Appeals court blocks Alabama execution of Muslim inmate
A federal appeals court on Wednesday blocked the planned execution of an Alabama inmate to consider whether the state was violating the Muslim inmate’s rights by not allowing an imam to replace a Christian prison chaplain in the death chamber. Alabama may be violating the religious rights of a Muslim inmate set for execution Thursday by refusing to allow an imam present at his death, a federal court said Wednesday in blocking the lethal injection. The 11th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay for Dominique Ray, 42, a day before his scheduled execution for the slaying of a teenager more than two decades ago. The state is still pushing for the execution to take place Thursday, though, and swiftly changed its execution protocol in response to the judges’ concerns. The Alabama attorney general’s office on Wednesday afternoon asked the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate the stay. Ray objected to Alabama’s practice of allowing a Christian prison chaplain, who is a prison system employee, to stand near the inmate during the lethal injection and to pray with the inmate if the inmate requests that. Ray asked to bring in his imam to stand near him during the procedure, but was told he could not because only prison employees were allowed in the execution chamber. A three-judge panel of judges wrote that it was “exceedingly loath to substitute our judgment on prison procedures.” But, they added that it “looks substantially likely to us that Alabama has run afoul of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.” “The central constitutional problem here is that the state has regularly placed a Christian cleric in the execution room to minister to the needs of Christian inmates, but has refused to provide the same benefit to a devout Muslim and all other non-Christians,” the three-judge panel wrote. The Alabama chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said it supported Ray’s bid to have an Islamic leader present. “We welcome this decision and hope Mr. Ray will ultimately be provided equal access to spiritual guidance,” Ali Massoud, government affairs coordinator for CAIR-Alabama, said in a statement. In the request to vacate the stay, the Alabama attorney general’s office said as a result of the 11th Circuit order, the state has amended its lethal injection protocol so that the chaplain will no longer be present. State attorneys said inmates can have their spiritual adviser witness the execution from a room adjoining the execution chamber. Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which studies capital punishment in the U.S., said other states generally allow spiritual or religious advisers to accompany the inmate up to the execution chamber but not into it. Instead the adviser can view the execution, as do others, from a designated area. He did not know of any other states where the execution protocol calls for a Christian chaplain to be present in the execution chamber. Ray was convicted in the fatal stabbing of a 15-year-old Tiffany Harville. Harville disappeared from her Selma home in July 1995. Her decomposing body was found in a field a month later. Ray was convicted in 1999 after co-defendant Marcus Owden told police that they had picked the girl up for a night out on the town and then raped her. Owden said that Ray cut the girl’s throat. Owden pleaded guilty to murder, testified against Ray and is serving a life sentence without parole. Ray’s legal team on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the execution on other grounds. They argued it was not disclosed to the defense team that records from a state psychiatric facility suggested Owden suffered from schizophrenia and delusions. Attorneys asked the Supreme Court to halt the execution to examine whether the state had a duty to find and produce the information. Republished with permission from the Associated Press
16 coalition groups call on Randall Woodfin to take action on ‘trust and public safety’ order
On Tuesday, the Alabama chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Alabama), the state’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization, and Adelante Alabama Workers Center, which unites day laborers, domestic workers, and other low-wage and immigrant workers and their families in the Birmingham area, along with other coalition partners, faith and civic leaders, met outside of the Birmingham City Hall where they called on Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin to honor his commitment to be on the front lines of resistance to President Donald Trump‘s polices. There they endeavored to hold the Mayor to the progressive mandate he was elected on by calling him to take action on the proposed “Trust and Public Safety” order. The order would prevent Birmingham from expending its own local resources on enforcing federal immigration policies. In addition to saving the city money, this policy would also promote trust in local law enforcement and protect public safety for all residents, regardless of immigration status. It does not interfere with any state or federal laws. CAIR-Alabama and Adelante met with Mayor Woodfin back in April to discuss this proposal, but after months of delays from the city, they two came together with their coalition partner organizations to ask Woodfin to take action. “We have been working with the Mayor on this proposal for months, but with the federal administration’s harsh enforcement of a ‘zero-tolerance’ immigration policy we’ve begun to see fear and anxiety reflected in our communities,” said Ali Massoud, CAIR-Alabama Government Affairs Coordinator. “The Mayor has expressed ample support for marginalized black and brown populations, and now we are asking him to keep his promises and pass this executive order.” He added, “Birmingham has a robust immigrant population, but this executive order isn’t just for them, it’s for everyone. Passing the ‘Trust and Public Safety’ order promotes trust between communities of color and local law enforcement, making the city safer for all of us.” Addressing the Mayor directly, Cesar Mata, Adelante Alabama Worker Center Volunteer said, “My community does not want to live in fear. We do not want to continue to suffer family separation. Our community wants to feel safe when we talk to the police. We need an official policy from the City of Birmingham that will protect all families. The “Fostering Trust and Promoting Public Safety and Civli Rights for All City Residents” executive order can help you keep the promise you made to keep us safe. We know Birmingham can do what is right. Mr. Mayor, you can decide what side of history you are on. All of Birmingham’s citizens still believe in you.” The following groups and organizations spoke at the event: Adelante Alabama Worker Center CAIR-Alabama Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice Black Lives Matter Birmingham Faith in Action Alabama La Casita Greater Birmingham Ministries National Lawyers Guild Southern Poverty Law Center NAACP of Alabama Southerners On New Ground Watch the event be live-streamed (previously recorded) below:
Alabama Muslims seek additional protection after recent email threats
The nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group is requesting additional police protection for the state’s Islamic community following emailed threats received by the Birmingham Islamic Society and Huntsville Islamic Center. The Alabama chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Alabama) said the emails, with the subject line “YOUR ONE WARNING, stated in part, (grammatical and spelling errors maintained) “. . .MUZLIMS MEXICANS BLACKS WE WILL HUNTED NATION WIDE UNTIL ARE ARE DEAD OR GONE. . .PLAN TO RUN OR DIE, THIS IS A KINDNESS THAT WE GIVE YOU ALL WARNING, TAKE IT AND GO .” Both organizations have reported the threats to local law enforcement, Department of Justice office in North Alabama and the FBI. “We are coordinating with law enforcement authorities to reach out to Muslim community leaders to ensure additional safety measures at this time of increased anti-Muslim bigotry nationwide,” said CAIR-Alabama Executive Director Khaula Hadeed. Hadeed added, “CAIR-Alabama also condemned the rhetoric that continues to embolden bigotry and Islamophobia leading to threats of terrorism such as these against Muslim, Jewish, African-American, and Latino communities. The Muslim community continues to receive support and cooperation from local law enforcement agencies.” The Washington-based Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization believes the emailed threats may be part of a mass mailing to mosques nationwide and is urging Islamic institutions to report any such threats to local police and to CAIR online. “Hate and threats will make us firm in our resolution to fight hate with love. We will take every opportunity to combat fear-mongering and build alliances and coalition that will give voices to all marginalized communities,” said Birmingham Islamic Society President Ashfaq Taufiq. CAIR has noted a spike in hate rhetoric and bias-motivated incidents targeting American Muslims and other minorities in recent months. “America is one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for ALL as guaranteed by the constitution we cherish,” said Huntsville Islamic Center President Mateen Muhammad. “We will work together to show the world, by example, how to live and love the diversity we find in this land we call home and defeat the forces of fear and bigotry that are trying to tear us apart. United we are strong.”
ACLU-Alabama files lawsuit for Christian woman’s right to headscarf in license photo
When Yvonne Allen of Tuskegee, Ala., went to renew her license in December, she was reportedly forced to remove the headscarf she wears for religious reasons. The clerk explained to her only Muslim women were allowed to cover their hair in the photos. On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama filed a lawsuit on her behalf. “I was devastated when they forced me to remove my headscarf to take my driver’s license photo,” Allen said in a statement released by the ACLU. “Revealing my hair to others is disobedient to God. I should have the same right as people of other faiths to be accommodated for my religious beliefs.” Lee County’s refusal to grant Allen a religious accommodation contradicts state rules and violates her rights under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Alabama Constitution, according to the lawsuit. On Wednesday, the Alabama chapter of America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) showed their support for the suit, saying that Christian women in Alabama should be able to wear a headscarf for a driver’s license photo, just as Muslim women and Sikh men are allowed to wear religious head coverings. “Alabamans of all faiths should have the right to wear religious apparel in driver’s license photos,” said CAIR-Alabama Executive Director Khaula Hadeed. “The right to practice one’s faith is a universal right, one that should not be limited to Muslims and Sikhs.” In 2004, Alabama changed a policy that prohibited the wearing of head scarves and turbans in driver’s license photos. The new policy allowed head coverings for religious and medical reasons.
Pro-Islamic organization calls for meeting with Gov. Robert Bentley after “insensitive” comments
The Alabama Chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Alabama) Thursday called for a meeting between Gov. Robert Bentley and representatives of Alabama’s Muslim community to discuss the governor’s remarks they said were “inflammatory” and “insensitive” in his Tuesday night State of the State address. During his speech, Bentley discussed the failure of the federal government to follow the law in consulting with states on the refugee resettlement program — an issue he’s been fighting for months. “The outdated program – which predates any recent acts of radical terrorism – allows refugees from the most radical nations to enter countries including the U.S. with little known about them,” Bentley said during his address. “Among those refugees are those who would commit the most violent, deadly and extreme acts of terrorism. When 130 people were slaughtered, in Paris at the hands of radical Islamic terrorists, among those killers was a refugee from a terrorist nation.” Khaula Hadeed, CAIR-Alabama’s executive director, said the governor’s statements marginalize an entire community. “Governor Bentley’s labeling of an entire Muslim-majority nation as ‘terrorist’ effectively equates Islam with terror and promotes prejudice,” said Hadeed in a news release. “The use of inflammatory language that marginalizes an entire community reduces one of the worst humanitarian disasters in recent human history to the status of a political football. We find such terminology insensitive and inappropriate. “Alabama has a large Muslim population, including a thriving Syrian-American community making substantial contributions to improving the lives of the people of our state. Using stereotypical terms that paint a diverse multicultural, multiethnic, multiracial Muslim community with such a broad brush is derogatory and dehumanizing.” CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
