Recently in Minnesota Category

An update on this story. Again, Minnesotan authorities must ensure that the Tarek ibn Ziyad outfit does not reconstitute itself under another name, or spawn similar projects with similar abuses.

"ACLU not expecting much money out of TiZA settlement," by Christopher Magan for Pioneer Press, March 7:

Days after agreeing to a $1.4 million settlement in Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy's bankruptcy case, the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota expects to recoup little of the millions it spent suing the now-defunct charter school.

They might be lucky to cover the price of a cheeseburger, but the moral victory is more important.

Meanwhile, the ACLU continues to pursue a 2009 civil lawsuit against the school's leader, Asad Zaman, alleging taxpayer money was used to teach religion.

The ACLU agreed last week to a $1.4 million settlement for attorneys' fees in the bankruptcy case that grew out of an ongoing lawsuit claiming that the charter schools in Inver Grove Heights and Blaine taught Islam in the classroom. The charter school had high test scores and a waiting list before legal costs and other pressure forced it to close last summer.

The ACLU had sought nearly $2.4 million, and Chuck Samuelson, attorney for the Minnesota chapter, said he doesn't expect the ACLU or its attorneys to come anywhere near recouping the $3 million spent on the case so far. The settlement deal is with the trustee now in control of TiZA's assets.

"First of all, there isn't going to be any money," said Samuelson, who said he would "fall down in a faint if it comes anywhere close" to the $1.4 million agreement.

TiZA has a long list of creditors with claims against the schools, many of whom likely will receive a fraction of what they are owed, Samuelson said.

"They're not broke, that's the thing," he said of TiZA. "This is a good headline, but if you drop down and look at the footnotes, we are talking about way less money."
John Hedback, the bankruptcy trustee for TiZA, said there are "substantial" assets from when the charter school entered bankruptcy, but not enough to cover claims for wages, rent, attorneys' fees and other expenses.

"Nobody is getting paid in full," Hedback said.

Zaman would not comment about the case except to say that the ACLU is being "very unreasonable."

Shamus O'Meara, TiZA's attorney, was not immediately available for comment.

The ACLU is willing to negotiate a settlement with Zaman, Samuelson said. "Reasonable people can come to a reasonable conclusion," he said.

But Samuelson has made it clear that the ACLU will continue the pursuit of claims that Zaman used taxpayer money to finance the teaching of religion, directly in violation of the establishment clause that separates church and state.

The ACLU's lawsuit included multiple claims that TiZA's leaders, its landlord and the Muslim American Society of Minnesota had "blurred" lines of control resulting in millions of taxpayer dollars going to religious groups.

Samuelson has said repeatedly that his group wants a "bright line" decision when it comes to whether the school taught Islam with taxpayer money.

"We feel there is still potential for that and that is why we are pursuing it," he said.

Such a decision would set a precedent for charter schools, he said.

"Charter schools are a great experiment," Samuelson said. "What we are concerned about is the charter school schemata is relaxing all the rules. We said you can do that, but you can't relax the Constitution."

CAIR's Minnesota chapter led a personal attack on the credibility of Omar Jamal and Abdi Bihi in connection with their planned presence at a conference whose literature described al-Shabaab as an "Islamic extremist terrorism organization," to which CAIR took exception.

There are at least two noteworthy aspects to this story: First, the threats are a reprise of the old chestnut "Say Islam is a Religion of Peace, or we'll kill you." The second is that CAIR is caught in its own game, for as hard as it has worked to cast all criticism as incitement to a violent "backlash," at least where Islamic teachings and advocacy groups are concerned. How about their intense criticism of Omar Jamal and Abdi Bihi? If CAIR Minnesota is to hold itself to the standards it imposes on others, it would have to apologize, shut up, pay up, and disband.

Then again, claiming victim status tends to require a certain ideological pedigree, and the right connections. "FBI Investigating Facebook Death Threats on Somali Advocate," by Tom Lyden for Fox 9 News, December 2 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

MINNEAPOLIS - The FBI and local police are investigating death threats against Omar Jamal, a well-known leader in the Minneapolis Somali community.

Jamal says he began receiving the threats a few weeks ago on his Facebook page. Those threats are allegedly coming from Mogadishu and the terror group al-Shabaab.

Jamal tells FOX 9 he began receiving those threats after the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) criticized him and another Somali leader for being anti-Muslim .

The FBI is searching Facebook records to see if it can identify the individual sending the threats.

Omar Jamal and Abdi Bihi were the first to blow the whistle on the effort to recruit Minnesotan Somalis for terrorism in Somalia . Three of the young men who disappeared from Minneapolis would later become suicide bombers in Kenya and Somalia for the terror group al-Shabaab.

That stance earned them a seat on CAIR's bad side, and the group recently sent a letter attacking both men's education and experience while asking local police departments to boycott a Thursday conference where the two will be keynote speakers.

"These individuals, who have no credibility in the Somali community, are going to be educating law enforcement," the letter read in part.

Yet, both men have been consulted by government leaders in the past. Jamal is now a United Nations representative of the Somali government. Jamal has also spoken before the National Press Club and has been sought after as a spokesman for the Somali community.

They decided to talk about something no one wants to talk about. That's where they seem to have gotten into trouble.

This is part of the Great American Islamic Interest Group Shell Game on the nature of... that thing we're not supposed to talk about (but we do). It goes something like this, not necessarily in order.

1. Yes, we see there is a problem and we feel your pain. In fact, we're victims here, too (see next item).

2. Our religion has been hijacked by a Tiny Minority of Extremists.

3. Let us handle this ourselves. We'll take care of it, except there's not really a problem except for a Misunderstanding of Islam, for which the solution is a return to the fundamental texts and teachings of Islam.

4. Stop quoting chapter and verse of the fundamental texts and teachings of Islam, and Muslims who use them to justify violence and the subjugation of nonbelievers. You'll cause "backlash" and "radicalize" people against you. Also, you don't speak Arabic. Did we mention that? Alhamdulillah, we did!

5. You won't stop criticizing us? You hate us. And criticizing us is incitement. To "backlash." You're an extremist. Probably a neo-con, Christian "fundie" extremist. Extremism is the problem across the board.

6. But don't say "Islamic extremist." This isn't really Islam, and the problem isn't Islam. Please also stop noticing the disproportionate participation of Muslims quoting chapter and verse in acts of terrorism (see also: Item 4).

7. Just... shut up. We're the victims here (see Items 1, 5). You're the problem.

"Groups object to St. Paul Somali seminar, call it anti-Muslim," by Richard Chin for the Pioneer Press, November 7:

A group of Islamic and Somali organizations said Monday that an upcoming educational seminar on Somalia organized by former Ramsey County sheriff Bob Fletcher is anti-Muslim and anti-Somali and will lead to a rise in racial and religious profiling.

The seminar, called "Understanding the People of Somalia," will be put on Thursday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in St. Paul by the Center for Somalia History Studies, an organization founded by Fletcher this year.

The seminar brochure says training will be provided on al-Shabaab, "an Islamic Extremist Organization," and says that topics covered will include "Clans and Sub Clans," "Black Hawk Down," "Youth Gangs," "Transition to America" and "Somali Culture."

But a message being emailed to law enforcement agencies throughout the state who might be sending people to the seminar warns that the attendees "will receive inaccurate and biased information about Muslims and Somalis," according to A. Lori Saroya, president of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN).

The message says two speakers at the seminar - Omar Jamal, former executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center, and Abdirizak Bihi, director of the Somali Education and Social Advocacy Center - are "unrepresentative of their community and unqualified to speak on the topics outlined in the upcoming presentation."

The message describes Jamal as "highly controversial and a convicted felon" and Bihi as having a "checkered past" and "no known educational qualifications."

A woman obtained a harassment restraining order against Bihi in 2004 after she said he stalked and threatened her in a dispute over Somali terrorism. This year, she praised him for his work with Somali youth.

On Monday, Bihi told the Pioneer Press that he did not wish to immediately comment.

The CAIR-MN message also objected to the description of al-Shabaab as an "Islamic extremist terrorism" organization because it "fails to distinguish between Islam and terrorism."

The message is endorsed by about 30 organizations, according to Saroya, including mosques, Islamic centers, the Muslim American Society of Minnesota and Somali Action Alliance.

Saroya said she feared the seminar would result in "just a lot of bias and misinformation."

Fletcher, now a St. Paul police watch commander, noted that aside from himself, the three other speakers at the seminar are Somali.

"I am befuddled that three Somali persons could be perceived as anti-Somali," he said.

The whole point is to derail the discussion from unpleasant and inconvenient matters.

He said that Jamal has been a controversial figure but that he holds an official position as a Somali representative to the United Nations. Fletcher also said Jamal is not a convicted felon.

"That's a slanderous statement," Fletcher said.

Jamal declined to comment, saying he'd rather leave that to Fletcher.

Federal jurors in Memphis, Tenn., found Jamal guilty of five felony counts of immigration fraud in 2005.

Fletcher said it is correct to characterize al-Shabaab as an Islamic extremist terrorism organization.

The State Department designated al-Shabaab a foreign terrorist organization in February 2008.

However, Fletcher said, "the conference is directed at the history and culture of the community. There will be very little discussion of religion itself."

He said he has invited Saroya to participate in the seminar.

Saroya said CAIR-MN was not invited to be part of the seminar, adding that "no Somali organization" would sign on because "that would give Bihi and Jamal legitimacy."

"I would hope that people would wait to see the training before they pass judgment on it," he said. "Ninety percent of the training will be viewed as really not controversial."

"It's an informational seminar. There's nothing ideological about it," said Dahir Jibreel, the current executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center, who will be speaking at the meeting.

"If there's one person who can speak for Somali issues to the media, it's myself," Jibreel said. "There is nothing anti-Muslim or anti-Somali in the seminar. I am a Muslim."

Fletcher said the $150, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. seminar is being marketed primarily to government agencies that serve the Somali community. He said he expects fewer than 100 participants.

He "reportedly grew up in Minneapolis and was known by the FBI as one of 20 Somali Americans to have joined an al-Qaida-linked militant group." An update on this story. "Suicide bomber in Somali attack was reportedly from Minneapolis," from MSNBC, October 31:

MOGADISHU, Somalia — A man who blew himself up in an attack in the Somali capital on Saturday reportedly grew up in Minneapolis and was known by the FBI as one of 20 Somali Americans to have joined an al-Qaida-linked militant group.

Abdisalan Hussein Ali, 22, was suspected of being a member of al-Shabab, the FBI told msnbc.com.

Kyle Loven, the FBI's chief division counsel for Minneapolis, said Ali was a subject of "Operation Rhino," an ongoing investigation into Somali youth traveling from the U.S. to Somalia to fight for al-Shabab.

Loven could not confirm whether Ali was indeed the bomber but told msnbc.com that the FBI was "awaiting results from DNA checks at this point."

Al-Shabab posted an audiotape that they said was made by Ali before he blew himself up during an attack Saturday on an African Union base in Mogadishu that left at least 10 people dead.

The FBI could not confirm whether the audiotape was authentic but was investigating its credibility.

A spokesman for the Somali affairs unit at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi told msnbc.com that they had seen reports alleging that one of the bombers was an American citizen."We have not been able to verify those reports," Matt Goshko said.

In the tape, the young man, who would be at least the fourth American to become a suicide bomber in Somalia, urges other young people to not "just chill all day" and instead fight nonbelievers around the world.

The website Somalimemo.net (website not in English), often used by the al-Shabab militia, said the Somali-American bomber had emigrated to the U.S. when he was two years old.

'Bullethead'

There were conflicting reports of his name, with some sources naming the bomber as Abdisalan Taqabalahullaah and Cabdi Salaam al-Muhajir.

But a Somali diplomat at the United Nations said the youth's friends and family listened to the recording and identified him as Abdisalan Hussein Ali, The New York Times reported.

"They all say it is him," Omar Jamal, the diplomat, told The Times.

According to The Minneapolis Star Tribune, he graduated from Edison High School and attended the University of Minnesota, where he was a pre-med student, The Times reported. He disappeared in 2008.

The Star Tribune reported that Ali's nickname was "Bullethead," and that during high school he liked to lift weights and that he sold shoes to help support his family.

The young man in the tape had an American accent and mixed Muslim terminology with American slang as he urged Muslims to carry out attacks against non-Muslims around the world.

"My brothers and sisters, do jihad in America, do jihad in Canada, do jihad in England, anywhere in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, in China, in Australia," the voice on the al-Shabab tape said. "Anywhere you find (unbelievers), fight them and be firm against them.

Qur'an 9:123: "O ye who believe! Fight those of the disbelievers who are near to you, and let them find harshness in you, and know that Allah is with those who keep their duty (unto Him)."

Also, once again, jihad causes poverty:

"Today jihad is what is most important thing for the Muslim ummah," he said, using a word for the Islamic community. "It is not important that you, you know, you you become a doctor or you become, you know, uh, some sort of engineer."

"We have to believe in Allah and die as Muslims ... Brainstorm," the youth said. "Don't, don't just sit around and, you know, be, be be a couch potato and you know, you know, just like, you know, just chill all day, you know. It doesn't, it doesn't, it will not benefit you, it will not benefit yourself, or the Muslims."

A "Minnesota man." Lutheran? No. Funny, that. An update on this story. "Minnesota man admits Somalia terror plot," from BBC News, July 19:

A man from the US state of Minnesota has admitted helping men of Somali origin travel to the African country to join the al-Shabab militant group.

Omer Abdi Mohamed admitted one count of conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim others in a foreign country.

The 26-year-old's plea came on the eve of what would have been the first trial in a federal probe into the recruiting of US fighters for al-Shabab.

Mohamed faces up to 15 years in jail when sentenced later.

His lawyer, Peter Wold, said his client chose to admit the charge of providing material support to terrorists because he has a family and faced a much longer sentence if convicted.

Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis allowed Mohamed to remain free on electronic monitoring.

Others charged

In a statement posted on the FBI's website, the US Attorney's office said Mohamed had admitted being a member of a conspiracy that recruited young men of Somali descent to travel to Somalia to fight Ethiopian troops. At least 21 are believed to have travelled from the US to Somalia.

The Ethiopian troops are assisting Somalia's transitional federal government but al-Shabab views them as invaders.

Mohamed said in court that he had attended secret meetings and helped the men travel to Somalia.

"I helped them get tickets," he said.

Mr Wold said his client was motivated by patriotism and wanted to help others defend his homeland from "mortal enemies".

"[Mohamed] was only involved in a mission to protect Somalia," he said. "Omer has nothing to do with terrorists."....

How about jihadists?

The Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, whose deception, abuses of taxpayer resources, threats, and witness intimidation we have chronicled over several years, only "has a 10 percent chance of staying open."

If TiZA folds, authorities must ensure that it does not simply reconstitute itself under another name, or spawn similar projects with similar abuses. "TiZA kids seek new schools," by Sarah Lemagie for the Star Tribune, July 1:

A day after state officials e-mailed him shutdown instructions, the director of Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA) advised parents to find new schools for their children while holding out hope that, "by some miracle," the charter school can stay open.

Standing beneath a basketball hoop Friday evening, Asad Zaman faced a crowd of more than 100 parents in the gym of the school's Inver Grove Heights campus. Mothers and fathers sat apart on either side of an aisle, at this meeting of a school where the vast majority of families are Muslim.

At some point, of course, this is highly likely to be spun as the product of "Islamophobia."

"I have to tell you, most likely the school will not survive," Zaman said, estimating that TiZA has a 10 percent chance of staying open.

In the eyes of the state, it has already ceased to exist as a public school. Left without legally required oversight when a new state law took effect Friday, the school has been told that it will no longer receive state aid.

Summer school will not resume Tuesday, Zaman said, but school officials are considering a challenge to the state Education Department in the Minnesota Court of Appeals.

And after two adverse rulings from a judge and the state since Wednesday evening, TiZA already has taken a highly unusual step by filing for bankruptcy protection.

"Wow. That's unusual," said Sandro Lanni, founder of the Charter School Management Corp., when told of TiZA's filing. In a decade of providing business services to more than 100 charter schools -- none in Minnesota -- the California-based company has seen a few close, but "I've never heard of one doing bankruptcy," Lanni said.

Neither has George Singer, a Minneapolis attorney with 18 years of experience in bankruptcy law. "It's rare," he said.

TiZA, which is a nonprofit corporation as well as a public school, listed just over $84,000 in liabilities in its bankruptcy petition. It also listed unknown and disputed amounts sought by three adversaries in a contentious lawsuit over claims that the school has promoted religion.

Key among them: The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, which sued in 2009....

More: "TiZA's future bleak after loss in two key decisions," by Sarah Lemagie for the Star Tribune, June 30 (thanks to Friend O. Friend):

A Minnesota charter school that has been a magnet for Muslim students -- and controversy -- appears to be on the brink of closure after a judge's decision and a state ruling that left it unable to comply with a new state law. [...]

TiZA had also tried to switch authorizers, but the state denied the request shortly before midnight on Wednesday.

In her denial, Cassellius said the school's would-be overseer, Novation Education Opportunities, had shown a "lack of candor," in part by not disclosing apparent conflicts of interest with the school.

She said that TiZA parents have "expressed concern about the future of their school in light of misinformation the TiZA administration had provided them about conflicts of interest between the school's administration and other entities."

Among other problems, Novation also lacked an adequate plan for resolving concerns about the school raised by Islamic Relief, she wrote.

Many of those issues were uncovered by the ACLU's lawsuit. Among the concerns listed by Cassellius: A lack of transparency in TiZA's governance, conflicts of interest, an Arabic curriculum with sectarian content and the submission of unauthorized documents about the school to the state....

A prior report also mentioned the use of forged signatures.

Follow that logic: In retribution for alleged "Christian" abuses in Muslim countries, he runs off from Minnesota (don't let the door hit you...) to go commit slaughter in jihad in a Muslim country, where Muslims were undoubtedly among his victims. That'll show 'em! "Al-Shabab militants: Somali-American of Minnesota carried out suicide attack at Mogadishu base," from the Associated Press, June 2 (thanks to Twostellas):

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The militant group al-Shabab says a man who carried out a suicide bomb attack at a base in Mogadishu this week was a Somali-American from Minnesota.

Al-Shabab says 25-year-old Abdullahi Ahmed attacked the African Union peacekeeping base in Somalia's capital on Monday, killing two AU troops and one government soldier. The group says on its website that Ahmed moved to Somalia from Minnesota two years ago.

The Internet report purported to quote Ahmed before his death saying that he wanted to carry out the attack because of abuses by Christians in Muslim countries.

If the report is confirmed, Ahmed will become at least the third Somali-American to have carried out a suicide bombing in Somalia.

The ACLU is on the right side of this one, challenging the use of taxpayer money to fund a charter school found to be functioning as an Islamic academy. Technicalities do not subtract from the truth or merit of this case, and must not spell the end of attempts to hold those in charge of Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy legally accountable for a long and deliberate pattern of deception and thuggish behavior. "Lawsuit finds new evidence in TiZA charter school case," by Sarah Lemagie for the Star Tribune, January 12:

Trying to wash their hands of a lawsuit over alleged promotion of Islam at a Minnesota charter school, state officials said in court filings this month that the school misled investigators looking into complaints against the K-8 academy.

The state education commissioner, asking to be dropped as a defendant in a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, wrote that some evidence that Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA) broke the law emerged only after the suit was filed. Those findings range from documents with forged signatures to an impermissible Arabic language curriculum, according to lawyers for the state.

Muhammad said it: War is deceit.

For its part, the school now argues that the ACLU of Minnesota lacks authority to sue because the organization was dissolved by the secretary of state nearly five years ago.

Those arguments and more are contained in a flurry of new court filings in which the education commissioner, the school and various school officials have all asked a federal judge to dismiss the ACLU's claims.

The suit alleged that the public school violated the U.S. Constitution by promoting religion.

Some evidence surfaced in depositions during the past few months and goes well beyond the ACLU's initial arguments, said Chuck Samuelson, the group's executive director. "We never thought there were forgeries," he said. "That's a big thing, and that was news to us."

In a written statement on Wednesday, TiZA denied the allegations and pounced on the ACLU's dissolution as "hypocrisy" in a case that has led to close scrutiny of the school's business practices.

Samuelson acknowledged the dissolution, saying it was a mistake that resulted when registration paperwork required by the secretary of state somehow "slipped through the cracks" around the time that the organization moved to a new address.

Lawyers for the ACLU are evaluating whether and how that affects the lawsuit, he said.

Lawyers for the state say the education commissioner should not be held responsible because her staff investigated all the complaints they received about the school. But they said some issues surfaced only after the suit was filed, including these allegations:

• Signatures of the former president of the school's sponsoring organization, Islamic Relief USA, were forged at least seven times on documents sent to the state.

• The Muslim American Society of Minnesota paid TiZA teachers to teach Islamic studies as part of their school day.

• The school used an Arabic language curriculum that was marketed by the bookseller as having a strong focus on Islamic values.

• Before opening and in its early years, TiZA was marketed as an Islamic school to the Muslim community.

• The school failed to make clear to state officials potential conflicts of interest with its sectarian landlord, among other misrepresentations.

The school, which has campuses in Inver Grove Heights and Blaine, has denied those claims.

Samuelson says they "paint a disappointing picture" of TiZA.

"Truthfulness is sort of something one expects," he said.

Again: War is deceit.

The ACLU's initial complaint, filed in January 2009 in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, described the school as a place where teachers participated in student prayer activities and the dress code conformed to Islamic law.

The ACLU argued that state officials were also at fault for failing to uncover and stop the alleged violations, though a judge later dismissed all but one of those claims.

In recent court filings, Islamic Relief USA and the education commissioner have also asked for indemnification against TiZA.

A settlement conference in the case has been scheduled for next month before Magistrate Judge Jeanne J. Graham.

And that's just one of the threats and acts of intimidation attributed to this institution. Indeed, "we have to pinch ourselves to remember that we're talking here about a Minnesota public school -- financed with our tax dollars."

We also must demand action against further funding of a taxpayer-supported train wreck such as this. "Affidavits portray TiZA as threatening," by Katherine Kersten for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, February 28 (thanks to JF):

Most of us occasionally have differences of opinion with our neighborhood public school. If you voice your complaints, you may risk a frown from the principal or a cold shoulder from other parents at a school softball game.

But at one Minnesota public school, critics may be in for something more sinister. Khalid Elmasry says in an affidavit that after he criticized Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA), which his child used to attend, the school's executive director made a statement at a parent meeting that Elmasry took "as an attempt to incite violence against me and my family." Even more disturbing is what Janeha Edwards -- a former administrative assistant at the school -- says in an affidavit the director suggested after she displeased him: "We could just kill you, yeah tell your husband we'll do his job for him."

These bizarre developments are described in documents filed in a legal battle royal between TiZA -- a K-8 charter school with campuses in Inver Grove Heights and Blaine -- and the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota. Last year, the ACLU filed a federal suit claiming that TiZA impermissibly promotes religion.

In January, the ACLU sought a protective order, telling the court that intimidation by TiZA was discouraging potential witnesses from appearing. On Feb. 10, the court barred witness harassment or intimidation by either party.

Elmasry is one witness who sought such protection. In January, he testified about TiZA's financial entanglement with the Muslim American Society of Minnesota at a Minnesota Senate subcommittee hearing on charter school lease aid. Shortly thereafter, Elmasry says in an affidavit, he was informed by a friend and TIZA parent that TiZA authorities had called a parent meeting, where they showed a video of Elmasry's testimony. Then, according to the parent's account, Asad Zaman, the school's director and an imam -- or Muslim religious leader -- accused Elmasry of talking to the Minnesota Department of Education and "selling" his "Iman," meaning his Islamic faith, according to Elmasry's affidavit.

Elmasry was frightened, he says. "It is well-known in Islam that a Muslim who rejects his or her faith is committing an act punishable by death," according to his affidavit. "There are many accounts of Muslims taking matters into their own hands and killing people they believe have sold or rejected their Islamic faith or Iman."

Elmasry was worried, he says in the affidavit, because "the overwhelming majority of TiZA's enrollment is Somali, living in a community that has been troubled with many acts of random violence. I am concerned that Zaman could be exploiting this fact in the hope that word will reach a radical or unstable individual or group within the Twin Cities Muslim community that a Muslim has sold his Iman and is trying to shut down a Muslim school that serves Somalis."

TiZA denies that a threat was intended, according to documents filed with the court. "Even if the Court accepts the comment alleged by Elmasry," the school maintains, "such remarks have significance only when issued by a proper Islamic judge, of which Elmasry and Zaman are not."

Note, however, that they don't deny the death penalty for apostasy. Oops.

Elmasry is not the only fearful witness. Edwards, who left her job at TiZA in 2009, also hesitates to testify about what she saw and heard during her years there.

During her tenure, she says in an affidavit, she saw "no real distinction" between the operations of TiZA and the Muslim American Society, with which the school shares a building. For years, "I watched [school officials] lash out in order to control those around them, and to retaliate against anyone who spoke poorly of the school, or otherwise challenged their authority." According to her affidavit, Zaman suggested that "we could just kill you" after becoming upset when she "challeng[ed] his authority."

Zaman has no recollection of making such a statement, he said in an affidavit.

According to the ACLU, the alleged pattern of intimidation extends to any "who might speak publicly about events at TiZA and its use of public funds." Even Chuck Samuelson, the ACLU's executive director, has been a target. In July 2009, the school filed a defamation claim in excess of $100,000 against the ACLU, citing Samuelson's simple statement that "[TiZA is] a theocratic school ... as plain as the substantial nose on my face."

Alan Dershowitz, a noted Harvard law professor, has described TiZA's defamation claim as "lawfare -- the use of law as a weapon of warfare." Controversial Islamic organizations "sue their critics for defamation, not with the intent to win the case, but with the hope of imposing an unaffordably high cost on criticism of their actions," he and Elizabeth Samson wrote in the British newspaper the Guardian.

In December, the court dismissed TiZA's defamation claim against the ACLU.

One more attempt at legal harassment averted. But we have to pinch ourselves to remember that we're talking here about a Minnesota public school -- financed with our tax dollars.