Mosque target of arson, possible hate crim : Local Somali community reacts to fire apparently set at Portland moque ::New alarm among Somalis in Minnesota

New alarm among Somalis in Minnesota

Local Somali community reacts to fire apparently set at Portland moque

 Ahson Saeed, of Corvallis, Ore. reacts to a pile of burnt debris pulled from the local mosque in Corvallis, Ore. where an arsonist set a fire in the early hours November, 28, 2010. (AP PHOTO/JESSE SKOUBO) Loading… The FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s office are investigating as a potential hate crime an arson fire that damaged part of a Corvallis mosque.

Investigators from the FBI and the Corvallis Police Department are investigating whether The Salman Alfarisi Islamic Center at 610 N.W. Kings Blvd. might have been targeted because it occasionally was attended by Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, a former Oregon State University student.
Mohamud remains jailed on federal terrorism charges in connection with his attempt Friday to detonate a van full of what he thought were explosives near a crowd of families watching the Christmas tree lighting at Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Square. Over the past six months, undercover FBI agents convinced Mohamud they were helping him carry out a bombing plot. They became aware of Mohamud after the teen sent e-mails to two suspected terrorists in Pakistan.
FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele out of the Portland office said Sunday that the arson fire is being investigated as a hate crime because it appears that it was an attempt “to interfere with the civil right of the members of the church to freely worship.”
A Corvallis police sergeant on patrol discovered the fire about 2:15 a.m. when he noticed smoke coming from the Islamic Center. The Corvallis Fire Department sent two fire engines, a ladder truck and a command vehicle to the scene and about a dozen firefighters quickly knocked down the blaze and limited damage to one office.
People at the scene said it appeared that the fire might have started from someone throwing a glass full of a flammable liquid through the window.
The fire heavily damaged the office of the Islamic Center’s director, Mohammed Siala. The rest of the building, including the main worship area, was unharmed, and there were no injuries.
Sunday afternoon, federal and local officials held a press conference to clarify the connection — or lack of it — between the fire and Mohamud’s arrest.
Joined by U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton and Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson, Art Balizan, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Portland Division, said the fire is under federal investigation because of the potential for a civil rights violation, since the attack was done at a place of worship.
Although the FBI was involved in the investigation and arrest of Mohamud, Balizan said the fire is not connected in any other way with the attempted attack on Pioneer Courthouse Square.
Yosof Wanly, the imam of the mosque, said Mohamud occasionally attended prayers, but did not consistently spend time at the mosque.
Mohamud is being held at Multnomah County Detention Center and will appear in federal court at 1:30 p.m. on Monday.
Currently, Balizan said investigators are methodically gathering information from neighbors by going door-to-door in the community.
“We don’t know who started it, or why it was started,” he said.
Haroldson said the DA’s office and the Corvallis Police Department will work closely with the FBI. He said he was saddened to hear the news of the fire because such violence is rare here.
“Corvallis is not accustomed to a high number of violent crimes,” he said.
The mosque is not the only place of worship in the area to be damaged by fire recently.
On Oct. 2, Corvallis firefighters responded to a fire at St. Mary’s Catholic Church at 501 N.W. 25th St.; the blaze, found outside the church, was almost out by the time they arrived.
Also, in the early morning of Sept. 2, a fire was reported at Grace Lutheran Church at 435 N.W. 21st St., and a group of recycling bins and a wooden enclosure were damaged.
Steele said those cases were not investigated as federal crimes at the time because they were small fires, outside of the buildings, and did not seem to be set so as to interfere with the right of church members to practice their faith democratherald.com