PHOENIX

Phoenix mosque is a familiar FBI target

Sean Holstege
The Republic | azcentral.com
Usama Shami is the president of the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix. He is seen at the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix on Thursday, May 7, 2015

When Elton Simpson was convicted in federal court on charges he lied to the FBI, his case and its connection to one Valley mosque had a familiar ring.

Within the past 10 years, a Valley Muslim was convicted in federal court on similar charges, while another was sentenced to prison in a terrorism case.

All three cases started as terrorism probes, but ended with successful convictions on far less sinister charges, lying to agents or illegally supplying sensitive information.

Simpson was fatally shot Sunday along with his roommate and one-time employer, Nadir Soofi as they tried to unleash an attack on a contest mocking the Prophet Mohammed in Garland, Texas. People who knew the men were shocked because the act didn't fit their picture of the actors.

Less shocking to Valley Muslim leaders was that the men once attended the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix, along Interstate 17, or that FBI agents are contacting other members of the mosque to learn about Simpson and Soofi.

The facility is the spiritual base for many of the Valley's 50,000 to 70,000 Muslims and also serves as the starting point for a number of federal probes, a fact that critics contend does more to illustrate the FBI's investigative techniques than the threats posed by anyone who worships there.

But to the mosque's president, Usama Shami, the interactions have become a fact of life.

"They know my number," he said of the FBI.

Agents began questioning Simpson in the mid-2000s after they talked a Somali man into being their confidential informant. The bureau paid the informant $132,000.

Shami said he has no problem with the FBI sending agents and informants into the mosque and tells the bureau "the mosque is the first line of defense, not the breeding ground or recruitment center."

"The problem is if you send somebody to spy as an informant, they can instigate, he said. "That's my problem. They're putting ideas in the heads of people.

The FBI declined comment on the case Wednesday, citing the ongoing investigation.

Deedra Abboud, a converted Muslim and a former community activist-turned-lawyer, said Wednesday that members of the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix were scared and that "everybody's being pressured by the FBI."

Federal agents were reportedly back at the mosque late Thursday morning questioning people there.

Abboud also said that while the FBI's case bothered Simpson, so did a sense that the mosque turned its back on him.

"It was a combination of the two things: harassment by the FBI and the Muslim community avoiding him like the plague," said Abboud, who helped raise money for Simpson's bail and knows many of his closest acquaintances.

"It was the isolation," she said. "My theory is that he was upset with the Muslim community and he became more susceptible to radical ideas."

Usama Shami is the president of the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix. He is seen at the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix on Thursday, May 7, 2015.

Shami disagreed that the mosque shunned Simpson. The mosque declined to raise money for his legal defense, he said, because members did not know where the FBI case would lead.

"Our first priority is to protect the mosque. It cannot be part of any federal case," he explained, adding that Simpson was always welcome to attend, even after his conviction.

Simpson's 2011 case had echoes.

In 2008, the FBI arrested Akram Musa Abdullah, a 54-year-old Palestinian living in Mesa.

Agents raided his house and hauled out a truckload of evidence, and in interviews asked him if he had raised money for the Holy Land Foundation, a group that supported Palestinian charities but also funneled money to Hamas and Hezbollah, according to claims the Bush administration made when it outlawed support for the Holy Land Foundation.

Abdullah told agents he'd never raised money for the group, and prosecutors accused him of lying to a federal agent in a terrorism-related case. A year later, Abdullah entered a plea agreement and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Also in 2008, a federal jury in Connecticut convicted another Muslim with metro Phoenix ties, 32-year-old Hassan Abu-Jihaad, after FBI agents reportedly recorded the Navy veteran and another man plotting an attack on a military recruiting station.

Investigators said they found an e-mail from Abu-Jihaad in which he shared with a London-based radical Islamic website the movements and vulnerabilities of a U.S. Navy battle group as it passed through the Straits of Hormuz. Abu-Jihaad was convicted of unlawfully communicating national defense information and sentenced to 10 years.

Abboud, the lawyer, helped Abu-Jihaad at the time and described him as an average guy overwhelmed by the charges. Neighbors described him as mild-mannered and polite.

Abu-Jihaad had other similarities to the Texas shooters. Like them, he had life struggles. Like them, he and his would-be conspirator attended the mosque along I-17, court records showed.

Shami said he never saw him there.

And as in current case, mosque leaders said he wasn't treated to fire-and-brimstone sermons inside the sand-colored mosque on Orangewood Avenue.

Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, a self-described moderate Muslim, said he doesn't think any preacher poured hateful ideas into the defendants' heads, but said they've not done enough to quell hatred of the United States.

"There are four steps to radicaliazation," he said. "Step one is the demonization of America."

Abboud disagrees about the degree of the problem, but acknowledges that extremist views exist in the Valley. Some people have told her that mocking the prophet Mohammed is a greater sin than taking a human life.

"There is a portion of society that is very confused about Islam," she said. "It's picking and choosing which version to follow."

Into that climate, the north Phoenix mosque was caught up in two other incidents.

In 2006, a delegation of Valley imams, including from the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix, traveled to Minneapolis. After boarding the return flight, some passengers grew nervous about the imams' on-board prayers. The imams were removed from the flight, handcuffed and interrogated.

They sued the airline and others. The case was dismissed in federal court in 2010.

Sons of those of imams, and of the accused Mesa fundraiser Akram Abdullah, were also arrested in 2008 in a gun case.

They were part of group of about 20 young Muslim men who went to the desert near north Phoenix and fired hundreds of rounds from automatic rifles at a rock. The fusillade lasted an hour.

The Arizona Counter Terrorism Center, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were all notified. Cases were brought in Maricopa County Superior Court. Most involved minor weapons charges and were settled without trial. Some young men reported the incident ruined their futures.

Islamic leaders in the Valley were furious, even as they said it was a typical Arizona way for young men to have innocent fun.

"I'm one of those who got mad. They went over there just to have fun shooting ... It's showing off," said Soliman Saadeldin, brother of one of the so-called "Flying Imams," and a board member at the Islamic center at the time.

The case was another episode in a string in which the FBI looked into the activities of the north Phoenix mosque.

Sunday in Texas, they had another reason and it brought back all the old suspicions and fears.

"Everybody wants to say it's somebody else's fault and that it's not fair. Everybody has some responsibility," Abboud said.

Usama Shami is the president of the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix.