Fatal Beating Arouses Fear in Brooklyn Muslim Community

August 14, 2002

Source: Newsday

On August 14, 2002 Newsday reported that a Muslim man, "Mizanur Rahman was beaten to death on a Brooklyn sidewalk Sunday night... The Muslim cleric at Masjid-Al- Aman Mosque [now] senses that fear has crept into the neighborhood's Bangladeshi community... �It became more apparent, said Imam Abusayeed Amin, when attendance at the sunrise prayer service fell by 50 percent on Monday and yesterday... Mohammed Haque, president of the governing committee at the mosque, said stories of members being attacked are common and recalled a case of a 12-year-old who was called "bin Laden" before he was beaten about six weeks ago... The mosque is less than a block away from where Rahman was beaten to death by a mob of Latino men as he walked from the subway to his apartment... Bangladeshi in the East New York area said the incident was one extreme example of what many call a pattern of bias crimes against them...

�A meeting of police and community leaders was planned for last night at the mosque, Haque said, to discuss the incident."