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About this Book:

In 2004, the FBI raided the Masjid As-Salam, a working-class mosque in Albany, New York, and arrested two of its members on charges of supporting terrorism. The government’s subsequent case against Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain garnered international publicity, shocked the city, and terrified the Capital District’s Muslim community. Now, from his insider’s perspective as president of the mosque, Shamshad Ahmad gives the only comprehensive account available of the fictional FBI “sting” that entrapped the two men, and offers some behind-the-scenes information, including transcriptions of the actual sting tapes, that has never been made public. Dr. Ahmad’s careful examination of the evidence, and his unique observations as a Muslim, leave no doubt that the case was a frame-up designed to advance the post-9/11 “war on terror” and intimidate the Muslim community––and that community support and activism have made a difference throughout this tragic miscarriage of justice.

About the Author:

Shamshad Ahmad, Ph.D., is founder and president of the Masjid As-Salam mosque. He was born in India, educated in Australia, and came to the U.S. in 1979. Since then, he has taught physics at the University at Albany/SUNY. During the Aref-Hossain trial and its aftermath, when many local Muslims were understandably too afraid to speak publicly, Dr. Ahmad worked with the Muslim Solidarity Committee (MSC) and others to bring out the truth of the case. In 2007, he received the Jim Perry Progressive Leadership Award from Citizen Action of the Capital District.

Book Review:

“Clear and Present Danger,” dual review of Rounded Up: Artificial Terrorists and Muslim Entrapment After 9/11 by Shamshad Ahmad AND Evidence of Suspicion: A Writer’s Report on the War on Terror by Amitava Kumar By Manisha Sethi, Biblio India, http://www.biblio-india.org/ "…If Amitava Kumar’s Evidence of Suspicion is a writer’s ruminations on the war on terror, Shamshad Ahmad’s Rounded Up is an insider’s report on this brutal, blind witch hunt…Rounded Up is a chilling account of how the FBI entrapped Aref and another mosque regular, Mohammed Hossain, through its agent who offered to bail out Hossain’s dying pizza business by a loan of money…Ahmad’s ability to assemble such a mass of detail—conversations, events, trial records and even his reflections as events unfold—in so coherent, cogent and convincing a manner makes Rounded Up an important document of our present times, and will no doubt find [its] place in Kumar’s prescribed reading for his course, ‘Literature of 9/11’."

Order/Contact Info:

http://www.yassinaref.com All proceeds from the sale of this book will go to the Aref Education Fund, established by the author for Yassin Aref's four children.