ISB Lawsuit Update - They Sued Ahmed Mansour?!

Dean Barnett (aka soxblog) updates us on the continuing saga of the ISB lititgation(s).  (Background proivded here.)  What was news to me in Barnett's article was that the ISB had even sued Dr. Ahmed Mansour, an outspoken fcritic radical Islam.  Not a smart move......

"Even though the ISB's original suit named well over a dozen defendants, one of the suit's curiosities pertains to a party whose name was noticeably absent--Ahmed Mansour.

Ahmed Mansour is a moderate Muslim cleric. Mansour sought refuge in America when a Wahabbist fatwa calling for his assassination forced him to flee his native Egypt.  After being granted asylum by the U.S. government and moving to Boston, Mansour began visiting the ISB and was appalled by what he saw. In particular, the ISB's willingness to seek and receive the favor of controversial cleric Yussuf al-Qaradawi outraged Mansour. (ed: You can find out about Qaradawi and his opinions here.)

According to the affidavit he filed soon after the ISB lodged its suit, Mansour, more than any other individual, is responsible for the negative press coverage that rained down on the ISB. And yet, oddly, the ISB did not name Mansour as one of the defendants. In his affidavit, Mansour alleged that this was because the ISB wanted its suit to appear as a struggle between Muslims and non-Muslims.

Regardless of the ISB's motivations, Mansour soon got his wish; the ISB amended its suit, naming him as a co-defendant in the action. With Mansour's inclusion, the perversity of the ISB's legal action became apparent--a group dubiously claiming to represent moderate reformist Islam was suing a cleric who is a genuine champion of moderate reformist Islam.

Ahmed Mansour is a member of the Citizens for Peace and Tolerance, the Boston group that first alerted the local media to the radical nature of some people associated with the ISB.   Dr. Mansour is also a board member of the Free Muslim Coalition.  From their website:

"The Free Muslims Coalition is a nonprofit organization made up of American Muslims and Arabs of all backgrounds who feel that religious violence and terrorism have not been fully rejected by the Muslim community in the post 9-11 era.  The Free Muslims was created to eliminate broad base support for Islamic extremism and terrorism and to strengthen secular democratic institutions in the Middle East and the Muslim World by supporting Islamic reformation efforts."

Not a good move by the ISB at all.