Betrayal leads to renewal
Muslim group carries on after spying by director
Amina Barhumi describes the betrayal by her former boss as a punch to the gut.
The acting executive director of the Ohio chapter of the Council on American-islamic Relations (CAIR-OHIO), said finding out that former executive director Romin Iqbal had been spying for years on the organization for an anti-muslim group was a shock to her, but it won’t stop her from doing the work she or others at CAIR-OHIO believe in.
“When you get hit in the gut just once that wears off — and it’s usually pretty quick, right? You get right back up and you say, ‘What? That’s not OK.’ It’s not OK,” she said.
“An attack on us is not just an attack on CAIR-OHIO. It’s an attack on our work to protect Muslims. It’s an attack on the work ... we do to defend Muslims. And it’s an attack on our work to empower Muslims.”
Now that the initial shock of the news of Iqbal’s efforts to spy on the Muslim advocacy and civil rights organization has passed, Barhumi said it served as a wake-up call for the staff.
“I came to the organization, as others in my staff and our staff and team have, with really the purpose to be able to fight this kind of anti-muslim hatred,” she said. “We will make sure that our work is even more effective. There’s just a renewed sense of purpose, I think, particularly in combating and being on the offense when it comes to anti-muslim discrimination.”
There is a focus right now on sharing as much information as possible with people and being available to the community for questions in order to build trust, Barhumi said.
Since the organization went public on Dec. 14 with the news that Iqbal had been spying on the national group’s work, the nine-person Ohio staff has hosted community check-ins over Zoom with local Muslims, talked with mosque leaders, stakeholders and had one-onone conversations with many people, she said.
They are listening to people’s questions and working to be as transparent as possible, but, Barhumi said, “there are obviously more questions than answers, even for us.”
“Although we don’t have all the answers, it was important that we share this information with the community in an effort to be as transparent as we can, given the circumstances,” Barhumi said. “It will take time to process. And I don’t know if we’ll have the answers to all of our questions even. Only time will tell.”
CAIR-OHIO employees said they still aren’t sure what Iqbal’s motive may have been, but said his efforts were carried out in a “planned and purposeful” manner over the course of years
The chapter fired Iqbal on Dec. 14 after documents sent to the national organization revealed he’d been working with the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT), an anti-muslim group, for at least 13 years. He had been feeding them information in the form of recorded meetings, emails and strategic plans related to CAIR’S advocacy for Muslims and confessed after confronted about what he had done.
Employees at CAIR-OHIO’S Hilliard office also found parts of an AR-15 gun someone had ordered to the office and purchased with an organization credit card only accessible by Iqbal. The presence of the gun was reported to Hilliard police and the FBI.
On Dec. 16, the Hilliard Division of Police announced it was not pursuing a criminal investigation into the matter. The FBI does not confirm or deny investigations.
Iqbal, of Dublin, referred requests for comment to his attorney on Dec. 15, who also declined comment.
Barhumi, previously the organization’s outreach director, has been with the organization since February 2020 and said it will continue its efforts to protect the civil rights of Muslims.
“We’re unfazed, unwavering, undeterred at these attempts,” she said. “Although it might seem that there’s this new individual ... really we’re continuing to do our work. We were targeted because of the work that we do, and so we fight it by continuing to do our work, and we do it more strongly, more passionately, more exceptionally than ever.”
There are internal and external investigations into Iqbal going on, Barhumi said, and everything is on the table as to how the organization approaches what he did, including legal action.
Barhumi said the organization stands by its work during Iqbal’s time as executive director, a position he took in 2018. He had worked with CAIR since 2006.
“I have clarity in the fact that the work is beyond a person,” she said.
The organization is looking at its operational polices to see what mechanisms can be put into place to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again, Barhumi said.
“Any good organization does, in light of circumstances, reevaluate,” she said.
Iqbal was a trusted figure in the community and very present at community events, visiting people’s homes, weddings and more, Barhumi said. He was a confidant to many and was accessible when the community needed him.
But what he did scarred the community and shattered their trust, said Imran Malik, interfaith director at the Noor Islamic Cultural Center, a mosque located in Hilliard.
CAIR-OHIO’S work is prominent locally, he said, and he believes the new leadership needs to be more vigilant about information sharing going forward and continue to be transparent with the community.
“CAIR is doing that front footwork very responsibly by hosting these town halls and Zoom sessions and sharing the information,” Malik said. “I’m very impressed with how the current leadership at CAIR’S local chapter has handled it.”
But, he said the entire community needs to be vigilant.
“It happened today in a Muslim organization, the Muslim community. Tomorrow it could happen to Christians, Jewish people or Hindus,” he said. “We just have to be there for each other to garnish the support and help each other go through this healing process.”
Many faith leaders released statements through Faith in Public Life, a nonprofit interfaith lobbying group with an Ohio office, in support of CAIR in the aftermath of the news of Iqbal’s betrayal.
The Rev. Jack Sullivan, Jr., executive director of the Ohio Council of Churches, offered prayers to CAIR-OHIO.
“We stand in unflinching solidarity with CAIR in its great and impactful work to protect civil rights, fight bigotry and promote tolerance,” he said in a statement.
Some, however, are more hesitant about continuing to work with CAIR, despite the fact that Iqbal has been fired.
Hassan Omar, president of the Somali Community Association of Ohio, didn’t know Iqbal well, but he was the only CAIR employee he’d worked with, Omar said.
“It’s hard to repair the damage,” he said.
Going forward, Omar said he won’t rely on CAIR when it comes to referring clients for legal help in the future.
“I’m not relying on CAIR,” Omar said. “I don’t want to blame the entire organization but until they prove ... they’ve repaired the damage, we might refer, but as of today I’m not interested.”
Barhumi knows the building of trust is important and she said the group wants to be accessible to any and all organizations, even those with doubts.
“We know that our work is only possible with the trust that we have in the community,” she said. “The work to protect the civil rights of Muslims continues.” dking@dispatch.com @Danaeking