TX Store Owner Who Alleged Hate Crime Now Charged with Arson

September 30, 2004

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/30/national/30arson.html

On September 30, 2004 The New York Times reported, "the owner of a Middle Eastern meat market who had said he was the victim of a hate crime in this border town was arrested and arraigned Tuesday on a felony arson charge that he set fire to his own business. The man, Amjad Abunar, had complained that 'Go Home' was twice spray-painted on a door of his Al Madinah Market before a fire on Aug. 6 that gutted the small delicatessen. Only last week, the graffiti and fire were cited as evidence by a Washington advocacy group that hate crimes against Muslims were on the rise in Texas."