Monday, October 16, 2006

MSU inviting Imam for the JIS 4 to speak on Thursday


Saw this in this week's MSU Week 4 Calendar:

THURSDAY:
Discussion –
Speaker: Sheikh Junaid Kharsany
12-1 pm
Location: TBD

Who's Sheikh Junaid Kharsany?

He's the Imam of Jamat-E-Masijidul Islam mosque in Inglewood. Three of the former members of that mosque's congregation were Levar Washington, Gregory Patterson, and Hammad Samana.

A little over a year ago - if anybody remembers - Washington and James were arrested for a series of gas station robberies. In the course of the ensuing investigation, the police and FBI indicted Washington, Patterson, Samana, and state inmate Kevin James on federal terrorism charges after:
Detectives searching Washington's apartment on West 27th Street in Los Angeles found bulletproof vests, "jihadist" materials, and the addresses of such locations as National Guard facilities, two synagogues, the Israeli Consulate and the El Al Israel Airlines ticket counter at LAX, The Times reported.
(source: http://www.nbc4.tv/news/4865332/detail.html)
A law enforcement report obtained by ABC News says the attacks were to take place on Sept. 11, and "the intent was to kill everyone at the target."
(source: http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Investigation/story?id=1042853&page=1)
The inmates, according to officials, are affiliated with a radical form of Islam practiced by a group called Jamiyyat Ul Islam Is Saheeh, which translates as Assembly of Authentic Islam.
(source: http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/997)

According to every report I've read off of Google, to his credit, Imam Kharsany cooperated fully with investigators.

The latest article on Imam Kharsany I've found was in The Rafu Shimpo (from where the picture above came), where the Imam talked this past 9/11 about continuing problems of discrimination against Muslims. I'm wondering if this will be the Imam's topic of conversation, as the MSU calendar has no details other than a date, time, and speaker.

No comments: