Dinah Lord is really on top of this story we reported earlier in the week. She has researched the statement from the mosque that some accuse of being behind the disappearance of the Minneapolis Somali youths and has linked the press conference itself. See Dinah’s post here.
One of the little nuggets she unearthed is that apparently the mosque folks are blaming “individuals in the Somali community” for badmouthing the mosque! And, it looks like that individual is Omar Jamal. Jamal is the go-to guy for the media on this case. If you go back and look at all the mainstream media coverage, virtually every reporter has to get their apparently obligatory quote from Jamal (Here are all the posts we have done that mention Jamal in myriad cases). Dinah quotes the following in her excellent post.
“It is unfortunate that some individuals in the Somali community unfairly accused the Abubakar Center to have links to the disappearance of the Somali young men,” said Adbirashid Abdi, one the board of directors for the center. “We strongly deny these unsubstantiated allegations. Abubakar Center didn’t recruit, finance or otherwise facilitate in any way shape of form the travel of those youth. (wah! It’s not us, it’s all the evil media and the evil infidel’s fault. Update: Rumor has it that these individuals are in fact, Somali community activist Omar Jamal! Sounds like there’s trouble in Little Mogadishu.)
Jamal was convicted of immigration fraud in 2005. We would like to know how he continues to play a prominant role with the media. We first came across his name defending a Somali rapist (rapist caught on tape!) and he had his nose in the Denver Somali Cyanide case last summer. He told authorities that the Somali who died in a hotel room with enough cyanide to kill hundreds was not a terrorist, just a confused Canadian.
Who is this guy Jamal? A big mouth? A show off? Something else?