CAIR Asks San Diego Police Department, Other Agencies to Probe Training by Islamophobe Ryan Mauro

SAN DIEGO, Aug. 18, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-San Diego) is calling on the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) and other law enforcement agencies in California to investigate whether any officers will attend a training conference later this month featuring notorious anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist Ryan Mauro, who promotes the debunked "Muslim no-go-zones" myth.

In letters sent to local and state agencies, CAIR questioned Mauro's scheduled appearance at the California Association of Tactical Officers' "Symposium on Islamic Terrorism" to be held August 24-25 in San Diego.

The Southern Poverty Law Center says Mauro "has promoted the false narrative of 'no-go zones' for non-Muslims in Europe. Mauro also told Fox News host Megyn Kelly that there are growing Muslim enclaves in the U.S. where gangs of Islamic extremists are 'patrolling' neighborhoods and enforcing the tenants (sic) of Shariah law."

Mauro, who works for the anti-Muslim Clarion Project (formerly the Clarion Fund), has also claimed that the "Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the highest echelons of the Republican Party, as well as the Department of Homeland Security."

SEE: Shadowy Conference of Nationwide SWAT Teams to Feature Notorious Anti-Muslim Crusader
http://tinyurl.com/hfdzvq5

This Islamophobic Conspiracy Theorist Lectured Police Officers About Islamic Extremism
http://tinyurl.com/zheutr4

The Clarion Project has been criticized for producing Islamophobic material, including propaganda films like "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West," which Think Progress says was the first installment of "Clarion's ongoing production of Islamophobic films." The St. Petersburg Times revealed ties between the film's distributors and the Israel-based group Aish HaTorah.

Another Clarion Project propaganda film, "The Third Jihad," depicts Muslims as inherently violent and seeking world domination. Following revelations that the film was shown as part of training at the NYPD, then Police Commissioner Ray Kelly called it "wacky" and "objectionable."

CAIR Islamophobia Monitor: Clarion Project
http://www.islamophobia.org/islamophobic-orgs/clarion-project.html

Clarion Project board members have included Frank Gaffney, one of the nation's most notorious Islamophobes, who has promoted reviving the McCarthy-like House Un-American Activities Committee.

SEE: CAIR Asks Ted Cruz to Drop Hate Group Leader Gaffney, Discredited General, Other Islamophobes as National Security Advisers
http://tinyurl.com/j6vl2yt 

In a letter to San Diego Police Department Chief Shelley Zimmerman, CAIR-San Diego Executive Director Hanif Mohebi wrote in part:

"The information above clearly demonstrates that any representative of the Clarion Project falls well short of reasonable standards, such as the guiding principles for all training conducted or funded by the Department of Justice as outlined by Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole on March 20, 2012.

"Mr. Mauro's resume disqualifies him as a subject matter expert in light of the Department of Homeland Security's 'countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Training Guidance and Best Practices,' which covers counterterrorism training.

"We urge you to ensure that SDPD personnel are warned of the conspiracy theories promoted by the featured speaker, that no taxpayer dollars go to pay for attendance and that any officer who attends in his or her private capacity does not receive continuing education credit."

Backgrounder on Anti-Muslim Police Training:

• Last year, CAIR similarly asked police departments in the Denver, Colo., area to investigate whether any of their officers would attend training offered by the notorious anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist John Guandolo, who claims the CIA director is a secret Muslim agent.
• Also last year, CAIR welcomed the withdrawal of an FBI representative from an event in Texas that was initially sponsored by the anti-Muslim hate group ACT! for America and featured Guandolo.
• CAIR's New Jersey chapter welcomed an announcement by the New Jersey Attorney General's Office that it will issue new guidelines on police training to all 21 county prosecutors after the Muslim civil rights organization challenged a training program featuring notorious Islamophobe Walid Shoebat, who has called Islam "the devil."
• In 2014, Virginia's Rappahannock Regional Criminal Justice Academy rescinded its earlier approval of in-service training credits for state law enforcement scheduled to attend a training Guandolo was conducting in Culpeper, Va., after being made aware of his anti-Islam rhetoric.
• Also in 2014, a sheriff in Kansas decided not to partner with a citizens group sponsoring a Guandolo training after being informed of his conspiracy theories. When a journalist at Kansas' Wichita Eagle covered the controversy, Guandolo accused the reporter of material support of terrorism.

Several years ago, following calls for reform by CAIR and other groups after revelations of apparently widespread anti-Muslim bias in the training of law enforcement, security and military personnel nationwide, the Obama administration removed biased and inaccurate materials about Islam from federal trainings.

SEE: Obama Orders Clean Up of Islamophobic Terror Training
http://tinyurl.com/74ozglm

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.

La misión de CAIR es mejorar la comprensión del Islam, fomentar el diálogo, proteger las libertades civiles, capacitar a los musulmanes estadounidenses, y construir coaliciones que promuevan la justicia y la comprensión mutua.

CONTACT: CAIR-San Diego Executive Director Hanif Mohebi, 858-774-9991, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected]; CAIR Communications Coordinator Nabeelah Naeem, 202-341-4171, [email protected]

SOURCE Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)

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