Two exchange students attending school in Perham, Minnesota say they were kicked out of a church there when they questioned a nationally known speaker who says "Islam equals terrorism."

The boys were kicked out of the Assembly of God church in Perham during a question answer period following a speech by Walid Shoebat. Shoebat says he is a former terrorist, and claims to be an anti-terrorism expert. He now calls Islam the devil and tours the country speaking to churches and schools – even collecting fees from Homeland Security.

CNN has exposed Shoebat, calling him a fraud. Today, the DC based Council on American-Islamic Relations contacted WDAY and said it is calling for a meeting with Assembly of God church leaders in Perham, in hopes of strengthening interfaith relations and promoting understanding.

The two teenagers are Muslim, and attended the event featuring Walid Shoebat, a Muslim turned Christian.

Fikri, from Indonesia, and Elshan, from Azerbhjan, came to the United States as exchange students. Their home right now is Perham, Minnesota and host Mary Anderson. When the students heard that Walid Shoebat was speaking at a public forum at Assembly of God in Perham, they wanted to go.

Shoebat is known as a former Muslim, now Christian, speaking out against Islam.

Elshan Mirzazade – Perham Exchange Student: "Our message is not to argue with him, but to say to people that what he says is wrong."

The boys heard what they say are mistruths and distortions coming out of Shoebat. So, during question and answer time they questioned Shoebat, and quickly were told to leave.

Fikri Rahmat – Perham Exchange Student: "I would conclude in my mind that he got mad because maybe he was afraid of the truth. One of his companions came to us and said, 'Out, Out,' rudely to us."

Elshan Mirzazade: "They ushered us out and asked us to leave and we said, 'OK, OK.' So when I was leaving, I shouted, 'Good way of promoting peace, bravo, bravo.'"

WDay, 5 March 2013

See also "CAIR-MN seeks meeting with church after Muslim students kicked out", CAIR press release, 5 March 2013

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Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman reports:

The Evening Standard has published a fulsome apology to Isabella Freeman, who is Assistant Chief executive of our borough, and in charge of our legal services. The newspaper, edited by Sarah Sands and owned by Russian oligarch, Evgeny Lebedev, claimed back in May that Isabella Freeman had 'blamed Muslim voters for alleged voter fraud in the borough' and had 'showed a lack of care about alleged voter fraud in Tower Hamlets and was involved in a deliberate cover-up'. I wrote to the proprietor, Mr Lebedev, of the Evening Standard at the time, inviting him to visit our borough, to see things for himself. He did not see fit to reply.

The newspaper has now been forced to accept that its allegations were entirely untrue. Instead it accepted that our council has the most robust systems and processes permitted under election law to ensure the integrity of the electoral register and identify any malpractice. It also accepted that our borough electronically scans 100 per cent of postal votes and rejects any that have non matching signatures.

These deeply damaging and utterly false claims were published by the Evening Standard at the height of an obvious campaign by Sarah Sands and the Evening Standard to support the Boris Johnson Mayoral campaign. The Evening Standard wished to convey the impression that voter fraud was rife in our borough, and therefore could, in a tightly fought election, influence the result. The false claims about Isabella Freeman came after weeks of sustained hostile reporting from the Evening Standard, which included late night doorstepping and harassment of senior council officials by Evening Standard journalists.

The editor of the Evening Standard, Sarah Sands, took a personal interest in running stories that were both highly critical and inaccurate. Sadly, there were others, including Conservative leader, Councillor Peter Golds, who were more than happy to assist the Evening Standard in its disgraceful campaign.

Isobella Freeman has rightly been vindicated of all of the claims made by the Evening Standard. I am delighted that the newspaper has been obliged to apologise, although this will do little to undo the personal damage it has already caused.

I look forward to hearing the editor of the Evening Standard has apologised to Isabella Freeman, in person.

Mayor Lutfur Rahman's blog, 16 August 2012

See also Evening Standard, 15 August 2012

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