Thursday, June 7, 2007
Imam Hamid from Worcester, MA, apparently finally got on an airplane the other day, bypassing London on a Gulf Airways jet for Pakistan. The Daily Times of Pakistan writes:
"Hafiz Hamid was imam at the Islamic Centre of Greater Worcester in Worcester, Massachusetts and had been fighting immigration regulation infringements for the last several months..."
According to Miss Kelly's post on this:
Uh-huh. Sure. Yew betcha. Why would anyone think anything else? You silly, silly Islamophobes!
Oddly enough, you have to read the Pakistani papers (or the blogs!) to find out about any of this. Even though Hamid's brother, Imam Masood, is still going through the legal system here, the press is either silent or doing puff-pieces that fail to mention his brother Hamid or their familial connections to Pakistani terror-master Hafiz Saeed. The Boston Globe does an entire piece today laying it on heavy and thick with implications that the charges against Masood are weak, and giving plenty of space for Muslim American Society spokespeople to air their grievances, but not one word about brother Hamid: Imam's legal woes leave his followers frustrated.
I guess I can understand the group not speaking to the Boston Herald, but what are these other papers giving up (or guaranteeing) to get the story? Afraid to provide all the relevant information are we? Or isn't it newsworthy? I think it is. I bet you do too, now that you've found out about it -- no thanks to Boston's MSM outlets.
[h/t's to papijoe and Miss Kelly]
Update: Miss Kelly has more on the Globe's puff piece, here: Which Logo for Puff Piece?
