Canadian Muslim group receives ‘death threats’

TORONTO — A moderate Muslim group in Toronto has called on authorities to investigate what it calls “thinly veiled death threats” from conservative and fundamentalist Muslims.

In an Oct. 11 letter to the attorney general of Ontario, the Muslim Canadian Congress (MCC) cited “the recent pattern of allegations by Islamic fundamentalists against moderate and liberal Muslims, accusing the latter of being anti-Islam or (of) smearing Islam.” The letter said MCC members have “been in the cross hairs” ever since the organization publicly opposed a plan last year to introduce Islamic legal tribunals in Ontario; the idea was later shelved.

The group said its opposition led to charges of apostasy and blasphemy — allegations that are “nothing less than thinly veiled death threats.” MCC President Farzana Hassan told a news conference she believes it is “a very real threat. This is not some kind of a fanciful conclusion on our part.” In early August, MCC’s spokesman and co-founder stepped down, citing anonymous threats. He had been tagged as “anti-Islam” earlier by the more conservative Canadian Islamic Congress. The group’s letter went on to say “tactics from overseas are now being imported into Canada where ordinary liberal and moderate Muslims are being bullied into silence by well funded Islamist organizations.”