St. Louis FBI receives letters of hate and threats sent to CAIR chapters in several states

On May 7, 2007 St. Louis chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) handed the FBI office in St. Louis a letter received 10 days previously by CAIR-St. Louis that contained extreme hate messages and threats to Muslims in the united state and abroad.  It appears that the letter is a part of a campaign that targeted CAIR chapters in at least 3 states.  At least one of the letters received contains a threat on the life of CAIR officials in Florida. Several of the letters were also mailed in envelopes forged to give the impression that they were sent by the ACLU chapter in Chicago, IL.  The ACLU was notified of these letters to take appropriate action.

All the letters included hateful and ugly graphical and textual obscenities directed at God, at Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and depicted references to destroying Muslim communities and holy shrines by Israel and the United State in a `nuclear holocaust’ against Muslims. The letters were titled “ZIONISM FOREVER” embraced by the stars of David, and included Biblical references commonly used in right wing Christian fundamentalist literature, and by Christian Zionists.

CAIR of St. Louis is aware that fundamentalists with violent tendencies are unfortunately an element in all religious ideologies, and that letters of hate, like those received by CAIR chapters across the US, and the opinions expressed in them do not represent the majority of the American citizens. We encourage the media and our fellow citizen to promote a dialogue encouraging mutual understanding among different religions in our country, and to help reduce the ignorance of `the others’ that underlies the intolerance, and the ill feelings amongst different subgroups in the society.

CAIR St. Louis is appreciative of the swiftness with which local FBI officials have handled this case. We also encourage anyone with knowledge of the individuals or groups behind this hateful campaign to contact any of the FBI offices with information that may help advances the FBI’s investigation.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), is the nation’s largest Muslim Civil Rights and Advocacy group.