Muslim advocacy group director fired for working with anti-Muslim group

The head of an American Muslim civil rights organisation has been fired for allegedly leaking confidential information to an anti-Muslim hate group. 

For years, Romin Iqbal, the executive and legal director of the Ohio Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), has recorded meetings and shared confidential information with a known anti-Muslim hate group, the organization said in its press release on Tuesday. 

CAIR further said that they found suspicious purchases from ammunition and gun retailers using a credit card that Iqbal administered.

After an independent forensic expert’s investigation, the group said, it was found that Iqbal committed “ethical and professional violations committed over a period of years”.

"We were shocked and saddened to learn about this betrayal and incredible violation of trust. Our first priority is the safety and security of our community,” Nabeel Raazi, Columbus-Cincinnati Board Chair for CAIR-Ohio, said.

“We are now even more committed to defending and protecting Ohio Muslims from the anti-Muslim extremists who will clearly stop at nothing to try to harm us," 

Providing an update on Wednesday, CAIR revealed that the so-called Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT), founded by Steven Emerson, a far-right extremist described as an anti-Muslim activist, had for years been trying to infiltrate and spy upon prominent mosques and Muslim American organisation.

The Columbus, Ohio, chapter of CAIR was one of the organizations targeted, the statement said.

Emerson had faced backlash for his Fox News interview in 2015, where he described Birmingham as a "Muslim-only city".

CAIR also said the evidence they had indicated that Emerson’s hate group was communicating with and providing assistance to Israeli intelligence with the office of then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

“Let me say that again. The Israeli government was collaborating with an anti-Muslim hate group,” Nihad Awad, the National Executive Director of CAIR, said in statement on Wednesday.

Social media reactions began to pour in after the news with many expressing shock. 

“I have complete confidence in the team leading CAIR-Ohio at this critical and devastating moment. As a community that is already heavily surveilled and scrutinized, this betrayal from within, by a respected leader, is gutting,” one user said. 

On Monday, a suspicious package was mailed to the local office containing parts for an AR-15 rifle, staff members said. Police are investigating the incident after CAIR-Ohio reported it to them.

CAIR is the largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization in the country.