IQNA

Jail Term for Man Who Threatened Florida Mosque Hailed

8:21 - February 12, 2025
News ID: 3491830
IQNA – The sentencing of a California man who threatened a mass shooting in 2023 at a Florida mosque has been welcomed by a US advocacy group.

Masjid Al Hayy Mosque in Florida’s Seminole County

 

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the United States’ largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, on Tuesday hailed the verdict.

Alan Winston Filion, 18, of Lancaster, California, admitted in federal court to making the threat against Masjid Al Hayy Mosque in Florida’s Seminole County. He was sentenced to four years in prison.

Filion reportedly contacted law enforcement authorities said he was going to carry out a mass shooting in the name of Satan, had an AR-15 assault weapon and pipe bombs and he played a recording of gunfire in the background.

CAIR’s Florida chapter previously called for hate crime charges in the case.

In a statement, CAIR-Florida Communications Director Wilfredo Amr Ruiz said:

“We welcome the sentencing in this case, thank law enforcement authorities for bringing this individual to justice and urge community leaders to once again review and update security procedures. Unfortunately, we are seeing a rise in bias incidents targeting minority communities nationwide, which must be addressed by elected officials and state and local leaders.”

Last month, CAIR encouraged mosques and other Islamic institutions nationwide to review their security procedures after law enforcement arrested a Tennessee man for allegedly plotting a mass shooting at a Nashville mosque.

CAIR urges community and mosque leaders to use advice offered in its “Best Practices for Mosque and Community Safety” booklet to help keep those facilities safe. Much of the advice in the booklet is applicable to houses of worship of all faiths.

In December, CAIR’s Washington state chapter called on law enforcement to investigate vandalism at the Islamic Center of Federal Way in Kent, Washington, as a possible hate crime.

Mosques have been targeted in other states nationwide.

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From January to June 2024, CAIR documented 4,951 incoming bias complaints nationwide, a 69 percent increase over the same period in 2023.

Earlier this year, CAIR’s national office released its 2024 civil rights report, which revealed the highest number of complaints it has ever received in its 30-year history. Titled “Fatal: The Resurgence of Anti-Muslim Hate,” the report documented 8,061 complaints. Nearly half of all complaints received in 2023 were reported in the final three months of the year.

 

Source: Cair.com

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