CAIR-Chicago’s Civil Rights Director Christina Abraham moderated an event featuring a speech by Robert D. Grant, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Chicago Field Office, at the American Islamic College.

A measure that could streamline the process of establishing places of worship and other forms of assembly in unincorporated DuPage County is heading to the zoning panel that recently has taken up two zoning proposals from Islamic groups.

CAIR-Chicago Civil Rights Director Christina Abraham discusses recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on Khatib v. County of Orange. Abraham argues that the court of appeals decision violates free exercise rights.

“He is a man of great integrity…He’s looking to truly serve his country and his community. Muslims who serve every day in the Illinois State Police deserve a chaplain of their own faith,” said Ahmed Rehab, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

“Our concern is that the Illinois State Police is kowtowing to articles online published by notorious anti-Muslims who have been in the business of smearing Muslim activists leaders and Imams for the longest time,” said Rehab

“It is essentially guilt by association,” said Christina Abraham.

CAIR-Chicago Civil Rights Director Christina Abraham gave a “Know Your Rights” presentation to members of the Islamic Society of the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago (ISNS).

“If you add up hate mail, hateful phone calls and e-mails, racial slurs being yelled at people and verbal or physical altercations, it’s dozens of incidents,” said Amina Sharif.

“Hate is a self-addressed envelope and so the person who bears this hate is the victim of his own hatred before I am. And I can only pray for that person to find peace and to rid himself of that hatred,” said Ahmed Rehab.

“the fight’s not over, and they will try to appeal the decision,” Amina Sharif, the nonprofit’s communications coordinator, said. “We are concerned that anti-Muslim sentiments expressed during the meeting may have wrongly influenced the decision,” she said. “That is something that concerns us, and that we may challenge.”

“We fear that the board may have acted on improper factors in rejecting the Irshad Learning Center’s permit, and we will continue to pursue this matter in hopes of achieving a just resolution,” said Kevin Vodak, attorney with the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which will be representing Irshad as it considers appealing the county’s ruling.

CAIR-Chicago Civil Rights Director Christina Abraham, who attended the hearing with Amal Abusumayyah, said afterward, “We are hopeful that this sent a message to the public that sort of behavior will not be tolerated by a fair and just society.”

CAIR-Chicago announced today that it is pleased with the plea agreement reached yesterday between state prosecutors and Valerie Kenney, a suburban woman who faced hate crime charges after attacking a Muslim woman at a Tinley Park grocery store 2 days after the Fort Hood shooting.