Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace Imam Umar Defense Committee

On January 7, 2006, members of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) dressed in plain clothes raided the Bethlehem, New York home of Imam Warith Deen Umar. Bethlehem is 140 miles north of New York City. The police forced their way into the house, terrorized his family, forced his wife and children into a room where they were guarded while the police ransacked the house, and took personal possessions, including computers and book manuscripts.

Imam Umar was not at home at the time of the raid; he was in the Bronx, where he works several days per week running a small apartment building that his family owns. Several days earlier, Umar was in his apartment at that building when a prospective tenant became belligerent and punched him. Umar grabbed an unloaded shotgun that he owned, ordered the man out of his apartment, locked the door, and called the police. The police arrived and arrested both men. The attacker was let go, but Umar was kept in jail overnight. While in jail, the police ransacked Umar’s Bronx apartment and took or destroyed many of his personal belongings. A few days later, Umar’s car, which had been parked in front of the Bronx building, disappeared. The police refused to take a report. Later that day, Umar found his car several blocks away; in it was a set of keys that had been taken from his apartment by the police when they raided it.

The charges brought against Imam Umar in New York City have been dropped. However, on February 3, 2006, five FBI agents arrested him at his Bronx apartment and brought him to a federal detention facility in Manhattan. At this moment, he is out on $100,000 bail, which his family secured by putting up their house. Apparently, the federal charges involve Umar’s owning an unregistered shot gun after having been convicted of a felony 37 years ago.

Umar’s problems started in 2002, after his retirement from 25 years of service as a Muslim Chaplain for the New York State prison system. After retiring, he continued to minister to New York State inmates on a voluntary basis as well as working in a federal prison and helping released inmates integrate back into the community. As the US geared up for the war, Umar spoke out against US policies in Afghanistan and Iraq. He took exception to the claim by George Bush that the US had been attacked on 9/11 because people hated us for our freedom and democracy. Umar pointed out that people around the world have legitimate grievances against the US, and that unless those grievances are addressed, we will never see the end of terrorism.

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Coming from a man who is both Black and Muslim, such statements, apparently, were not acceptable during the build-up to the war. Umar was attacked in a long front-page article in the Wall Street Journal, which claimed Umar supported the 9/11 terrorists. Imam Umar explained that he does not support the terrorists and that he has a right and an obligation to speak out against flawed US policy. He eventually filed suit against the Wall Street Journal for slander.

Other newspapers and politicians then jumped on the bandwagon. The New York Times, the New York Post, and other papers added more lies about Imam Umar. None could find a single quote in which he expressed support for the 9/11 terrorists; nevertheless, no newspaper devoted a single inch of space to allow Umar to rebut their claims. New York Governor Pataki and Senator Schumer blasted Umar, alleging that he was spreading terror throughout the prisons. Schumer even demanded that all Muslim chaplains in the New York State prisons be fired. Umar was barred from working in the prisons, and all of his sources of income dried up.

It is clear from recent events that the government has been watching Imam Umar; neighbors have reported seeing people spy on his home, and the federal prosecutor related details of a speech Umar had given at a mosque in Brooklyn. This violation of Umar’s civil rights ought to be viewed within the context of the illegal wiretaps, the Patriot Act, and all of the other violations of civil liberties that have been aimed at those who oppose our government’s policies.

In the name of justice, and on behalf of the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the United States, we must all stand with the Umar family. Please contact the United States Attorney General’s office to protest the government’s attacks on the Umar family. You can e-mail the US Attorney General’s office at: AskDOJ@usdoj.gov. You can call the US Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York at (212)637-2200.

If you are interested in more information or want to join the campaign to help Imam Umar and to end violations of our civil liberties, please contact Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace at bethlehemforpeace@yahoo.com.