Syracuse, NY -- A national Muslim organization headquartered in the Southern Tier has filed a libel lawsuit against the author of a book that describes the group as the host of terrorist training camps.
Muslims of America, based in Hancock, Delaware County, sued Martin Mawyer and his Christian Action Network for $3 million in federal court in Syracuse, seeking to halt the continued publication of his book, “Twilight in America: the Untold Story of Islamic Training Camps in America.”
The book takes aim at Muslims of America with false claims that have put the group's members in fear of violent attacks from Mawyer’s followers, the lawsuit said. The co-author of the book, Patti Pierucci, is also named as a defendant.
The Christian Action Network isn't the only organization that has been critical of Muslims of America. The Anti-Defamation League has called the group "a virulently anti-Semitic, Islamic extremist group with ties to Al-Fuqra, a terrorist organization that has carried out firebombings and murders in the United States."
Muslims of America owns 60 acres in Hancock that the group bought "for the purpose of providing safe houses for American Muslims to raise families while establishing a peaceful community free from harmful elements such as those occurring in the inner cities in the 1980s," the lawsuit said.
In addition to the book, the lawsuit cites these harassing actions by Mawyer and his organization based in Lynchburg, Va.:
-- In 2006, he had 2,500 leaflets dropped from a low-flying plane over a property owned by Muslims of America, protesting the naming of the private road leading onto the property.
-- Last November, Mawyer posted the address of Muslims of America in Hancock and encouraged people to go there and commit acts of violence and vigilantism, the lawsuit said.
A lawyer for Muslims of America, Tahirah Clark, could not be reached for comment. Mawyer also did not return a phone call seeking his response to the lawsuit.
Mawyer has appeared on NBC's Today Show, Fox TV's O'Reilly Factor and Larry King Live, where "he continues to spread various sensational, erroneous theories and presents them as fact," the suit said.
In addition to trying to stop the continued publication of Mawyer's book, Muslims of America wants a judge to issue a gag him on him and his organization, and to order him to retract his previous statements.
Contact John O'Brien at jobrien@syracuse.com or 315-470-2187
