NATIONAL POST SEEKS TO "PUNISH" MUSLIMS FOR LETTERS TO EDITOR

Islamic groups says Post writer promotes Islamophobia using distortions and disinformation

(Ottawa, Canada - 8/31/2001) - The Canadian office of the Council on American-Islamic relations (CAIR CAN) is calling on the National Post to clarify whether it is the newspaper's policy to contact employers of those who write critical letters to the editor in an attempt to chill freedom of expression. Post reporter Stewart Bell, who CAIR CAN says has a "vendetta" against Muslims in Canada, has contacted the employers of those who wrote letters to the editor using their company's email accounts.

In one case, a Muslim replied to the Post's methods by saying:

"I sent you a letter the editor using my employer's email account. You called my employer. Let me make two points very clear: 1) my letter represented only my opinion as a private citizen, not [my employer's]; and2) your approach of trying to intimidate people is outrageous and unprofessional. This further shows your real intentions."

In another case, two federal government workers were threatened with an investigation after Bell contacted their department alleging the two had distributed emails critical of The Post.

CAIR CAN says Bell is using his position as a journalist to "punish" Muslim employees who have challenged distortions and disinformation in his recent articles about an Islamic website. In those articles, Bell claims that Islamway.com was "used to recruit Islamic terrorists," because of one message out of thousands posted on the website forum that suggested traveling to Afghanistan to fight.

(The articles were apparently based on information supplied by infamous Muslim basher Steven Emerson, who has long been viewed as the "attack-dog" of the pro Israel lobby in America. SEE: http://www.fair.org/extra/9901/emerson.html)

The letter writers responded to an alert issued by CAIR CAN that said :

"All three articles used distortions and disinformation to create an alarmist threat of Islamic terrorism in Canada by holding Islamway.com accountable for the postings of a private individual. Were this fair journalistic practice, the National Post could logically be called an anti-Muslim newspaper as posts on its own forum page have called Islam a 'psychotic religion,'

"Breaking with the journalistic ethic of impartiality, the Post relied on a partisan lobbying group for a foreign government without verifying the source of their information or its accuracy."

Readers were asked to contact the Post editorial board to protest the string of inflammatory articles that created an alarming atmosphere of Islamophobia in Canada.

"It is scandalous for a national newspaper to mute legitimate voices of dissent by contacting the employers of those who criticize the Post's shoddy journalism," said CAIR CAN executive director Riad Saloojee. "Is this Post policy or that of a rogue reporter? If the latter, then a reporter's job to write the news, not to fabricate it as part of his own political and religious vendetta." Saloojee added, "The Muslim community of Canada would view any repercussions of employees with grave concern. Neither public nor private institutions should be complicit in a campaign to chill freedom of speech."

Muslims claim that the National Post has a long history of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bias. There are an estimated 1.2 billion Muslims in the world, and 600,000 Muslims in Canada.