October 23, 2004
Police probe radical cleric: East Van mosque linked to three B.C. men missing in Asia
By: Joel Baglole, Jonathan Fowlie, and Krisendra Biset
The RCMP and the Vancouver police said Friday they are investigating racist comments made by Sheik Younus Kathrada, a radical Muslim cleric in Vancouver who promotes Islamic holy war against Jews and other non-Muslim people.
"We are aware of comments that have been made at this particular mosque, and we are following up with an investigation," RCMP Cpl. Catherine Galliford said. "I am not prepared to say if there are any other Vancouver mosques currently under investigation," she added.
A controversy erupted in Vancouver's Muslim and Jewish communities after it was reported that Kathrada, cleric of the Dar al-Madinah Islamic Society mosque in east Vancouver, made anti-Semitic and racist comments during public speeches, several of which have been posted on the Internet.
On Friday, those comments triggered a confrontation outside the Dar al-Madinah mosque as a lone protester waved a sign at people going into the storefront doorway.
Kathrada first entered the news as the cleric who ran a prayer group attended by Rudwan Khalil Abubaker, the Vancouver man believed to have been shot by authorities in Russia. On Friday, Phil Rankin, lawyer for the Abubaker family, confirmed Abubaker had attended Kathrada's mosque.
In an interview with The Sun, Rankin also said the Abubaker family learned Friday that Russian authorities had buried their 26-year-old relative in the Chechan village of Niki-Khita -- the small village where he is believed to have been killed -- in the days, or even hours, after he was allegedly shot by Russian authorities in an anti-terrorist raid Oct. 8.
Rankin, who previously did not know where the body believed to be Abubaker's was being held, said the family of the 26-year-old remains uncertain their relative is dead, since the only proof of his identity so far has been the passport Russian authorities held up to a television camera after four men were shot in the apparent raid.
That identification process will become more complex, Rankin said, now that the body has been buried.
"The [Russians] say that Rudwan was buried so they can't get the body back," Rankin said.
"He had a good Muslim burial and they're not going to exhume him," he said, adding Muslim faith does not allow for bodies to be exhumed.
"We'll make an exception," he said, explaining the family still wants the body to be brought back to Canada.
Rankin said the Russian authorities have sent fingerprints of Abubaker, but that the family is uncertain whether they would be able to make a match because they do not believe his prints are on file with anyone.
He added the Russians said they may also send a picture of the dead man's body, which the family could use for identification, but he was not certain if that was going to happen.
On Friday night, federal sources told The Sun a picture of the body has been sent from Russia and is with Canadian authorities in Ottawa.
Rankin also said that Azer Tagiev and Kamal Elbahja, two friends of Abubaker who are missing and may also have been in Russia, also used to attend the Dar al-Madinah mosque.
Kathrada, the cleric at that mosque, has referred to Jews as "the brothers of monkeys and swine," and espoused the virtues of an "offensive jihad," an Islamic holy war between Muslims and people of non-Muslim religions.
On Friday, Rankin said that Abubaker's younger brother, Amir Abubaker, attended the mosque with Rudwan, but does not recall any lectures containing those or similar words against Jews.
Outside the Dar Al-Madinah mosque on Friday, a lone protester who expressed concern that Kathrada's comments will damage Muslim-Jewish relations, was confronted by a group of angry Muslims.
Kathrada was not at his tiny rented office and prayer rooms on Vancouver's Fraser Street and a sign posted at the entrance of the building said the day's prayer would not be taking place at the location.
Muslims arriving for the 1 p.m. Jumaah Prayer were startled to find the door locked and some became angry when another Muslim man, Hanif Abdul Karim, arrived with a placard saying that "anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim hate hurts all of us."
Some in the group tried to yank the placard from Karim and shove him from outside the mosque entrance but were restrained by others. Shaken by the ordeal, Karim, who left soon after, said he was appalled by their reaction -- and by Kathrada's comments.
"I'm saddened that this type of hate speech can be said in the name of Islam," he said.
But he was shouted down by Muslims close to Kathrada. One man, who would not give his name, said of the anti-Semitic comments: "This is a minor issue. Do you know what the Palestinians are going through? You have no idea."
Another man, who looked no older than 20, said: "We are an honest, peaceful people and who speak the truth. If it hurts, so be it. No Jew will be spared."
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Kathrada did not deny he made the comments, and said his words speak for themselves.
Vancouver police spokeswoman Const. Anne Drennan said an investigation into Kathrada's comments "has been ongoing for some time now." However, she added that police have no immediate concerns about the mosque.
"At this point, there is nothing to indicate a likelihood of violence breaking out," she said.
Jewish groups in Vancouver and across Canada reacted strongly to Kathrada's comments.
"I am very disturbed by these comments," said Mark Weintraub, chair of the Canadian Jewish Congress Pacific Region. "If in fact the individual in question has called for the killing of Jews, then this is the most overt attack on Jewish people Vancouver has ever seen."
B'Nai Brith Canada called on B.C. Attorney-General Geoff Plant to begin an immediate investigation. A spokeswoman for the ministry declined to comment.
Condemnation of Kathrada's actions was equally strong in Canada's Muslim community.
"This kind of commentary is completely against the teachings of Islam and all people of conscience should deplore it," the B.C. Muslim Association said in a statement. However, the association noted: "The comments appear to have been made in response to the assassination of Sheik Ahmed Yassin in Palestine. The Muslim community was obviously shocked by the assassination and it is possible Mr. Kathrada over reacted."
The Dar al-Madinah mosque is among a handful of mosques in the Vancouver area that are not affiliated with the B.C. Muslim Association.
The Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations also denounced Kathrada's comments, calling them "deeply offensive" and not reflective of the views of Canadian Muslims.
Kathrada told Canadian Press he is a native of South Africa's Indian community, and that he has been a cleric at Dar al-Madinah for six years. Before that, he said, he was a Muslim chaplain at the University of Victoria on Vancouver Island. He said he studied in Saudi Arabia.
In his speeches, Kathrada tells an audience that martyrdom should be the desire of all real Muslims. "The prophet . . . says that the stone and the tree will say `Oh Muslim, oh slave of Allah, that verily behind me is a Jew. Then come and kill him," he says in one text of a speech.
Basel Barqoni, who moved to Vancouver from Palestine 17 years ago, described Kathrada as a "very respectable man" and didn't believe he would make negative comments concerning Jews. But Barqoni expressed his own strong views, saying he was uncomfortable that "Jews control the world and the media" and that Muslims are branded as terrorists.
David Matas, a lawyer for B'nai Brith, said Kathrada could be prosecuted under Canada's hate crime laws against inciting hatred and/or genocide. Given that Kathrada's comments are on tape and he has not denied them, any case against him would be "cut and dried," he said.
Also appeared in the Ottawa Citizen, Moose Jaw Times and Canwest News Service.
http://www.cjc.ca/template.php?action=itn&Story=985
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