Atlanta mosques urged to increase their security

The Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations on Sunday called on leaders of local mosques to improve their security measures after four local mosques were recently threatened.

One mosque received a message threatening “death for you and your kind” from a selfdeclared “Muslim slayer,” Executive Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said in a news release.

Three other mosques received identical emails threatening widespread attacks against American Muslims on March 15, Mitchell said.

Mitchell called the people making the threats criminals and urged state and federal law enforcement officials to identify and arrest them.

The Greenview Madani Center, a mosque in Lawrenceville, recently received a mailed, handwritten letter with the message, “Death is waiting for you and your kind,” along with a crudely drawn decapitated person.

The mosque alerted local law enforcement to the letter.

Masjid Omar bin Abdul Aziz in Norcross, Al-Farooq Masjid and another Atlantaarea mosque received a threatening email on Feb. 18.

The emails, with the subject line “YOUR ONE WARNING,” stated in part, (grammatical and spelling errors maintained):

“…MUZLIMS MEXICANS BLACKS WE WILL HUNTED NATION WIDE UNTIL ARE ARE DEAD OR GONE…PLAN TO RUN OR DIE, THIS IS A KINDNESS THAT WE GIVE YOU ALL WARNING, TAKE IT AND GO.”

Two weeks ago, identical emails were sent to two Alabama mosques, the Birmingham Islamic Society and Huntsville Islamic Center, Mitchell said.

Both organizations reported the threats to local law enforcement, the Department of Justice office and the FBI.

“While the perpetrators are being sought, mosque leaders should do all they can to protect their houses of worship by working with local law enforcement authorities, installing security cameras and employing security officers during the daily prayers,” Mitchell said.