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Messages of hate left at Valley Mosque

12 News
Jun. 13, 2006 04:26 PM

Tempe police releases surviellance video capturing two men committing what Islamic activists call a hate crime.

"It's basically sticking to the hate of the religion," Islamic activist Nure Elatari says, "and the promotion that Muslims are not good people, and they follow the devil."

Elatari showed 12news a closer picture of the sign put up near a Tempe mosque. It was Sunday afternoon when according to the center a member was coming in for prayer when they saw a message pasted to a dumpster.

"The hate messages were towards all of us, not just one person, they were against the entire Muslim community," mosque member Majd Alsayyed says.

Hours after the incident, a sign was up at Elatari's office in Phoenix, written in Arabic. It reads Mohammed is a prophet of satan.

"This person had to have some education on the Arabic language, if not had previous education in some sort of books to be as clever to word it," Elatari says.

Clever describes the case of these two men, because according to Tempe police they didn't actually committ a hate crime.

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