In another report from February, we learn that an informant told the FBI before this attack that Musab Mohamed Masmari may be planning “terrorist activity,” and that Masmari “opined that homosexuals should be exterminated.”
This incident should have been the impetus for a national discussion of violent Sharia enforcement in the U.S., and an examination of what could be done to stop Sharia vigilantism. Instead, the mainstream media largely ignored the obvious motive; in this report, it is discussed as “homophobia,” with no hint that this was an incident of violent Sharia enforcement in the U.S.
“10 years in prison for Seattle gay club arsonist,” by Levi Pulkkinen, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 31, 2014 (thanks to Patrick):
The Seattle man who set fire to a popular Capitol Hill club during a New Year’s celebration was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison – twice as long as the term requested by prosecutors.
Facing federal charges in the dangerous but non-injurious blaze, Musab Masmari admitted to starting a fire inside Neighbours Nightclub during the first minutes of 2014.
Masmari was caught on camera setting fire to a rear stairwell at Neighbours, a large, decades-old gay nightclub.
About 15 minutes after midnight, Masmari poured gasoline in a stairway to Neighbours’ balcony and lit the pool of fuel. The fire was quickly doused with a fire extinguisher; there were about 750 people in the club at the time.
Masmari, a California native also known as Musab Musmari, was arrested days later on his way to Sea-Tac Airport after buying a one-way ticket to Turkey.
In a letter to the court, Masmari, 31, explained he’d consumed a bottle of cheap whiskey in the hours before he set the fire. He claims not to remember setting it, though he recognized himself on a surveillance video.
“I do not believe that I am a bad man but when I get drunk I have done bad things,” Masmari said in a letter to the court. “I swear that it is my intent to never drink again.”
Prosecutors offered another motive for the arson – homophobia.
Writing the court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Greenberg said evidence suggests Masmari was motivated by an “intolerable hate.”
“One of Masmari’s close associates was interviewed by investigators and reported that Masmari confided in him that he ‘burned a gay club’ and that he did it because ‘what these people are doing is wrong,’” Greenberg said in court papers.
Greenberg said another person close to Masmari said he had a “general hostility towards homosexuality.”
Attorneys for Masmari Charles Swift and Jeffrey Cohen noted that prosecutors were unwilling to try to prove that hate motivated the arson.
The defense attorneys said the assertion is based on statements made by witnesses who’ve not been identified to the defense. The allegation, Swift and Cohen told the court, has never been proven to reasonable degree.
“Mr. Masmari does not agree that his criminal conduct was fueled by hate,” the defense attorneys said in court papers. “He does, however, agree with the government that his conduct was fueled by substance abuse, and in particular alcoholism.”
Prosecutors and the defense agreed to request a five-year prison term for Masmari. But U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez doubled the term to 10 years in Thursday’s sentencing hearing at the Seattle federal courthouse.
Surveillance video showed Masmari entering a bar linked to Neighbours by an interior door carrying a one-gallon gas can in a bag. Masmari headed straight into Neighbours, set the fire and then fled through the bar. He was identified as a suspect after police released photos taken from the surveillance video.
The child of well-educated Libyan parents, Masmari was born in Los Angeles while his father was studying film there. He lived most of his life in Libya before coming to Washington in 2008.
By 2013, he was living in his car and unable to hold a job because of a raging problem with alcohol, his attorney said in court papers.
Masmari had numerous run-ins with police earlier in 2013. At one point, he was found sweating and shirtless in a tree, having cut several branches from it; he apparently told police he was cutting the branches to “save everyone.”
After the surveillance photo was circulated to media, Masmari booked a flight to Turkey. He has ties to Libya, where he was raised. Arrested at Sea-Tac, Masmari was carrying most of his favorite belongings.
Masmari was initially charged in state court. The case was passed to federal prosecutors during negotiations on a plea agreement, which Masmari accepted in May through a guilty plea to a single arson count.
“I am sorry for the damage I caused, and I am grateful that no one was hurt,” Masmari said in a letter to the court. “I should have gotten alcohol counseling. … I wish I had.
Masmari remains jailed pending his transfer to federal prison.
Joe says
I am not surprise seatle have rising homophobic attacks from muslim extremist population. Last case I heard was seatle muslim extremist murder gay muslim guy and his partner. The media didn’t made headlines or even care to mention muslim extremist in America are murdering gay muslims.
Angemon says
It seems Masmari knows how to play possum. And now he has 10 years to get himself acquainted with gay sex. Good riddance.
Reality Check says
I loved your part about the gay sex. Well said.
By the time he gets out of jail, his voice will have turned into soprano. 🙂
Wellington says
Just another Muslim loser, just another waste of life. On a larger note, taking things in from a more removed perspective, it’s highly instructive, as well as ironic, that Islam in theory wants death for gays but the reality is that homosexuality is rampant in the Muslim world.
I spoke to an American veteran several years ago who served in Iraq and he told me he and his buddies were stunned at how many Iraqi men regularly had sex with Iraqi boys. I taught an Egyptian some twenty years ago who told me that anal intercourse by Muslim men with boys was pervasive in Egypt. Ah, Islam produces not only haters and massive amounts of intolerant people, but it produces hypocrites aplenty as well. Not surprised though. When you start out dysfunctional, as Islam did big time, anything is possible.
Islam is so screwed up (excuse the double entendre). That this sicko religion, and it is so sick, still has traction does not redound to the credit of mankind as a whole. Put another way, as long as an extremely warped creed like Islam still has massive numbers of adherents and defenders, this is indicative of just how much trouble mankind still is in. As Islam waxes or wains, this particular barometric measure will convey a fair amount about where mankind is headed.
Salah says
“..homosexuality is rampant in the Muslim world. ”
There’s a reason for that!!!
http://crossmuslims.blogspot.com/2012/10/was-muhammad-gay.html
Wellington says
Thanks for that link, Salah. Well, I determined long ago that the character of Mohammed was a pathological one. He was enthralled with power and death——and sex. He certainly never got a revelation from Allah that any sexual desire of his was verbotten. Indeed, quite the opposite. What Mohammed wanted, Mohammed got. (What Lola wants, Lola gets, eh?)
I’ve long argued here at JW that if you effectively destroy the character of Mohammed, and such a character deserves to be destroyed, then you will, in effect, destroy Islam. Mohammed is the key. He always has been. An entire world religion has been built upon an almost totally despicable human being who lived long ago in a not very relevant part of the world.
Damn shame this happened, but occasionally humanity gets an aberration that is given credence as something special. No better example of this could be found in all of history than the adulation to this day still given to Mohammed by fools aplenty, even though he was a psychopath, a pedophile, a poser, a narcissist, a bandit and a murderer.
dumbledoresarmy says
To describe Mohammed, one might fall back on the Freudian phrase – “polymorphous perversity”.
bernie says
I recall an article called “Kingdom in the closet”: which described the discreet but fairly common gay scene in Saudi Arabia, though homosexuals sometimes face execution there.
bernie says
I recall an article called “Kingdom in the closet”: which described the discreet but fairly common gay scene in Saudi Arabia, though homosexuals sometimes face execution there.
Rob says
The Victorian era anthropologist Richard Burton (not the actor) described the countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan etc as the ‘Sodatic Zone’.
Go figure what that means.
Jay Boo says
Just a theory
Another repressed Muslim closeted homosexual acts out with a bit of projection rationalization .
You can bet he cased out the club many times while eyeing up and down the clientele with a façade layer of disgust hiding his heart full of unrequited gay fantasies and jealous resentment.
cindy says
You know what I find kinda’ funny??? They say they want to do away with the gays, but what about them having sex with little boys or having sex with other men to stretch their anus to carry a bomb in there, and that is okay??? So what makes the one right and the other wrong??? NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are the same. Men having relations with other men. So they are guilty of what they want to kill others for. He is going to the right place, he might become someones girlfriend!!
bernie says
I think the idea is that a young boy is a passive “bottom”, while the grown man is the “top” or active person. Also, young boys are generally hairless and lack many secondary masculine qualities (such as deep voice, muscular physique, etc.), so they are seen as more like females than males.
You’re correct though, how can consensual sex between 2 grown, adult males be seen as worse than an adult man who anally and/or orally rapes a young boy? At least there is consent and a balance of power in the former case, even though many wouldn’t agree with it.
Angemon says
cindy posted:
“They say they want to do away with the gays, but what about them having sex with little boys or having sex with other men to stretch their anus to carry a bomb in there, and that is okay??? So what makes the one right and the other wrong???”
I think their “logic” is similar to Big Bob’s:
duh_swami says
Well, Mahound did promise them boys pure as pearls. And he did go about town sucking the tongues of little boys, and who knows what else. But something must have happened to change his mind because he said to kill those who do it and to those who have it done to them. That seems to be sodomy he is banning, not oral sex, so he beat Bill Clinton to the idea by 1400 years, that oral sex is not sex. Since death to gays is called for in sharia, I suspect that catching someone in the act is rare. Sodomy is most likely assumed and does not have to be proven.
Reality Check says
It must surprise the hell out of these Muslims every time they get sentenced for a crime which is not a crime at all in their culture. This must be the proverbial fly in the honey jar for them and the honey jar is the West.
Ahhhhhh, everything would have been so perfect if ONLY they could have all the economic opportunities of the West plus the unpunished homophobia, child rape, honour killings, beheadings, et cetera, et cetera …
Alas, perfection never exists. They must know it by now.
Patti says
Ten years for trying burn 750 people to death. I guess we know how much more important muslims are than gay people. Disgusting.
No Fear says
Gay men do not promote a book which says that they are better than every one else, they do not promote a book which tells them to fight and kill non-gays, they do not promote a book which tells them that the almighty creator of the universe is going to burn non-gays in a fire.
The Quran is a centre of pestilence.
bernie says
Well, they do if they are gay men who are also extremist Muslims. However, most gay and lesbian Muslims are likely liberal or at least moderare in their outlook (such as the lesbian Muslim author/reformist Irshad Manji), because they know that extremist and even many “center-conservative” Muslims believe in the death penalty for homosexuals. Needless to say, plenty of Islamic gays and lesbians are quiet about their sexual orientation.