Mosque Members Still Questioning FBI Raid (from ThePittsburghChannel.com)

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Mosque Members Still Questioning FBI Raid

POSTED: 5:00 pm EDT July 7, 2006

PITTSBURGH -- FBI agents caused quite a stir when they swarmed a house of worship on the North Side last week.

So far, the bureau has refused to address the disruption at the Light of the Age mosque -- and its members are not happy.

"Why did the FBI raid our place of worship last Friday, preventing us from having our congregational prayer?" mosque director Luqman Abdus-Salaam asked on Friday.

On the outside, there are no obvious signs that the building at 1320 Boyle St. is a place of worship.

But inside, there are signs of faith -- and broken doors that mosque members said are the result of the FBI raid.

"We can be proud that Muslims of several different mosques have come forward in the hopes of preventing the FBI from doing any more injustice," said Saleh Waziruddin, of the activist group Jamaat For Justice.

The U.S. Attorney's office said FBI agents conducted a legal search of the mosque.

Investigators said they learned that Larry M. Williams, a wanted criminal, was staying there.

Prosecutors told Channel 4 Action News that Williams is a convicted rapist wanted in Utah for illegally possessing a firearm. He has also failed to register as a sex offender since moving to Pennsylvania, they said.

FBI agents arrested Williams outside the mosque last week, and they said they had a warrant to search the building.

"The FBI is charged with safeguarding the security of the nation, not the violation of civil and human rights of its citizenry," said Tahir Abdullah, the mosque's assistant director.

Members of the mosque did not take questions on Friday, even though they organized a press conference.