IAMC Issues Detailed Rebuttal to Defamatory Islamophobic Article
The Indian American Muslim Council ( IAMC ), an advocacy group dedicated to safeguarding India’s pluralist and tolerant ethos, on Thursday issued a detailed rebuttal to an Islamophobic article published in Newsweek in December and asked the newsmagazine to publish the rebuttal immediately.
The defamatory piece , titled “COVID Relief Funds Went to Violent Extremists” and published by Newsweek website on December 7, 2020, had alleged that IAMC was connected with the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), an organization that the Indian Government has banned.
“It is disappointing that Newsweek, once one of America’s best news organizations, chose to publish an allegation of terrorism against us without first reaching out to us for comment,” Mr Rasheed Ahmed, Executive Director, IAMC, wrote to Newsweek Editor-in-Chief Nancy Cooper. “Providing the opportunity to respond to an allegation — especially one so grave as to accuse an organization of being linked with terrorism — is a fundamental principle of journalism, something that Newsweek has clearly failed to uphold in this case.”
Mr Ahmed reminded Ms Cooper that she had herself sought the same privilege in response to a piece that Columbia Journalism Review published against Newsweek. “Your failure to provide us that opportunity is especially hypocritical considering that you demanded a similar opportunity when Daniel Tovrov a detailed report against Newsweek in Columbia Journalism Review in October 2019,” Mr Ahmed wrote.
“If you deserve an opportunity to set the record straight on allegations against you, so do we on allegations against us.”
Mr Ahmed added that it was “truly ironic” that while Newsweek’s article criticized IAMC for receiving Covid relief stimulus worth $1,000, Newsweek itself had faced heat for receiving a whopping $350,000 of the same relief, in violation of the stimulus provisions.
Mr Ahmed said that the allegations against IAMC contained in the Newsweek article were false.
“We challenge you to provide a single piece of evidence in support” of the allegation that IAMC was connected with SIMI, Mr Ahmed wrote.
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