The Council on American-Islamic Relations says it wants investigators probing the recent vandalism at a Columbus area mosque to consider it a hate crime. Ohio Public Radio’s Karen Kasler reports.
The Columbus chapter of CAIR says surveillance video caught a man vandalizing the Ahlul Bayt Islamic Center on Columbus’ northwest side. CAIR-Columbus legal director Roman Iqbal says the man in a car painted with pro-Trump messages scrawled anti-Islamic graffiti on the mosque’s door.
“It does appear that the vandal was motivated by anti-Muslim animus. So we are calling for this to be investigated as a hate crime.”
Iqbal says since the election, his group has had an increase in the number of people reporting incidents. The group’s Facebook page notes that people who’ve seen the alleged vandal’s car have found pictures of its license plate.