Source: News 14 Carolina

http://www.news14charlotte.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=115535

On March 15, 2006 News 14 Carolina reported, "The Muslim community spoke out Wednesday against Mohammad Taheri-azar, who claims he acted in the name of Islam when he drove into a group of students on the University of North Carolina campus earlier this month. Taheri-azar, a 22-year-old UNC graduate, is charged with nine counts of attempted first-degree murder and nine counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury after racing through a crowded campus gathering spot in a rented Jeep Cherokee. No one was seriously injured. Taheri-azar attempted to defend his actions in a recent letter to the Durham Herald Sun. It read, 'Allah's followers have permission to attack those who have waged war against them with eternal paradise as an expected reward.' Members of the Islamic Association of Raleigh and the Muslim-American Society say he took excerpts from the Qur'an out of context and did not act in accordance with the teachings of Islam. They say the students were not involved in any type of religious warfare, but were simply innocent victims."