A Christian minister has been recorded planning to attack a Muslim community in New York state – and his case exposes double standards in the US legal system, according to a campaigner.
Writing for the Daily Beast, Dean Obeidallah has highlighted the case of Robert Doggart, a minister in the Christian National Church, who was arrested after an investigation revealed plans to recruit and lead a group of nine men to attack the community of Islamberg near the Pennsylvania border.
Home to around 200 black American Muslims, the community was formed in the late 1980s by a group who left New York City to escape crime and racism.
An FBI investigation including wiretaps and informants found that Doggart had spoken of his intention to burn down their mosque, be "cruel" to them and use machetes, explosives and rifles in the attack.
According to court documents, Doggart wrote on Facebook: "Our small group will soon be faced with the fight of our lives. We will offer those lives as collateral to prove our commitment to our God. We shall be Warriors who will inflict horrible numbers of casualties upon the enemies of our Nation and World Peace."
Doggart – who made an unsuccessful run for a seat in Congresss in 2014 – has been released on bail. He was originally charged with violating federal statutes that make it a crime to damage or destroy religious property – or to attempt to so – and to use interstate communication to plan to injure persons. The former charge was dropped and he has agreed a plea bargain to the latter, facing up to five years in prison. However, the federal judge in the case has said that he may not accept the plea because it is not clear that Doggart's actions constitute a "true threat" as defined by the relevant statute, opening the possibility that he might walk free. He has faced no terrorism charges.
Obeidallah argues that the case would have been handled entirely differently if the person planning the attack was Muslim. He wrote: "How could any reasonable person believe that Doggart's actions in painstakingly planning his terror attack could be considered anything less than a 'true threat', which is one made by a person 'with knowledge that the communication will be viewed as a threat'?"
He concluded: "The way this case has been handled, from the media coverage to the criminal justice system's actions, is again evidence of the double standard when it comes to terror plots by Muslims versus non-Muslims. I truly am not sure how many more Charleston-type terror attacks need to occur before as a nation we collectively view threats from right-wing terrorists as seriously as those from ISIS and Al Qaeda, especially given that right-wing actors have killed twice the number of Americans on US soil since 9/11 as Muslim terrorists.
"Sadly, it appears that more innocent people may be killed before that day comes."
