-- MEDIA ADVISORY --

CHICAGO-AREA MOSQUE ATTACKED AS MUSLIMS PRAY INSIDE
Islamic group calls for FBI investigation, increased police protection

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 3/12/2003) - A prominent national Islamic civil
rights group will hold a news conference today to call for an FBI investigation
of an attack last night on a Chicago-area mosque that occurred while more
than 100 Muslims prayed inside.

WHEN: Wednesday, March 12, 4:30 p.m. (Central)
WHERE: Islamic Foundation, 300 W. Highridge Road, Villa Park, Illinois

Police investigators, witnesses and mosque officials told the
Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) that
worshipers heard two loud bangs just after the evening prayer at the
Islamic Foundation in Villa Park, Ill., one of the largest mosques and
Islamic schools in America. (SEE: www.islamicfoundation.org/)

Witnesses say they found a window of the prayer area damaged by two
projectiles that they took to be bullets. Islamic Foundation Director
Abdul Hameed Dogar called the attack "a deliberate attempt to kill worshipers"
because those praying were clearly visible to the attackers through the
large windows of the mosque.

Villa Park Police Detective John Szkolka told CAIR he does not know what
kind of projectiles hit the mosque window and is following "some leads"
in the case. Szkolka said the attack was "almost certainly" bias-related.

This was not the first such attack on the mosque. In 1999, vandals threw
a chunk of concrete through a glass door and broke a window. Other
incidents of vandalism occurred while the mosque was under construction. Following the 9/11 terror attacks, the mosque received a number of threats.

"We are thankful that no one was hurt in last night's attack. This incident
is just the latest in a series of assaults on and threats against American
Muslims in recent weeks. We believe the increase in Islamophobic hate
crimes is directly related to the drumbeat of pro-war and anti-Muslim
rhetoric in our society. Local law enforcement agencies should offer
increased protection for Muslim communities and their institutions
during this time of crisis," said Omar Haydar, executive director of CAIR's
Chicago office (CAIR-Chicago).

Haydar noted that just this week, death threats were made against Muslim
students at San Jose State University in California. The threats were
just one of several anti-Muslim incidents across the country reported to CAIR
within the past month. Physical assaults against Muslims have been
reported in Northern California, Southern California, Georgia, New Jersey, and
South Carolina. One incident in Yorba Linda, Calif., left a Muslim teenager
badly beaten by a group that allegedly included white supremacists.

CAIR is America's largest Islamic civil liberties group. It is
headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has 16 regional offices
nationwide and in Canada. Since its founding in 1994, CAIR has defended the civil
and religious rights of all Americans.

                    - END -

CONTACT: CAIR-Chicago, Omar Haydar, 312-922-4720, 312-735-3662;
CAIR-National, Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-MAIL:
cair (at) cair-net.org; Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441,
E-MAIL:
hhassan (at) cair-net.org

NOTE: CAIR offers an e-mail list designed to be a journalist's window to
the American Muslim community. Subscribers to the list, called
ISLAM-INFONET, receive news releases and other materials dealing with
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To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to:
cair.biglist.com/islam-infonet/

To reach the list moderator, send a message to: cair (at) cair-net.org