House Resolution 1

A RESOLUTION URGING ALL LAW ENFORCEMENT AND GOVERNMENTAL AGENCIES IN MISSISSIPPI TO AVOID AND SUSPEND ALL CONTACTS AND OUTREACH ACTIVITIES WITH THE COUNCIL ON AMERICAN ISLAMIC RELATIONS (CAIR).

WHEREAS, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has suspended all formal contacts with CAIR (the Council on American Islamic Relations) due to evidence demonstrating a relationship between CAIR and HAMAS, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization; and

WHEREAS, in the U.S. v. the Holy Land Foundation, the largest successful terrorism financing prosecution in United States history, CAIR was identified as a Muslim Brotherhood front group and was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the trial; and

WHEREAS, CAIR opened its first office in Washington, D.C. with the help of a grant from the Holy Land Foundation, a charitable organization that was shut down by the United States Department of the Treasury for funding Jihadist terrorist organizations; and

WHEREAS, in 2014, United States ally, the United Arab Emirates, officially designated CAIR as a terrorist organization; and

WHEREAS, in March 2011, Muthanna Al-Hanooti, one of CAIR's directors, was sentenced to a year in federal prison for violating United States sanctions against Saddam's Iraq; and

WHEREAS, in 2006, the co-founder of CAIR's parent organization, IAP (Islamic Association for Palestine), Sami Al-Arian, was sentenced to 57 months in prison on terrorism charges for financing Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a designated terrorist organization according to the United States Department of the Treasury; and

WHEREAS, in 2004, CAIR Northern Virginia Director Abdurahman Alamoudi pled guilty to terrorism-related financial and conspiracy charges, which resulted in a 23-year federal prison sentence; and

WHEREAS, Randall Todd Royer, who served as a communications specialist and civil rights coordinator for CAIR, trained with Lashkar-e-Taiba, an al Qaeda-tied Kashmir organization that is listed on the State Department's international terror list and was also indicted on charges of conspiring to help al Qaeda and the Taliban battle American troops in Afghanistan and was sentenced to 20 years in prison on April 9, 2004; and

WHEREAS, in September 2003, CAIR's former Community Affairs Director, Bassem Khafagi, pled guilty to three federal counts of bank and visa fraud and agreed to be deported to Egypt after he had funneled money to activities supporting terrorism and had published material advocating suicide attacks against the United States and illegal activities took place while he was employed by CAIR; and

WHEREAS, Ann Arbor, Michigan, CAIR fundraiser Rabih Kaddad was arrested on terrorism-related charges and was deported from the United States due to his work as Executive Director of the Global Relief Foundation, which in October 2002 was designated by the United States Department of the Treasury for financing al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations; and

WHEREAS, it is the policy of the House of Representatives to help secure the safety and freedom of all Mississippians:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, That we do hereby call on all law enforcement and governmental agencies in our state to avoid and suspend all contacts and outreach activities with the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR).

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be furnished to the members of the Capitol Press Corps.