The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned the NFL’s celebration of the arrest of a performer at February’s Super Bowl halftime who held up Sudanese and Palestinian flags with the message “Sudan and Free Gaza.”
Zul-Qarnain Kwame Nantambu, 41, of New Orleans, was charged with resisting an officer and disturbing the peace by interruption of a lawful assembly.
CAIR previously commended the performer for peacefully raising awareness about Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
In a statement, Washington, D.C., based CAIR said:
“We strongly condemn the NFL for celebrating Louisiana’s unnecessary and unjust pursuit of new criminal charges against the dancer who peacefully protested Israel’s genocide Gaza during the Super Bowl halftime showtime. Peaceful acts of civil disobedience are a time-honored American tradition. This dancer should be celebrated as a hero, and the NFL should not be cheerleading Louisiana’s decision to punish him. We call on the NFL to apologize and encourage the Louisiana state police to drop these new charges against this peaceful protester.”
Israel has slaughtered more than 56,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com