Houston: Dead pig left in front of mosque

Drunken man who stuffed ham in Muslims’ shoes, hung meat slices outside mosque spared jail time

BY PHILIP CAULFIELD
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

A drunken British man who stuffed ham inside Muslim worshipers’ shoes and draped meat outside a mosque as they prayed was spared a jail term because he apologized.

Jamie Knowlson, 30, pleaded guilty to racially or religiously aggravated harassment last month and was facing two years in jail for the drunken stunt.

A judge in Bristol, England, let him walk with a six-month suspended term last week because he apologized to mosque officials, The Telegraph reported.

“It is difficult to imagine a more offensive incident,” Bristol Royal Court Judge Carol Hagen said. “Not only the fixing of meat to railings, but aggravated, in my view, by the fact that members of the mosque were inside praying at the time.”

Prosecutors say Knowlson crept into the Al-Baseera mosque at 6:30 a.m. on January 9 and slipped slices of ham into worshipers’ empty shoes, which were lined up outside the prayer hall.

Knowlson also hung some slices on the railings outside the building, where some 2,000Somali Muslims pray each week, prosecutors said.

The plastered Brit returned a short time later and was confronted by a mosque official,Abdi Djmaa, security footage shows.

Djmaa said that Knowlson ranted that “the next visit will be harder” and made slurred threats about “bad meat” and “girls,” The Telegraph reported.

Islamic dietary restrictions forbid Muslims from eating pork.

Knowlson’s lawyer, Ian Halliday, said his client regretted the ham-handed prank.

“This was a brutal, misconceived, drunken prank. He returned to the mosque and offered his apologies in person,” Halliday said.

The judge also also sentenced Knowlson to 150 hours of community service.

After the verdict, mosque officials said worshipers were upset and shocked.

“We don’t eat pork and we are banned by our faith from eating it, as it makes us impure when we are going to our prayers,” said Mubarak Mohamud, an imam at the mosque.

“We don’t hate the man; we just suppose he doesn’t know us,” he said.

Some one thought it would be a good idea to take some bacon and write the words “Pig” on a mosque in Florence. (hat tip: Curious Joe)

Florence mosque defaced with bacon

By Alisha Laventure - bio | email

FLORENCE, SC (WMBF) – A national Muslim civil rights and advocacy group is calling on the FBI to investigate a message written in bacon at mosque in Florence.

Three chair members of the Islamic Center in Florence discovered the words “pig” and “chump” written in strips of bacon on the walkway along the mosque Sunday afternoon.

Mushtaq Hussain was one of the members who discovered the message after concluding a prayer gathering. He initially thought the message was a practical joke.

“Then later on, we thought seriously and we thought, ‘You know, somebody doesn’t like us,’” he said.

Florence Police Chief Anson Shells says the incident is currently being investigated a form of harassment. Because nothing was done to an actual person, no crime has technically been committed. They are looking into a possible bias motive for the latest incident.

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says the Florence mosque was defaced.

“We urge the FBI to add this incident to the growing list of possible bias-motivated attacks on American Muslims and their institutions,” CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said.

The police department does not have any leads on a suspect. In the interim, they will increase the number patrols near the mosque.

Hussain said this is the second time someone has vandalized the mosque. Earlier this year, vandals broke windows in the facility. Apart from these incidents, Hussain said the center has never had problems before.

“People are nice around here. I don’t see anything, you know, serious, but you know, whoever did this, they mean something,” Hussain said.

“Shame on them,” said Darryl Hughee, who lives across the street from the mosque. “Whoever did what they did, it has to be a mental thing, you know.”

He said the Islamic center has had a positive influence on the community.

Hussain says he is not offended by what was done.

“He will pay for it himself,” he said about the person behind the act. He sees this incident as a simple case of ignorance.

“God will take care of him.”

Copyright 2010 WMBF News. All rights reserved.