Human rights group urges Canada: Ban Linda Sarsour’s entry

“Law and policy—and respected Canadian traditions of civility and openness—dictate that Sarsour and other foreign Islamist extremist ICNA Canada-invitees be barred entry into Canada,” the Lawfare Project said.

By: World Israel News Staff

The Lawfare Project (LP), a New York-based law and human rights think tank, has called on Canada to bar admission to the country of Linda Sarsour, who the group dubbed as an “American hate figure and terror-sympathizer.”

Sarsour is scheduled to enter Canada to speak at a Toronto “Carry the Light” convention sponsored by the highly controversial Islamic Circle of North America Canada (ICNA Canada).

LP stated that ICNA Canada espouses “extremist ideological affinities and has connections to the Muslim Brotherhood.”

ICNA Canada is connected to Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI), as reflected in the membership of Muhammad Iqbal Masood Nadvi, a longtime senior ICNA Canada personality. The Canadian government describes JEI as a political organization with an “armed wing” – Hizbul Mujahideen – which is listed as a terrorist entity by the Council of the European Union and declared a banned terrorist organization by the Government of India.

Reports indicate that Canadian immigration authorities in 2008 prevented radical Jamaat-e-Islami leader Qazi Hussain Ahmad from entering the country to appear at an ICNA Canada-endorsed event.

ICNA Canada’s granting of publicity to religious advocacy of sex slavery has also received attention.

In reaction to news of this month’s pending ICNA Canada convention, B’nai Brith Canada and other Canadian human rights defenders have protested the invitation to Sarsour and other “hateful speakers” slated to appear at the event. Among these “undesirable individuals” is preacher Siraj Wahhaj, whom the US government declared suitable for designation as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing prosecution.

Sarsour supports prominent anti-Semite

LP noted that ICNA Canada “surely knew” that Sarsour has “for years enthusiastically supported firebrand racist” and anti-Semitic Nation of Islam (NOI) leader Louis Farrakhan.

Sarsour’s enthusiasm for the NOI chieftain extended to her speaking at a rally, which, a New York Times article reports, was essentially a “pageant … centered on Farrakhan as the celebrity father figure.”

Sarsour was happy to be a prominent part of this, despite Farrakhan’s appalling past statements. A New York Times editorial states that the “chairwoman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights has correctly diagnosed Mr. Farrakhan’s pathology as racist, sexist, anti-Semitic and homophobic.” The Times says Farrakhan “asserted that Jews, Arabs, Koreans and Vietnamese doing business in black communities are ‘bloodsuckers.'”

According to the Anti-Defamation League, Farrakhan blames Jews for the 9/11 attacks and slavery, referring to them collectively as the “Synagogue of Satan.”

“Sarsour has never personally offered specific, public condemnations of Farrakhan and his racist ideology or apologized for her Farrakhan advocacy. Instead, she remains a vocal supporter of the ideologue and a welcoming intimate of other Farrakhan supporters. Truly, it is said that ‘only poisoned apples can fall from Mr. Farrakhan’s tree,” LP stated.

“Only radicalism can explain ICNA Canada’s invitation to Sarsour. The Canadian government must bar the entry of Sarsour into Canada,” the human rights organization demanded.

Sarsour’s links to terror-connected interests

Moreover, there are credible allegations that Sarsour has links to terror-connected interests and other ideological extremists,” LP demonstrated.

Sarsour is an advisory board member and apparently a donor of a small, US-based organization called “Dream Defenders” (DD). As such, this group, and Sarsour with it, is implicated in the organization’s support for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an illegal terrorist organization in Canada and the United States. On this basis alone, Sarsour would therefore appear, under Canadian law, to be inadmissible for entry into Canada.

Sarsour “represents an extremist politico-ideological tendency that is a threat to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and its values of tolerance and security for all,” LP noted in its request to ban Sarsour’s entry into Canada.

“Law and policy—and respected Canadian traditions of civility and openness—dictate that Sarsour and other foreign Islamist extremist ICNA Canada-invitees be barred entry into Canada. The Lawfare Project joins Canadians of good faith in calling for the Government of Canada to ensure that this occurs,” the organization concluded.