Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization also expresses opposition to collective punishment of Afghan refugees
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today expressed hope for the full recovery of two national guardsmen shot in a targeted attack in Washington, DC on Nov. 26th.
According to news reports, an Afghan national who worked with U.S. military and CIA forces during the occupation of Afghanistan opened fire on two National Guardsmen standing guard in downtown, near the White House.
CAIR called on the culprit to face full accountability for his crime and also expressed opposition to the collective punishment or denigration of Afghan refugees.
In a statement, CAIR said:
“CAIR’s headquarters is in Washington, DC. We are outraged by last night’s targeted, criminal attack on two National Guardsmen who were simply doing the job asked of them in our city. We pray that God grants healing, a full recovery and a blessed future to both servicemen and grants comfort to their families.
“The anger everyone feels over this unacceptable crime must be channeled at the person responsible for the crime, not at every Afghan refugee who happens to share his ethnicity. Our justice system is built on the idea that people answer for their own actions. What we don’t have is family punishment, and we shouldn’t have nationality punishment either.
“Using this horrific attack as an excuse to smear and punish every Afghan, every refugee, or every immigrant rips at something very basic in our Constitution and many faiths: the idea that guilt is personal, not inherited or collective.”
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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