The latest weapon of mass destruction sought out by Islamic extremists isnt a dirty bombits a lawsuit. This silent weapon of war represents a increasing trend of lawsuits and other legal actions filed by radical groups is designed to punish silence and chill any legitimate public criticism of Islam and its more radical elements.
I represented Muslim- to-Christian convert Rifqa Bary pro bono in Florida. Rifqa made international headlines in fall of 2009 when she fled her home in Columbus OH to Orlando FL after her devout Islamic father threatened her life for not renouncing her Christian faith. Rifqa successfully concealed her conversion for three years before being discovered on Facebook by leaders of her familys extremist mosque. The case brought national attention to the seldom discussed practice of honor (or apostate) killings.
My intentions from the start (and to this day) were to protect and defend a child who basically had no legal representation to do so. I have a long history in my practice and originally went to law school to fight for the rights of those who are unable to speak for themselves. In Rifqa I saw a young girl with a complex but legitimate and serious dilemma who needed help. As a result of the hard work of her legal team I am thrilled to report that Rifqa who was able to remain in state custody until she became a legal adult at age 18 is safe from harm free to worship as she chooses and is on a path to become a U.S. citizen.
Unfortunately in an act of raw retribution the Islamic attorney who opposed Rifqa in Ohio retaliated against me by filing a ten million dollar defamation lawsuit in federal court and also by bringing grievance charges against me with the Florida Bar Association. His primary complaints come from the last 30 seconds of a Fox News interview that I agreed to do where I did not even mention his name.
Those familiar with this type of legal harassment refer to it as Lawfare". The term Lawfare like warfare" uses legal processes and the law as a weapon of war. This is an open abuse of the legal process and the judicial system purposed to illegitimately fight or punish those who disagree with the views of others and want to shut them down. This bad faith tactic is Un-American at its core and seeks to stifle free speech by the hyper threatening of-- or actually filing of --bogus lawsuits against critics.
Many states have anti SLAPP" suit laws (strategic lawsuits against public participation) which protect against this type of abusive litigation. Many other states like Ohio where my lawsuit was filed do not. The steady stream of litigation by Islamic extremists in America to advance a geo-political or strategic agenda is not necessarily meant to win the case but to slowly bleed critics by financial and emotional exhaustion trying to beat them into submission through costly legal and painstakingly long aspects of a trial. The examples of this abuse with strains of radical Islam in America are on the increase.
In 2003 the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) sued former Congressman Cass Ballenger for reporting CAIR as a fundraising arm for Hezbollah." Arsalan Iftikhar CAIRs director of legal affairs said at the time:
With this lawsuit we are sending a clear message to all those who make malicious and defamatory statements against American Muslims or their institutions that they will be held accountable in a court of law.
Rabiah Ahmed a spokeswoman for CAIR told the New York Sun in 2005 that lawsuits were an instrument increasingly employed by the Muslim community. The Muslim community realizes that it has to respond to these allegations and to these attacks otherwise the people who are promoting these defamatory remarks will win in the court of public opinion Ahmed said.
CAIR has sued the Washington Times Los Angeles Times National Review and radio talk show hosts exploiting the judicial system for their own propagandist gains. Other extremist groups have also followed suit.
In 2007 author radio talk show host and columnist Mark Steyn was forced to defend himself in front of two Canadian Human Rights Commissions because of an excerpt in his book published in Macleans was deemed flagrantly Islamophobic." Steyns book was a bestseller in Canada.
Joe Kaufman chairman of Americans Against Hate wrote an article for FrontPage Magazine in September of 2007 about the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) and its connection to the funding of terrorism abroad. Kaufman was subsequently sued by seven Muslim groups that were never even mentioned in the article. The suit was dismissed by the Texas Supreme Court but cost Kaufman thousands to defend himself.
This type of legal intimidation has had some success. The Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) sued the Boston Herald and several others when they questioned the groups connections with terrorists. Alan Dershowitz and Elizabeth Samson pointed out in the Guardian in February 2010 Between summer 2003 and winter 2005 the Herald published 19 articles mentioning the ISBs alleged connection with radical Islamic groups. After the lawsuit began in 2005 until winter 2007 the paper whitewashed its reporting and no longer mentioned radicalism in the 20 articles that covered the ISBs activities during that period."
One of the purposes of Islamic Lawfare" is to discourage any criticism of Islam through the fear of retribution and the economic emotional and physical toll the frivolous litigation takes on the target of an attack. For all the future defenders of the Rifqa Barys of the world and those who dare to speak out against the practices of radical Islam I hope that they have the fortitude to know that despite the legal battles the personal attacks and the attempts at intimidation the knowledge that we rescued a young girl and spoke the truth about it was worth it.
John Stemberger: An AV Rated Orlando attorney a marriage and family advocate received his Juris Doctorate of law from the Cumberland School of Law at Stamford University founder of the Institute for Conservative Studies (ICS) - a think-tank at Florida State University a consultant to state federal and presidential campaigns political campaign director a public speaker former appointee to the Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC) for the Ninth Judicial Circuit of Florida where he served for eight years screening and recommending new judge candidates in Central Florida and is a member of the Council for National Policy and the Arlington Group in Washington DC. www.StembergerDefense.com
The latest weapon of mass destruction sought out by Islamic extremists isnt a dirty bombits a lawsuit. This silent weapon of war represents a increasing trend of lawsuits and other legal actions filed by radical groups is designed to punish silence and chill any legitimate public criticism of Islam and its more radical elements.
I represented Muslim- to-Christian convert Rifqa Bary pro bono in Florida. Rifqa made international headlines in fall of 2009 when she fled her home in Columbus OH to Orlando FL after her devout Islamic father threatened her life for not renouncing her Christian faith. Rifqa successfully concealed her conversion for three years before being discovered on Facebook by leaders of her familys extremist mosque. The case brought national attention to the seldom discussed practice of honor (or apostate) killings.
My intentions from the start (and to this day) were to protect and defend a child who basically had no legal representation to do so. I have a long history in my practice and originally went to law school to fight for the rights of those who are unable to speak for themselves. In Rifqa I saw a young girl with a complex but legitimate and serious dilemma who needed help. As a result of the hard work of her legal team I am thrilled to report that Rifqa who was able to remain in state custody until she became a legal adult at age 18 is safe from harm free to worship as she chooses and is on a path to become a U.S. citizen.
Unfortunately in an act of raw retribution the Islamic attorney who opposed Rifqa in Ohio retaliated against me by filing a ten million dollar defamation lawsuit in federal court and also by bringing grievance charges against me with the Florida Bar Association. His primary complaints come from the last 30 seconds of a Fox News interview that I agreed to do where I did not even mention his name.
Those familiar with this type of legal harassment refer to it as Lawfare". The term Lawfare like warfare" uses legal processes and the law as a weapon of war. This is an open abuse of the legal process and the judicial system purposed to illegitimately fight or punish those who disagree with the views of others and want to shut them down. This bad faith tactic is Un-American at its core and seeks to stifle free speech by the hyper threatening of-- or actually filing of --bogus lawsuits against critics.
Many states have anti SLAPP" suit laws (strategic lawsuits against public participation) which protect against this type of abusive litigation. Many other states like Ohio where my lawsuit was filed do not. The steady stream of litigation by Islamic extremists in America to advance a geo-political or strategic agenda is not necessarily meant to win the case but to slowly bleed critics by financial and emotional exhaustion trying to beat them into submission through costly legal and painstakingly long aspects of a trial. The examples of this abuse with strains of radical Islam in America are on the increase.
In 2003 the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) sued former Congressman Cass Ballenger for reporting CAIR as a fundraising arm for Hezbollah." Arsalan Iftikhar CAIRs director of legal affairs said at the time:
With this lawsuit we are sending a clear message to all those who make malicious and defamatory statements against American Muslims or their institutions that they will be held accountable in a court of law.
Rabiah Ahmed a spokeswoman for CAIR told the New York Sun in 2005 that lawsuits were an instrument increasingly employed by the Muslim community. The Muslim community realizes that it has to respond to these allegations and to these attacks otherwise the people who are promoting these defamatory remarks will win in the court of public opinion Ahmed said.
CAIR has sued the Washington Times Los Angeles Times National Review and radio talk show hosts exploiting the judicial system for their own propagandist gains. Other extremist groups have also followed suit.
In 2007 author radio talk show host and columnist Mark Steyn was forced to defend himself in front of two Canadian Human Rights Commissions because of an excerpt in his book published in Macleans was deemed flagrantly Islamophobic." Steyns book was a bestseller in Canada.
Joe Kaufman chairman of Americans Against Hate wrote an article for FrontPage Magazine in September of 2007 about the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) and its connection to the funding of terrorism abroad. Kaufman was subsequently sued by seven Muslim groups that were never even mentioned in the article. The suit was dismissed by the Texas Supreme Court but cost Kaufman thousands to defend himself.
This type of legal intimidation has had some success. The Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) sued the Boston Herald and several others when they questioned the groups connections with terrorists. Alan Dershowitz and Elizabeth Samson pointed out in the Guardian in February 2010 Between summer 2003 and winter 2005 the Herald published 19 articles mentioning the ISBs alleged connection with radical Islamic groups. After the lawsuit began in 2005 until winter 2007 the paper whitewashed its reporting and no longer mentioned radicalism in the 20 articles that covered the ISBs activities during that period."
One of the purposes of Islamic Lawfare" is to discourage any criticism of Islam through the fear of retribution and the economic emotional and physical toll the frivolous litigation takes on the target of an attack. For all the future defenders of the Rifqa Barys of the world and those who dare to speak out against the practices of radical Islam I hope that they have the fortitude to know that despite the legal battles the personal attacks and the attempts at intimidation the knowledge that we rescued a young girl and spoke the truth about it was worth it.
John Stemberger: An AV Rated Orlando attorney a marriage and family advocate received his Juris Doctorate of law from the Cumberland School of Law at Stamford University founder of the Institute for Conservative Studies (ICS) - a think-tank at Florida State University a consultant to state federal and presidential campaigns political campaign director a public speaker former appointee to the Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC) for the Ninth Judicial Circuit of Florida where he served for eight years screening and recommending new judge candidates in Central Florida and is a member of the Council for National Policy and the Arlington Group in Washington DC. www.StembergerDefense.com
