June 16, 2008
Years of Controversy Continue
The ISA has been at the center of controversy for many years. A 2007 United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) report promoted members of Congress to call for the closure of the school. The 2007 USCIRF report prompted a coalition of concerned grassroots organizations to request the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to delay the renewal of the ISA lease until a Federal investigation into the ISA was completed. During the hearing,
Select “Public Hearings” from the May 19 links.
Of Note:
42:58 Fairfax County Chairman Connolly charges of slander remarks
49:35 Supervisor Gross: Latin can be violent and Parochial Schools contain material as equally offensive as the ISAs.
1:02 Supervisor Hyland begins testimony about why and how they’re is no documentation on his investigation.
The U.S. State Department expects the Saudi government to purge intolerant passages from its educational curricula by the beginning of next school year, a spokesman said Thursday, a day after a federal commission drew attention to texts condoning violence and martyrdom at a Fairfax County Saudi prep school.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on Wednesday issued a highly critical review of textbooks used by the Islamic Saudi Academy, which has two campuses in Fairfax, citing materials that demonized other religions and excused the killing of non-believers and adulterers. The school is tied to the Saudi government.
The report comes two weeks after the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors’ unanimous vote to extend the academy’s lease for a year, and eight months after the commission first recommended closing the school if it didn’t prove it wasn’t inciting religious hatred.
State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos, in response to a question on Wednesday’s report at a daily press briefing, said the Saudi government first acknowledged the need to revise the textbooks used at its schools in July 2006 “to remove all intolerant passages that disparage or promote hatred toward other religious groups or religions,” and agreed to cut them by the 2008 school year.
Dwight Bashir, senior policy analyst for the commission, said the State Department has been looking at the school’s texts for years and has yet to publicly issue its views.
He said the Saudi government uses the same curriculum at the 19 schools it runs abroad, including the Islamic Saudi Academy, as it uses for schools within the country.
While Bashir said the State Department has repeatedly cited progress on removing the offending passages, many remain “peppered” within the Islamic Saudi Academy’s texts the commission reviewed.
“The incitement to violence, that stuff is still there,” Bashir said. “And the real demonizing stuff about other groups is also still there. And this is just a little sample.”
Fairfax County supervisors said Wednesday’s report has not made them rethink their decision to renew the lease.
“We are not in a position to determine what is going to go on in a classroom there,” said Mason District Supervisor Penny Gross. “What we were asked to do was consider leasing the land and school to the Islamic Saudi Academy, and that’s what we did.”
No one who could speak for the academy could be reached Thursday.
wflook@dcexaminer.com
McLEAN, Va. (AP) - Textbooks at a private Islamic school in northern Virginia teach students that it is permissible for Muslims to kill adulterers and converts from Islam, according to a federal investigation released Wednesday.
Other passages in the school's textbooks state that "the Jews conspired against Islam and its people" and that Muslims are permitted to take the lives and property of those deemed "polytheists."
The passages were found in selected textbooks used during the 2007-08 school year by the Islamic Saudi Academy, which teaches 900 students in grades K-12 at two campuses in Alexandria and Fairfax and receives much of its funding from the Saudi government.
The academy has come under scrutiny from critics who allege that it fosters an intolerant brand of Islam similar to that taught in the conservative Saudi kingdom. In the review, the panel recommended that the school make all of its textbooks available to the State Department so changes can be made before the next school year.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a panel formed by Congress, last year recommended that the school be closed amid concerns that it promotes violence and too closely mimics the conservative Saudi educational system.
The commission made its recommendation last year to close the school even though it had not reviewed the textbooks. Now that some have been reviewed, "we feel more confident that the potential problems we flagged before really are there," said the commission's spokeswoman, Judith Ingram.
School officials have long denied that the academy fosters intolerance. It has acknowledged that some of the Saudi textbooks contain harsh language, but says that the texts have improved in recent years and are revised as needed by the academy before being distributed to students.
School officials and the State Department did not immediately respond to phone calls and an e-mail seeking comment Wednesday.
The commission said it obtained 17 of the academy's textbooks through a variety of channels, including from members of Congress. The texts did appear to contain numerous revisions, including pages that were removed or passages that were whited out, but numerous troubling passages remained, according to the panel:
- The authors of a 12th-grade text on Koranic interpretation state that apostates (those who convert from Islam), adulterers and people who murder Muslims can be permissibly killed.
- The authors of a 12th-grade text on monotheism write that "(m)ajor polytheism makes blood and wealth permissible," meaning that a Muslim can take with impunity the life and property of someone believed guilty of polytheism. According to the panel, the strict Saudi interpretation of polytheism includes Shiite and Sufi Muslims as well as Christians, Jews, Hindus, and Buddhists.
- A social studies text offers the view that Jews were responsible for the split between Sunni and Shiite Muslims: "The cause of the discord: The Jews conspired against Islam and its people. A sly, wicked person who sinfully and deceitfully professed Islam infiltrated (the Muslims)."
More generally, the panel found that the academy textbooks hold the view that the Muslim world was strong when united under a single caliph, the Arabic language and the Sunni creed, and that Muslims have grown weak because of foreign influence and internal divisions.
The commission's findings issued come a month after the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to extend the academy's lease for its main campus, which sits on county property.
The county conducted its own study of the textbooks last year at the request of Supervisor Gerald Hyland, whose district encompasses the academy.
Hyland and the county never released results of what they had found, but Hyland said in approving the lease that he is comfortable with the school's teachings, though he did so with a qualification.
"I would be less than frank if I didn't tell you that the curriculum does contain references to the Quran, which, if taken out of context and read literally, would cause come concern," Hyland said at the meeting at which the lease was extended.
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On the Net:
Islamic Saudi Academy: http://www.saudiacademy.net/
USCIRF Press Release: http://www.uscirf.gov/index.php?optioncom_content&taskview&id2206&Itemid1
McLEAN, Va. (AP) - Textbooks at a private Islamic school in northern Virginia teach students that it is permissible for Muslims to kill adulterers and converts from Islam, according to a federal investigation released Wednesday.
Other passages in the school's textbooks state that "the Jews conspired against Islam and its people" and that Muslims are permitted to take the lives and property of those deemed "polytheists."
The passages were found in selected textbooks used during the 2007-08 school year by the Islamic Saudi Academy, which teaches 900 students in grades K-12 at two campuses in Alexandria and Fairfax and receives much of its funding from the Saudi government.
The academy has come under scrutiny from critics who allege that it fosters an intolerant brand of Islam similar to that taught in the conservative Saudi kingdom. In the review, the panel recommended that the school make all of its textbooks available to the State Department so changes can be made before the next school year.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a panel formed by Congress, last year recommended that the school be closed amid concerns that it promotes violence and too closely mimics the conservative Saudi educational system.
The commission made its recommendation last year to close the school even though it had not reviewed the textbooks. Now that some have been reviewed, "we feel more confident that the potential problems we flagged before really are there," said the commission's spokeswoman, Judith Ingram.
School officials have long denied that the academy fosters intolerance. It has acknowledged that some of the Saudi textbooks contain harsh language, but says that the texts have improved in recent years and are revised as needed by the academy before being distributed to students.
School officials and the State Department did not immediately respond to phone calls and an e-mail seeking comment Wednesday.
The commission said it obtained 17 of the academy's textbooks through a variety of channels, including from members of Congress. The texts did appear to contain numerous revisions, including pages that were removed or passages that were whited out, but numerous troubling passages remained, according to the panel:
- The authors of a 12th-grade text on Koranic interpretation state that apostates (those who convert from Islam), adulterers and people who murder Muslims can be permissibly killed.
- The authors of a 12th-grade text on monotheism write that "(m)ajor polytheism makes blood and wealth permissible," meaning that a Muslim can take with impunity the life and property of someone believed guilty of polytheism. According to the panel, the strict Saudi interpretation of polytheism includes Shiite and Sufi Muslims as well as Christians, Jews, Hindus, and Buddhists.
- A social studies text offers the view that Jews were responsible for the split between Sunni and Shiite Muslims: "The cause of the discord: The Jews conspired against Islam and its people. A sly, wicked person who sinfully and deceitfully professed Islam infiltrated (the Muslims)."
More generally, the panel found that the academy textbooks hold the view that the Muslim world was strong when united under a single caliph, the Arabic language and the Sunni creed, and that Muslims have grown weak because of foreign influence and internal divisions.
The commission's findings issued come a month after the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to extend the academy's lease for its main campus, which sits on county property.
The county conducted its own study of the textbooks last year at the request of Supervisor Gerald Hyland, whose district encompasses the academy.
Hyland and the county never released results of what they had found, but Hyland said in approving the lease that he is comfortable with the school's teachings, though he did so with a qualification.
"I would be less than frank if I didn't tell you that the curriculum does contain references to the Quran, which, if taken out of context and read literally, would cause come concern," Hyland said at the meeting at which the lease was extended.
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Seattle Times staff reporter
KEN LAMBERT / THE
Naveed Haq is flanked by attorneys C. Wesley Richards, left, and John Carpenter as a mistrial is declared Wednesday. Behind them, Jewish Federation volunteers react.
Women with scars on their bodies and indelible memories of gunfire struggled to grasp an incongruous truth: After six weeks of testimony, thousands of pages of evidence and eight days of deliberation, a jury couldn't decide on the guilt or innocence of their attacker, Naveed Haq.
Yet even as the victims and prosecutors grappled Wednesday with the mistrial declared in Haq's case, momentum was quickly mounting for a second trial.
"It didn't shake our confidence," said King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg. "We're going to come back and do it again."
Prosecutors immediately announced that they would seek to retry Haq after Superior Court Judge Paris Kallas, reacting to word that the jury was hopelessly deadlocked on 14 of the 15 criminal counts against Haq, declared a mistrial.
A status hearing will be held next Thursday to discuss the retrial, an undertaking that presents new challenges for attorneys on both sides and promises to extend the emotional roller coaster the victims have been riding since Haq burst into their workplace and began shooting nearly two years ago.
"I can't begin to figure out what they were thinking," Carol Goldman said as she tearfully contemplated the jurors' decision. Goldman testified during Haq's trial that she was shot in the knee by the gunman. Jurors delivered their only verdict on the count involving Goldman: They found Haq not guilty of first-degree attempted murder but deadlocked on the lesser charge of second-degree attempted murder. "I really was never expecting this verdict," Goldman said.
Haq, 32, showed no emotion when the mistrial was declared, and shook the hands of his attorneys when court concluded.
Jurors had deliberated since May 23, and through several written questions to the judge over the past week it was clear they were having a difficult time determining whether he was guilty as charged or not guilty by reason of insanity. On Monday, the jury passed a note to Judge Kallas informing her they were deadlocked on all but one charge; she ordered them to continue.
On Wednesday, Kallas received another note from the jury just after lunch that stated, "The jury has continued deliberations ... there has been no change." After filling out a verdict form for their one acquittal, the six women and six men entered the courtroom and were asked whether anyone disagreed with the statement that they were deadlocked. No one did, and they were excused by the judge.
The mistrial was a bitter disappointment for victims, who said they supported prosecutors and a retrial.
"There is no argument Haq killed [federation employee] Pam [Waechter]. There is no argument he viciously shot five others. There is no argument that he made anti-Israel and anti-Semitic statements. Somehow, all this was not enough," federation President and CEO Richard Fruchter said.
The hung jury also ignited anger.
Victim Cheryl Stumbo said the look in Haq's eyes at the time of the shooting was so vacant she didn't understand how anyone could doubt his intent when he opened fire.
"You don't drive over the pass with ... a rifle and hollow-point bullets and point a [gun] at somebody's head and not mean to kill them," she said.
Stumbo said she wished the jury had deliberated longer. "I'd like to hear them explain. I know it was a hard thing to do."
Most jurors declined to comment to reporters, but one, who didn't give her name, called the decision "heart-rending."
"I am very upset," she said. "I have great compassion for the victims and their families and everyone else in this case."
Asked to describe the atmosphere in the jury room Wednesday, the juror said "We were all very, very sad."
Haq's parents, who testified for the defense during the trial, said they were relieved to hear of the hung jury. "This tragedy has hopefully brought some awareness to the debilitating effects that schizophrenia/bipolar disorder have on someone who suffers from these mental diseases ... There is no real closure to this case as we continue to agonize over the death of [Pamela Waechter] and the suffering of the wounded victims," Haq's father, Mian Haq, wrote in a statement.
Haq will remain in custody pending outcome of the retrial.
Throughout the trial, Haq's attorneys never disputed that the Tri-Cities man barged into the Belltown offices of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle on July 28, 2006, and killed Waechter and wounded five others. Haq, of Pakistani heritage, reportedly railed against Jews and
Haq, who has a long history of mental illness, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to all counts, his attorneys arguing that he was not criminally liable for his actions.
In order to find Haq not guilty by reason of insanity, which would result in commitment to a mental hospital, the jury would have had to agree unanimously that at the time of the shootings, Haq was unable to perceive the nature and quality of the act with which he is charged; or that he was unable to tell right from wrong with reference to that act.
To find him guilty of aggravated first-degree murder, the most serious charge he faced, they would have had to agree unanimously that he killed federation employee Waechter with premeditated intent.
Legal experts say insanity cases can be tough for juries to decide because of conflicting, complicated medical testimony.
In the Haq trial, doctors testifying for both sides clashed on many fronts and provided a range of differing opinions, from Haq's diagnosis to his mental state before and during the shootings.
"At some point the judge has to accept they cannot reach a verdict," said John Junker, a professor of law at the
From the type of questions the jurors sent out to the judge — seeking further definitions of the insanity requirements and of "right" and "wrong" — it seemed as though they were locked in a philosophical debate, said Philip Anthony, CEO of the jury-and-trial consulting firm DecisionQuest. Anthony is not involved in the Haq case.
"When cases are very difficult for jurors, they almost always revert to the definition of words," Anthony said. "They [were] divided at a really fundamental level as opposed to factual," he guessed.
One challenge for Haq's defense attorneys heading into another trial will be the task of finding a jury that knows little of the high-profile case or mistrial, legal observers said. And prosecutors will lose the element of surprising the defense when it comes to their experts and presentation of evidence, said Anthony.
Prosecutors said Wednesday that they would not likely have to change much about their case, except to reduce count six, the one involving the shooting of Goldman, to second-degree attempted murder to reflect the jury's sole acquittal.
Haq was originally charged with one count of aggravated first-degree murder for slaying Waechter; five counts of attempted first-degree murder for shooting five other women; one count of first-degree kidnapping; one count of unlawful imprisonment; one count of first-degree burglary; and six counts of violating the state's hate-crime law.
Attorneys on each side painted very different pictures of Haq during the complex trial. Prosecutors described him as a frustrated, chronically unemployed and awkward man who decided that "suicide by cop" was the answer the morning he drove from the Tri-Cities area toward the federation with three guns in his pickup.
Haq's attorneys said that he had suffered through an abusive childhood and increasingly paranoid teenage and college years, loathed his short stature and Muslim heritage and was reeling from a dangerous regimen of prescription medications when he entered a manic state and heard God telling him to go on a mission.
Natalie Singer: 206-464-2704 or nsinger@seattletimes.com
