Assalamu Alaikum Community Members,
With a heavy heart, we are writing to share some important information with you and all our supporters across the state of Ohio.
The local Columbus-Cincinnati Board of Directors for CAIR-Ohio has terminated Executive and Legal Director Romin Iqbal upon learning that he committed egregious ethical and professional violations.
Last week, CAIR’s national headquarters informed our chapter that a forensic investigation conducted by an independent, third-party expert had found conclusive evidence that Iqbal had spent years secretly recording CAIR network meetings and passing confidential information regarding CAIR’s national advocacy work to a known anti-Muslim hate group. The forensic expert verified that he was not aided by any other CAIR individual.
After being confronted with clear evidence of misconduct, Iqbal admitted that he had been working with the anti-Muslim hate group. This betrayal and violation of trust was planned and purposeful, taking place over a period of years.
In the wake of Iqbal’s termination, the Columbus office of CAIR-Ohio has discovered suspicious purchases from ammunition and gun retailers made in recent weeks using a CAIR-Ohio credit card that Iqbal administered. Yesterday, CAIR-Ohio staff also found a suspicious package mailed to the CAIR-Ohio Columbus office containing parts for an AR-15 rifle. CAIR-Ohio has shared this information with law enforcement, which is currently investigating the matter.
The safety of our community is our top priority. We encourage mosques and community members to exercise vigilance and review their security protocols out of an abundance of caution.
We recognize the difficulty of receiving this information and the unease it brings. We all feel betrayed by a once-trusted leader and advocate whom we relied upon. However, our mission to protect the civil rights of Ohio Muslims transcends any one individual. We want to assure the community that CAIR-Ohio’s local assets, operations, and infrastructure are safe and secure.
The local Columbus-Cincinnati Board has full confidence in the CAIR-Ohio team and has appointed Amina Barhumi as acting executive director and Lina Abbaoui as acting legal director for the region. CAIR-Ohio is working to ensure our clients and all Muslims who depend on us are supported through this transition.
It is clear anti-Muslim extremists will stop at nothing to try to harm us. Although we are all shocked and saddened by these developments, we know civil rights organizations and movements for justice have been spied upon from within for decades. In particular, Muslim organizations have been the target of malicious surveillance attempts due to a continuous rise in Islamophobia over the past two decades.
Despite these attempts to harm us, we are undeterred. Our dedicated team has a renewed commitment to our mission: to protect and defend the civil rights of Ohio Muslims. And we are only able to do this through your support as champions of justice.
We are grateful to Allah for His protection and for the privilege to continue this important work. We will share additional information as we are able. In the meantime, please reach out to us directly if you have any questions. You can contact the CAIR-Ohio Columbus office at 614-451-3232 and the Cincinnati office at 513-281-8200.
Sincerely,
Local Columbus-Cincinnati Board of Directors, CAIR-Ohio
Nabeel Raazi, President
Mukarram Khan, Vice President
Taymour El-Hosseiny, Treasurer
Isra Zuberi, Secretary
Ronney Abaza
Camellia Noor
Abdul Wase
UPDATE 12/15/21
Assalamu Alaikum Community Members,
We hope insha’Allah you are doing well in light of yesterday’s information. As promised, we would like to provide additional information as we are able. We originally did not name the hate group as we do not want to give them publicity or further their objectives. But after receiving many questions from our community, we want to inform you that the hate group was the Investigative Project on Terrorism.
The IPT was founded by Steven Emerson and is known for spreading hate, vitriol, and anti-Islamic rhetoric. Emerson and IPT have a history of promoting conspiracy theories about Muslims and have blamed Muslims for attacks in the U.S. The Southern Poverty Law Center has called Emerson a “key misinformation expert” with ties to extremist groups. You can read more about IPT at Islamophobia Network, Islamophobia.org, and other resources online.
Again, Iqbal shared recordings of CAIR network meetings and confidential information regarding CAIR’s national advocacy work.
Please find the letter shared by CAIR-Ohio last night above.
We know this is extremely upsetting and hard to fathom. But CAIR-Ohio’s local assets, operations, and infrastructure are safe and secure. Despite these attempts to harm us, we are undeterred. Our dedicated team has a renewed commitment to our mission: to protect and defend the civil rights of Ohio Muslims.
UPDATE 12/22/21
Thank you to everyone who joined us for our Community Check-In last night. We shared important updates and continue our efforts to keep you informed.
As we shared in this meeting, Mr. Iqbal was a small tool in a large Islamophobia network. Following CAIR national releasing additional information yesterday on 12/21, we shared with our community that a second IPT “spy,” outside of CAIR and outside the state of Ohio has voluntarily come forward and confessed. He was an active volunteer in a large mosque who was invited to national community meetings and events. CAIR National plans to release the name of this individual in due time.
Again, it is important for our community to know that this second individual was not part of CAIR and was targeting a community outside the state of Ohio.
We will continue to keep you updated on any new information. In the meantime, please reach out to our offices at 614-451-3232 (Columbus) and 513-281-8200 (Cincinnati) with any questions or concerns.