owed,” she smiled. “We made sure the first bill was twice what it should have been.”
Morale: There are ways of dealing with the rats in our midst. We just have to learn to be “harmless as doves, wiser than snakes.”
Jul 16, 2008 - 6:27 pm 23. Joshua:LBR: If you didn’t like our laws, our beliefs, our customs, etc then why in the hell did you come here for?
Simple, really: They’ve come to attempt to convert us infidels and our sinful society to the One True Religion, be it by da’wah, by demographic displacement (as they’re already doing in Europe) or in this case, by intimidation. And if all else fails, by good old-fashioned jihad.
Jul 16, 2008 - 7:31 pm 24. Morton Doodslag:Several clueless posters above read this account and conclude that Muslims in Fairfax aren’t getting special treatment in court. They fail to notice the fact that the notorious Muslim Brotherhood front group (and unindicted terror co-conspirators) of C.A.I.R. Instantly ran interference for the good doctor. How many other ethnic or religious groups get automatic legal representation paid for by foreign governments in America? If those posters can name one group aside from Muslims, I’d be flabbergasted. Even if they can find another group so represented, would the sponsor of such groups similarly dedicated to subverting our legal system?
Jul 16, 2008 - 7:31 pm 25. seeker:The legal system of America has become adherent to “Hoodlum Mentality”:
“I will kill, I will rape, I will rob, I will destroy” and I will have my time in court and the media will love me.
No wonder why Chicago has become the land of the free gangs.
Jul 17, 2008 - 7:05 am 26. LBR:I don’t understand the crap … Could someone please explain this. The Dalai Lama said Sunday that “it’s totally wrong, unfair” to call Islam a violent religion. Strapping bombs on the mentally ill, children, pregnant women etc so they can kill as many people as they can. Carry bombs onto airplanes. And look at that bastard that was released yesterday that took his gun and smashed a 4 year old’s head in. Her crime being a jew. Then you have people promising to kill you for…. The big crime of publishing a cartoon!!!!! In Canada if you say anything that a muslim takes as being negative – It’s a hate crime. Off you go to jail. Now if a muslim says anything negative nothing happens. A reporter in Canada walked into a Nuke plant that’s also a college-level school. There was no security at all. He took all kinds of pictures and found it so strange that all the people were Arabs. The women were all decked out in black with only a tiny slit so they could see. He left and came back on numerous nights with other people. When he did his story guess who was arrested. No outrange of what he found… No government inquires. Nothing. And you don’t think that there isn’t certain materials in the Middle East right now. Not only do we train them to fly planes into buildings we also train them to work with Nuclear technology. God Bless America & God Bless Canada. (Had to add that because Bush will most likely declare that as being a hate crime!)
Jul 17, 2008 - 8:04 am 27. Vito Pacelli:You know, maybe you should just tell us where these stinkin’ anti-American Muslims are and fugheddaboutit.
Fairfax County is run by liberal wussies…. the stupid soccer moms keep re-electing these politically correct pansies with no spine.
The Saudi Royals are keeping CAIR financially afloat… CAIR has no standing with American Muslims.
Jul 17, 2008 - 8:49 am 28. Steynian 201 « Free Mark Steyn!:[...] GEE– D’YA THINK?!? Are Muslim Defendants Getting Special Treatment in Court? …. [...]
Jul 17, 2008 - 1:36 pm 29. Teresa:I love IndianTiger and Twok’s posts! Keep up the good work of spreading truth! We love you!
Jul 17, 2008 - 4:25 pm 30. Teresa:This is why our President and leaders should stop saying that Islam is a peaceful religion. Muslims are infiltrating Europe and the USA and strategically intend to out-populate us (which they do very well) and take over. They are already taking over Great Britain. And the crazy Democrats in America (who’ve been brainwashed by the hate-America Marxists )can’t wait to elect Osama Obama (so he can “change” America…if it’s so bad why is he here? It’s the only country on earth that gave him and his hate-filled racist wife the millions and luxury and power…so what does he want to change?…he wants to make it not Christian, but Islamic) O bama was raised by 2 Islamic fathers and a communist sympathizer mother. He hates America, and has sat for 20 years under the teaching of a nut-case who hates America and who supports Muslim organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood and Louis Farrakhan (and terrorist organizations support him). American taxpayers are paying for public “Muslim” schools that are Muslim indoctrination centers.
Islam is not a “peaceful religion”. It is evil. They do terrible things to their own children. Imagine what they want to do to our children. It’s well worth your time to go here and learn the truth about Islam because our country is being run by those infected with the politically correct disease.
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com
Also go here to see how Obama is in bed with Islamic terrorists. Obama keeps raking in record numbers of $ from his internet campaign donations and the money is coming from Islamic nations and terrorist organizations. It can’t be legal. How is he getting away with that? Obama will usher in Islam as American culture and one day if he’s elected, Sharia law will oppress the American people. The out-breeding Muslims in Great Britain are doing it now over there. Wake up America!
http://www.eyeblast.tv/Public/Video.aspx?rsrcID=2036
Jul 17, 2008 - 4:27 pm 31. Nosharia:Looks like we have an Islamic version of the NAACP! Really, to be perfectly fair to members of the Islamic faith we should create religious courts, like they have in Iran, where they can be tried according to their belief system, not that of the infidels.
Jul 17, 2008 - 6:11 pm 32. Elle:The Muslim so-called DR.,operating out of his car, was successful in getting special treatment. The most serious charges were dropped and the police went through “sensitivity traiing” which is really another name for Dhimmi training i.e. training Westerners to be second class citizens even in their own countries.
Jul 17, 2008 - 6:57 pm 33. LBR:Immigrants, legal, illegal, or naturalized who break the law should be immediately deported to their countries of origin. If those countries will not take them harsh penalties should be imposed up to and including execution.
What ’special’ treatment will this 17 year old Canadian get that’s being held at Guantanamo Bay? Why in the world wasn’t he just shot when he killed our soldier! I asked my dad who was in Korea during WW2 what would have happened back then. He said that he would have never saw the sun rise. But this little poor boy cried… As a medic for many years, I can tell you that I saw many young men cry when placed in jail. We would be called in to check that they were OK and they would cry a storm. Let him cry all he wants. We have to face the fact that this war is going to involve kids. Look what they watch for education and fun.
They have good old “Farfour the Mouse,” a militant Mickey Mouse look-alike who martyrs himself fighting Israel by preaching Islamic domination and violent armed struggle to little kids. In the final episode, Farfour was beaten to death by an actor posing as an Israeli official trying to buy Farfour’s land. “Farfour was martyred while defending his land,” said Sara, the teen presenter. He was killed “by the killers of children,”. Right! This wonderful educational program was pulled from the air to make room for better more thoughtful programs. So you have “Nahoul the Bee,” designed to inspire future homicide bombers. “I want to continue in the path of Farfour, the path of Islam, of heroism, of martyrdom and of the mujahedeen. … We will take revenge of the enemies of Allah,” the wonderful bee says. Doesn’t this sound just like Mr. Rogers? But this is all early afternoon shows. For primetime you have Al-Aqsa television that showed a boy stabbing President Bush to death after exclaiming, “I will kill you, Bush, because that is your fate.” Would someone please ask the Dalai Lama what is peaceful about this! Wonder when al-Jazeera comes to our TV sets?
Jul 18, 2008 - 4:21 am 34. USA: Muslims intimidating police to create special treatment for themselves? « Blogging for a free world:[...] USA: Muslims intimidating police to create special treatment for themselves? July 19, 2008 Posted by blogfreeworld in Uncategorized. Tags: Abbasi, CAIR, Islamism, Islamist agenda, USA trackback Pajamas Media: [...]
Jul 19, 2008 - 7:51 am 35. CAIR Has Its Way with the Fairfax County Police « Jay Keating’s 2008 Weblog:[...] addition, CAIR recently intervened in the Fairfax County case of Dr. Mustafa Abbasi, who consented to a search at a traffic stop and was found to have loose pills and prescriptions [...]
Jul 19, 2008 - 2:15 pm 36. Will Becker:Just getting a day in court is more than they deserve!
Jul 20, 2008 - 5:40 am 37. Jihad in the U.S. -- Oh, yes, it's underway here too... - Page 23 - Trackpads Community:[...] marshals the evidence in "Are Muslim Defendants Getting Special Treatment in Court?" at Pajamas Media, July 16 (thanks to Isabella the Crusader): An otherwise unremarkable hearing in the Fairfax [...]
Jul 23, 2008 - 4:46 am 38. Are Muslim Defendants Getting Special Treatment in Court? - Truckingboards Truck Drivers Forum:[...] of CAIR
Jul 26, 2008 - 10:29 am 39. An Act To Protect First Responders Fighting Terrorism « Creeping Sharia:[...] reflected at the local level. Witness this excerpt from the Patrick Poole’s article entitled, “Are Muslim Defendants Getting Special Treatment in Court?” concerning the head of the Fairfax County Police Department, Col. David Rohrer: In fact, Col. [...]
Aug 26, 2008 - 11:43 am