ID :
38106
Tue, 12/30/2008 - 19:38
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/38106
The shortlink copeid
AMERICAN MUSLIMS CAUTIOUS ABOUT OBAMA ADMINISTRATION By Salmy Hashim
WASHINGTON, Dec 30 (Bernama) -- American Muslim leaders Monday remained
"cautiously optimistic" about the Obama administration's seriousness in bringing
about "change" in the country.
Executive Director of MAS (Muslim American Society) Freedom, Mahdi Bray told
Bernama here, as a longtime activist, "we just have to keep the pressure on" to
ensure that the civil rights of American Muslims were preserved.
President-elect Barack Obama had promised to close the detention camps at
Guantanamo Bay and to review the USA Patriot Act which had come under fire by
many for trampling on civil rights.
"I don't think that the Obama administration could realistically close
Guantanamo immediately. It'll take time. As for the Patriot Act, a knee jerk
reaction to 9-11 (Sept 11 attacks on US soil) it's easy to pass laws, but it's
harder to undo them," Bray said.
Two Malaysians, Mohd Farik Amin and Mohammed Nazir Lep, suspected of
committing terrorist acts are still being detained in Guantanamo detention
camps.
Foreign Minister Dr Rais Yatim had expressed hope that they would be brought
home when Barack Obama takes over as the president of the United States in
January.
He said the United States had all this while ignored a foreign ministry
request for the Malaysian detainees suspected to be terrorists, to be allowed to
face the penalty back in Malaysia.
"No charges have been brought against them, and this is worse than the ISA
(Internal Security Act)," he said in Kuala Lumpur.
At a press conference here Monday, Chairman of the American Muslim Task
Force on Civil Rights and Elections, Dr Agha Saeed, read out an open letter to
President-elect Obama congratulating the 44th President, and issued a list of
priorities for Obama to consider.
The AMT, an umbrella organization representing 12 member and umbrella
organizations, called on the Obama adminisration to restore due process,
objective justice, to repeal the unconstitutional clauses of the USA Patriot
Act, ending the COINTELPRO programmes, and ensuring that Americans reject the
use of ex-post facto laws.
COINTELPRO is the acronym for a series of FBI counter-intelligence
programmes designed to neutralize political dissidents in the 1960s and 1970s.
The programme was directed against the civil rights movements, especially
against the community leadership of African Americans, Latinos and Native
Americans.
In the 1980s a similar programme was used against Central American
solidarity groups. The Arab, Muslim and South East Asian communities are
currently facing a new FBI counter intelligence program similar to the
COINTELPRO operation against the African Americans during the 1960s, says Dr
Hatem Bazian, a professor at the Near East and Ethnic Studies Department,
University of California, Berkeley.
Saeed said it would be beneficial for the nation to appoint a new envoy to
the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and an Ambassador-at-large to
improve US-Muslim world relations.
-- BERNAMA
"cautiously optimistic" about the Obama administration's seriousness in bringing
about "change" in the country.
Executive Director of MAS (Muslim American Society) Freedom, Mahdi Bray told
Bernama here, as a longtime activist, "we just have to keep the pressure on" to
ensure that the civil rights of American Muslims were preserved.
President-elect Barack Obama had promised to close the detention camps at
Guantanamo Bay and to review the USA Patriot Act which had come under fire by
many for trampling on civil rights.
"I don't think that the Obama administration could realistically close
Guantanamo immediately. It'll take time. As for the Patriot Act, a knee jerk
reaction to 9-11 (Sept 11 attacks on US soil) it's easy to pass laws, but it's
harder to undo them," Bray said.
Two Malaysians, Mohd Farik Amin and Mohammed Nazir Lep, suspected of
committing terrorist acts are still being detained in Guantanamo detention
camps.
Foreign Minister Dr Rais Yatim had expressed hope that they would be brought
home when Barack Obama takes over as the president of the United States in
January.
He said the United States had all this while ignored a foreign ministry
request for the Malaysian detainees suspected to be terrorists, to be allowed to
face the penalty back in Malaysia.
"No charges have been brought against them, and this is worse than the ISA
(Internal Security Act)," he said in Kuala Lumpur.
At a press conference here Monday, Chairman of the American Muslim Task
Force on Civil Rights and Elections, Dr Agha Saeed, read out an open letter to
President-elect Obama congratulating the 44th President, and issued a list of
priorities for Obama to consider.
The AMT, an umbrella organization representing 12 member and umbrella
organizations, called on the Obama adminisration to restore due process,
objective justice, to repeal the unconstitutional clauses of the USA Patriot
Act, ending the COINTELPRO programmes, and ensuring that Americans reject the
use of ex-post facto laws.
COINTELPRO is the acronym for a series of FBI counter-intelligence
programmes designed to neutralize political dissidents in the 1960s and 1970s.
The programme was directed against the civil rights movements, especially
against the community leadership of African Americans, Latinos and Native
Americans.
In the 1980s a similar programme was used against Central American
solidarity groups. The Arab, Muslim and South East Asian communities are
currently facing a new FBI counter intelligence program similar to the
COINTELPRO operation against the African Americans during the 1960s, says Dr
Hatem Bazian, a professor at the Near East and Ethnic Studies Department,
University of California, Berkeley.
Saeed said it would be beneficial for the nation to appoint a new envoy to
the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and an Ambassador-at-large to
improve US-Muslim world relations.
-- BERNAMA
