CAIR seeks FBI probe into Muslim killing in US

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Thursday 02 Jul 2015 - 12:23 Makkah mean time-15-9-1436 (Image from google) Texas, (IINA) - The largest civil rights group for Muslims in the U.S. has requested a hate crimes investigation in Texas after an apparent road rage shooting left a man dead last weekend, International Business Time reported. The shooting of another Muslim in Texas last week has left the Muslim community reeling from increasing hate crimes, demanding a federal investigation into the incident. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said on Monday it told the Federal Bureau of Investigation that a hate crimes probe was necessary because of anti-Muslim statements allegedly made by a gunman charged in last Friday's shooting death of 42-year-old victim Zaid Abu Naim. Robert Craig Klimek, 43, has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in Naim’s death. However, Houston Police spokeswoman Jodi Silva described the shooting as one of road rage “at its heart.” "We urge state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate a possible bias motive for this shooting and to bring appropriate charges if that motive is proven," said Mustafaa Carroll, the executive director of CAIR's Houston office. "We have seen too many cases of anti-Muslim hate, threats and violence recently nationwide to ignore the possibility that Islamophobia led to this terrible incident." Naim, who is of Palestinian heritage, died Sunday in a Houston hospital. The Muslim man is not the first victim of hate this year. Last March, 17-year-old Nykerion Nealon shot Ahmed Al-Jumaili, 36, who was taking photos of the first snow in his life with his newly wed wife. Also, In February, three young American Muslims, Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23 his wife Yusor Muhammad Abu-Salha, 21 and her sister Razan Muhammad Abu-Salha, 19, were found dead at a condominium complex off campus. The gunman, identified as 46-year-old Craig Stephen Hicks, reportedly turned himself into police. An Economist/YouGov poll found that a large majority of Americans believe that US Muslims are victims of discrimination amid recent attacks against the community, according to OnIslam. SM/IINA