Minnesota man arrested after Dearborn mosque threats, awaits charges

April 14th, 20220 A man suspected of threatening mosques in Metro Detroit has been arrested, officials said. The FBI is investigating threats made by a 60-year-old man who allegedly made statements about blowing up mosques in the Metro area, Dearborn police said in a statement Wednesday. They said state police received information about the threats at...

Artist who worked on the Islamic Center of America returns to Dearborn to continue his artwork

February 26th, 20220 DEARBORN — The Lebanese artist of Armenian origin behind the painting of more than a dozen mosques and churches globally has returned to Dearborn to continue to share his work. Born in 1973, Haroutioun “Harout” Isack Bastajian has always had a passion for art. “I spent a lot of time in my childhood in the remote...

Notre Dame of Gaza: Our mosques and churches are also burning

April 26th, 20191 As the 300-foot spire of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris tragically came tumbling down on live television, my thoughts ventured to Nuseirat Refugee Camp, my childhood home in the Gaza Strip. Then, also on television, I watched as a small bulldozer hopelessly clawed through the rubble of my neighborhood mosque. I grew up around that...

NYPD settles Muslim surveillance lawsuit for $1 million

April 13th, 20180 NEW YORK CITY — Last Thursday, a group of Muslim owned-businesses, mosques, individuals, and student groups reached a settlement with the New York Police Department (NYPD) in a federal lawsuit challenging the discriminatory surveillance of American Muslims in New Jersey. Filed in 2012 in federal court in New Jersey, in Hassan v....

Religious institutions in Metro Detroit take caution after being threatened

November 17th, 20170 DEARBORN HEIGHTS — The Dearborn Heights Police Department is conducting a joint investigation with the FBI and other local law enforcement agencies after finding threats to houses of worship and an abandoned firearm in a bag. None of the religious institutions threatened are located in Dearborn Heights, but in other cities;...

Local Yemenis feel marginalized as Lebanese brethren gain momentum

July 7th, 20171 DEARBORN — The daughter of Yemeni immigrants who'd fled war and poverty a couple decades ago and found home in Metro Detroit grew up feeling like she always had to prove herself more than others. Hanan Yahya, a 23-year-old recent college graduate and current administrator at a Dearborn-based education organization, said as long as...