CAIR responds in Minneapolis
Representatives from more than a dozen Somali civil, religious and political organizations gathered Saturday to rebut allegations that a Muslim civil rights group is blocking an FBI inquiry into the disappearances of dozens of Twin Cities Somali men.
Last week, relatives of a Minneapolis teenager who said he was recently killed in Somalia and a Somali community leader claimed that the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Minnesota chapter was discouraging area Somalis from cooperating with the FBI. But supporters Saturday said CAIR has only advised Somalis about their civil rights and urged to tell the truth and work with law enforcement.
“I was at CAIR’s three workshops for people who were issued subpoenas by the FBI and others seeking help and this was consistently the group’s message,” said Omar Hurre, executive director of Abubakar as-Saddique Islamic Center, Minneapolis’ largest Somali mosque.