Oklahoma lawmakers are considering banning judges in the state from basing any rulings on foreign laws, including Islamic Sharia law.

A Senate panel on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved the bill, which has broad support in the Republican-controlled Legislature. The bill would specifically make void and unenforceable any court, arbitration or administrative agency decision that doesn't grant the parties affected by the ruling "the same fundamental liberties, rights and privileges granted under the U.S. and Oklahoma constitutions."

"This is a way to protect American citizens ... where somebody may try to use any kind of foreign law or religious law to affect the outcome of a trial," said Sen. Ralph Shortey, R-Oklahoma City, who sponsored the bill. Shortey described it as "American Law for American Courts."

A handful of other states have laws aimed at keeping courts from basing decision on foreign legal codes, including Islamic law. Oklahoma voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2010 that would have specifically prohibited courts from considering Sharia law, but a federal judge blocked its implementation after a Muslim community leader alleged it discriminates against his religion.

Shortey said he didn't know of an instance in Oklahoma where a judge has relied on foreign laws, but he said there have been cases in other states. That prompted state Sen. Brian Crain, R-Tulsa, to describe the measure as a "solution that's looking for a problem." Crain was the only member of the Senate committee to vote against the bill.

The panel approved the bill 8-1. It now heads to the full Senate for a vote. A similar measure has been introduced in the Oklahoma House.

The executive director of the Oklahoma chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union said Oklahoma courts already are required to enforce state and federal laws when they conflict with foreign law that violates public policy.

"This bill is entirely unnecessary and creates significant uncertainty for Oklahomans married abroad as well as those Oklahomans who have adopted a child from another country or are seeking to do so," Executive Director Ryan Kiesel said in a statement. "These Oklahoma families don't deserve to have this type of doubt cast over them. It also creates an atmosphere of uncertainty for foreign businesses seeking to do business with Oklahoma businesses."

Associated Press, 12 February 2013

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Members of a Muslim family whose house was shot at during a drive-by Thursday evening think they were targeted because of their faith.

Tuesday, a stranger driving by Allie and Maryam Taghavi's home in southwest Oklahoma City stopped and asked their 21-year-old son the family's religion.

A large sign hung on the porch and visible from the road said, "as-salamu alaykum," an Arabic phrase often used by Muslims meaning "peace be with you."

Without any suspicion, their son told the stranger they were Muslim, Allie Taghavi said. The stranger then drove away.

Then, two days later on Thursday evening, Allie Taghavi was home with three of his adult children when shots were fired around 7:45 p.m. from a car driving south on S Olie Avenue near their home at SW 30. "I screamed when I heard the shots, but it was so rapid ... like firecrackers," he said.

Allie Taghavi ran from his bedroom into his 23-year-old daughter's room where a bullet had come through the east side of their house, piercing a wall a few feet away from where she was sitting at her computer desk.

Seconds later, shots were fired into the bedroom just to the south where Allie Taghavi had been. One bullet crossed the width of his bedroom and passed into a bathroom where it lodged in the wall.

No one was injured in the incident. The family fled its home after police cleared the scene a few hours later. Family members said they don't plan to return.

Police Master Sgt. Gary Knight said Oklahoma City's gang unit is investigating the incident because it was reported as a drive-by shooting. Police responded to a call about multiple rounds being fired into the home from a car driving south on S Olie Avenue.

Two bullet holes were found in the home. No one had been arrested as of Friday evening.

NewsOK, 2 February 2013

See also "CAIR-OK seeks bias probe of shooting attack on Muslim family's home", CAIR press release, 1 February 2013

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A Muslim man is seeking answers from federal law enforcement agencies about what he describes as their harassment of him and his family since his return to Oklahoma from the Middle East.

Saadiq Long, a U.S. Air Force veteran and McAlester native, said Thursday he and his sister have been followed by the FBI and have had several unexpected and unwanted encounters with agents of the federal agency since he arrived in Oklahoma from Qatar on Nov. 19.

Adam Soltani, executive director of the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the Muslim civil rights group sent a letter Thursday to the federal Justice Department asking the government agency to investigate the recent treatment of Long and his family.

The letter, written by Gadeir Abbas, an attorney for the civil rights group, requested that the justice department "investigate and hold accountable those responsible for the dangerous and illegal cowboy antics" of the FBI's field office in Oklahoma City.

Soltani, Long and Long's sister Ava Anderson, of Oklahoma City, spoke at a news conference held by CAIR's Oklahoma chapter Thursday at its office at 1112 NW 23.

NewsOK, 14 December 2012

See also McAlester News-Capital, 13 December 2012

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On Monday, November 19, representatives of the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-OK) will meet a Muslim Air force veteran who had been barred from returning to Oklahoma when he finally arrives at Will Rogers World Airport.

"We welcome the positive development in this case and hope Mr. Long will not face any bureaucratic difficulties when he returns to his native land," said CAIR-OK Executive Director Adam Soltani.

Following intervention by CAIR-OK, Saadiq Long, a U.S. citizen and Air Force veteran living in Qatar, was allowed to board a Delta Airlines flight (3316) due to arrive at 5:02 p.m. on Monday. He has been struggling to return home for six months after being denied boarding on two previous flights to visit his terminally-ill mother, apparently because he had been placed on a government no-fly list.

CAIR press release, 18 November 2012

See also "Oklahoman on 'no fly' list allowed to fly home", KOCO.com, 18 November 2012

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EDMOND, Okla. — There is a controversy in Edmond involving the expansion of a local mosque. The small mosque, which has been in Edmond for 20 years, sits across from the University of Central Oklahoma. Officials have requested permits to expand the building to five times the size it is now.

When neighbors were notified about the expansion plan, letters of complaint began coming in. In a hand-written note the writer asked planning commissioners to look at recent events in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and "what our grandchildren are going to face." In one letter the sender called the mosque near UCO, "a headquarters for terrorist affiliate organizations."

KOCO, 24 July 2012 

The letter describing the proposed mosque as a terrorist threat was accompanied by a flier circulated by an organisation called Oklahomans for Responsible Government ("This has nothing to do with the First Amendment. This is about treason and sedition"). As you can see from their website, the campaign draws its inspiration from Frank Gaffney's paranoid Muslim Brotherhood conspiracy theories.

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