DEARBORN.—
  The Dearborn Police Department’s
Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team responded to the Adoba Hotel at about 12:00 am
on May 27th after a female guest reported discovering a pressure cooker in a
second floor restroom.  The incident occurred on the heels of a three day conference that was scheduled this weekend and organized by the Universal Muslim Association of America. The event titled, Conference of Ali,  attracted attendees from different states and countries including several from Toronto, Canada. The Adoba Hotel was previously known as the Hyatt Regency Hotel.  

Dearborn officers determined that the
pressure cooker had not been converted into any type of explosive device.  Several floors of the hotel were evacuated as
a precautionary measure at the direction of hotel management.  No injuries of any sort were reported.

The cooker was discovered at 9:45 p.m., and participants of the conference who were staying at the Hotel and other guests were forced to evacuate their rooms shortly after, and returned at around 1 a.m. Hotel officials were expected to release comments later today.  While waiting outside, conference attendees recited prayers and poems in Urdu according to a source. Speaking to The Arab American News by phone a source who didn’t want to be identified said the Shia conference was diverse, and included Arabs, Indians and Pakistanis. “From what I heard it was very dramatic for participants,” the source said.

 “Our investigation is ongoing and we do not have a suspect or a motive at
this time,” Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad said.  

Dawud Walid, the executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations Michigan said it was odd that someone would leave a

empty pressure cooker in a women’s bathroom, and doubts that it was one of the conference participants, and instead says it could be somebody trying to play a prank on or intimidate the Muslim community.

“It would not surprise me at all if somebody put it there deliberately to cause trouble,” Walid said. He hopes Dearborn Police check hotel cameras to see who may have walked in with the device and placed it in the bathroom. Many Conference participants say they’re upset such a spiritual event ended this way.

Walid says since the attacks on 9/11 more than a decade ago, the complaints CAIR-MI has received regarding discrimination and hate crimes towards Muslim Americans have only escalated.

The incident follows the Boston Marathon attack, that allegedly involved a bomb made out of a pressure cooker. The attack left three people dead, and 264 injured in April. About two weeks ago a Saudi Arabian traveler was arrested at Detroit Metro Airport after officials discovered a pressure cooker in his luggage. The man said the device was for his nephew, who’s a student at the University of Toledo. Initially the traveler, Hussain Al Khawahir, 33, told law enforcement officials the devices weren’t sold in the United States, and later changed his story saying his nephew’s pressure cooker was broken.

Walid says recent events involving the cooking devices may have a chilling effect on Muslim Americans, with many people in the community being discouraged from using them. “I hope people in the community are not discouraged from buying or using them to make any type of dish,” Walid said.