US Democratic attorney general asked to apologise for visiting mosque

Mark Herring had visited a Virginia's mosque on March 17 to speak on Donald Trump's travel ban on Muslims

US Republican Party in Virginia is demanding the state’s Democratic Attorney, General Mark Herring, to apologise for visiting one of the largest mosques in the country.

The attorney general had gone to the mosque on an invitation to speak on Donald Trump’s travel ban on Muslim countries.

“On March 17, Mark Herring joined with a Hamas-linked group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), to host a town hall to oppose the Trump Administration’s efforts to keep Americans safe from terrorism,” says the petition on the state Republican Party’s website. “Sign our petition to demand that Mark Herring apologise to the victims of terrorism.”



Linking CAIR to the Palestinian liberation movement group Hamas is surprising for many as CAIR-Hamas ties have never been proven. CAIR is known as one of the major civil society organisations of Muslim community in the states.

The Republican Party also mentioned in their petition the former attendees of the mosque Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Centre who have been linked to terror but fails to name a top FBI official who visited the establishment in January this year. It doesn’t mention either how the mosque has been facing sheer harassment lately, including a fake bomb threat and offensive messages being sent to the community.



Responding to the Republican’s petition, Robert McCaw, the government affairs director for CAIR and a speaker at the March 17 event, said: “It’s not Herring [who] needs to apologise. It’s the state Republican party for engaging in this smear,” McCaw said. “It endangers Muslims when you have a state party smear an entire faith community in their house of worship. What type of signal is this sending, and on whose ears will it fall?”

Herring’s team also reacted to the development and defended the attorney general’s stance to support the Muslim community in the United States.

“While Attorney General Herring is actively working to reassure Virginia Muslims and other minority communities that they are safe and welcome, the [Republican Party of Virginia] is sending dangerous messages that only embolden those who want to harm or harass Muslims here in our communities,” his communications director Michael Kelly said.

Herring is one of many attorneys general who have dared to challenge Trump’s ban on several Muslim countries. “I’m here to defend and protect the rights and civil liberties of all Virginians, including minority communities, no matter what you look like, what your background is,” Herring had said while addressing the March 17 event.

The article originally appeared on The Huffington Post