News, July 2011

Video: Muslim Victim Pleads for Texas Death Row Inmate's Life (CBS)

The Hated and the Hater, Both Touched by Crime

(NY Times) Background: The Case of Rais Bhuiyan vs. Governor Rick Perry

Video: CAIR Rep Comments on Herman Cain's Mosque Remarks (CNN)

Video: GOP Presidential Candidate Promotes Islamophobia

(CAIR) Stand Up to Herman Cain's Bigotry (Wash Post)

CA: State Fair Booth Volunteers Answer Questions on Islam

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VIDEO: VICTIM PLEADS FOR TEXAS DEATH ROW INMATE'S LIFE - TOP Don Teague, CBS News, 7/18/2011

(CBS News) On Wednesday, Texas plans to execute Mark Stroman, who killed two people and wounded another, in a rage over the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

CBS News correspondent Don Teague reports that one man is trying to stop the execution and he's the last person you'd expect. ...

Stroman will be executed by lethal injection on Wednesday, unless Rais Bhuiyan has his way.

"Please show mercy. Please spare the life of Mark Stroman," says Bhuiyan.

He's campaigning to commute Stroman's sentence to life without parole.

"I'm praying (to) God to spare his life, to give him a chance. We all make mistakes as human beings," Bhuiyan says.

What sets this death penalty opponent apart, is that Bhuiyan is the sole survivor of Stroman's killing spree. ...

But Bhuiyan says his Muslim faith teaches forgiveness, and that forgiveness brings "peace, passion and healing in our society, in our country."

(Watch the video and read the report here.)

SEE ALSO:

THE HATED AND THE HATER, BOTH TOUCHED BY CRIME - TOP Timothy Williams, The New York Times, 7/18/2011

Mark Anthony Stroman, 41, a stonecutter from Dallas, shot people he believed were Arabs, saying he was enraged by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He killed at least two: Vasudev Patel, an Indian immigrant who was Hindu, and Waqar Hasan, a Muslim born in Pakistan.

A third shooting victim, Rais Bhuiyan, 37, a former Air Force pilot from Bangladesh, survived after Mr. Stroman shot him in the face at close range. Mr. Stroman admitted to the shootings. He is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday.

Mr. Bhuiyan, despite being partly blinded in his right eye, has spent the past several months creating a Web site with a petition and meeting with officials in Texas to try to persuade the state to spare Mr. Stroman.

(Read the Q&A with both Bhuiyan and Stroman here.)

--- BACKGROUND: THE CASE OF RAIS BHUIYAN VS. GOVERNOR RICK PERRY - TOP

Read the press release from Wahid Vizcaino, the law firm representing Mr. Bhuiyan here.

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VIDEO: CAIR REP COMMENTS ON HERMAN CAIN'S MOSQUE REMARKS (CNN) - TOP Joe Johns, CNN, 7/18/2011

Watch CNN's Joe Johns reports on Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain's recent claims about Muslims and mosques. (The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer)

(See the video here.)

SEE ALSO:

VIDEO: GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE PROMOTES ISLAMOPHOBIA (CAIR) - TOP Rhonda Pence, Press TV, 7/19/2011

Appearing on "Fox News Sunday," former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain, now a Republican candidate running for president said he believes American citizens who belong to a certain religious minority group can be denied the right to build places of worship. Specifically, he believes American Muslims can be denied the right to build mosques. ...

The Council on American-Islamic Relations says not only are Cain's comments unconstitutional but they are un-American. ...

Hooper says discrimination and prejudice against Muslim Americans is growing in the United States. He is calling on Republican leaders to repudiate Cain's comments before it fans the flames of anti Muslim bigotry nationwide.

(Watch the video here.)

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STAND UP TO HERMAN CAIN'S BIGOTRY (WASH POST) - TOP Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post, 7/18/2011

It is time to stop giving Herman Cain's unapologetic bigotry a free pass. The man and his poison need to be seen clearly and taken seriously.

Imagine the reaction if a major-party presidential candidate -- one who, like Cain, shows actual support in the polls -- said he “wouldn't be comfortable” appointing a Jew to a Cabinet position. Imagine the outrage if this same candidate loudly supported a community's efforts to block Mormons from building a house of worship.

But Cain's prejudice isn't against Mormons or Jews, it's against Muslims. Open religious prejudice is usually enough to disqualify a candidate for national office -- but not, apparently, when the religion in question is Islam. (More)

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CA: STATE FAIR BOOTH VOLUNTEERS ANSWER QUESTIONS ON ISLAM - TOP Jennifer Garza, The Sacramento Bee, 7/19/2011

Visitors to the California State Fair can find booths demonstrating everything from juicers to cleaning products. For the fourth year in a row, there is also a booth about Islam.

On the first floor of Building C, next to a space that sells headphones for athletes, fairgoers can pick up free Qurans and brochures. This year, DVDs about Islam are also available. Muslim volunteers are on hand to answer questions about their religion.

So far, hundreds have stopped by.

"I think it will be as good or better than last year," said Shane Yoder, president of the Sacramento Chapter Islamic Circle of North America, which sponsored the WhyIslam? booth. Last year, the group handed out 2,500 Qurans at the fair. (More)

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