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CBS 2 – July 3, 2007
Community urges FBI to Investigate Muslim convert
ANAHEIM, Calif. An Orange County Islamic group called on the FBI Tuesday (July 3, 2007) to speed up a probe of a Muslim convert banned from an Irvine mosque, where members allege he preferred to discuss jihad rather than Islam.
Craig Monteilh, who started calling himself Farouk Monteilh in September when he began studying at the Islamic Center of Irvine, was served with a restraining order Friday based on allegations made by members of the mosque.
While the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Anaheim commended local Muslims for reporting Monteilh, it urged FBI agents to finish their probe to protect those who "courageously" stepped forward to make their reports.
Since the reports surfaced about a month ago, CAIR-LA said it has gotten complaints that Monteilh had tried to intimidate and threaten those who reported him.
CAIR-LA expressed concern that allowing threats or intimidation to go unchallenged might discourage people from reporting suspicious terror-related activities.
http://cbs2.com/local/local_story_184174257.html
Why the community is alarmed?
David Gaubatz, who works for an anti-Muslim rightist group, went on May 18, 2007 to the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia. He pretended that he is interested in becoming a convert to Islam. The main objective of the group is to penetrate the mosques and Islamic centers pose as people interested in converting to Islam or who are current Muslims. Gaubatz told a press conference on Jun 13, 2007 that sporting a beard and Muslim dress he went to the center. (www.mappingsharia.us)
Read More about the group: http://www.amperspective.com/html/sane_an_islamophopic.html
Los Angeles Times – June 30, 2007
Judge orders man to leave Irvine mosque alone
Worshipers say they reported him to authorities after he asked
to become a convert and began talking about jihad
By H.G. Reza
At the beginning, worshipers at the Islamic Center of Irvine said, they thought Craig Monteilh was just an overzealous convert when he criticized U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. But when he started talking about jihad and dropped oblique references to violence, congregants contacted authorities.
On Friday, an Orange County judge issued a restraining order barring Monteilh from going near the mosque and its employees. Members of the mosque testified Friday in court that the FBI opened an investigation earlier this month.
In interviews and testimony at Friday's hearing, four men said Monteilh appeared at the Islamic Center in September and said he wanted to convert.
Mohammad Elsisy, a mosque volunteer who teaches Arabic, said Monteilh wanted to be called Farouk Monteilh and appeared eager to learn about Islam.
But earlier this year, Monteilh began shifting religious discussions to jihad, or holy war, talking about "operations" against U.S. military targets, and suggested that he had access to weapons, said Ashruf Zied. No weapons were seen, Zied said in an interview.
"I said, 'Dude, stop right there, What are you talking about?' " said Zied, a software engineer who said that he was born in Ohio and that his father worked for NATO. "I was trying to steer the guy in the right direction. He was talking about something that's taboo."
Zied, who testified at the court hearing, said that he was frightened by Monteilh's rhetoric, and that it was the last discussion between the two.
They used to socialize, but after that talk, Zied said, he changed his phone number so Monteilh could not contact him.
Former Islamic Center president Asim Khan testified that several worshipers felt threatened by Monteilh and that he talked about getting involved "in a 9/11-type operation."
Some stopped attending mosque because of him, Khan said.
"We're members of the American community, and it's our duty as Americans to make law enforcement aware of these activities," he testified.
In an interview, Elsisy recalled driving Monteilh and another Muslim to Friday prayers at King Fahd Mosque in Culver City. The three men discussed the war in Iraq.
"It was a serious discussion. But when [Monteilh] asked if we knew of an operation because he was ready to help us, the conversation stopped," said Elsisy, an architect.
Elsisy said he and the other man reported Monteilh's comments to mosque officials….
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/orange/la-me-muslim30jun30,1,4211787.story
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