They are suing Matin J. Mawyer of the Christian Action Network for $15 million in damages for defamation and libel and are attempting to stop the sale of his book ‘Twilight in America.’
The Muslims of America, Inc.
Plaintiff
v.
Martin J. Mawyer; Patti A. Pierucci and
Christian Action NetworkCHRISTIAN ACTION
Defendants
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT
This is an action against Martin J. Mawyer, Christian Action Network, and Patti A. Pierucci defendants, for the malicious, repetitious, and continuous, pronouncements and publication of defamatory statements against Plaintiff. The provocative and defamatory statements were included in the book: Twilight in America~ the Untold Story of Islamic Terrorist Training Camps in America, authored by Martin J. Mawyer and Patti Pierucci, (October 2012), uttered by Mawyer on various media outlets including Fox News (October 2012) and posted on CAN’s website www.christianaction.org at various dates and times.
Plaintiff has sustained substantial, incalculable and irreparable harm, contempt, and ridicule to reputation, resulting from the unrelenting false and negative spotlight projected on them by defendants. Defendants’ defamatory statements have served to cause fear and hatred to flourish against Plaintiff while inciting violence and putting the lives of Plaintiffs members in danger for the purpose of monetary enrichment. Plaintiff seeks injunctive relief preventing further publication and sale of Twilight, retraction of all defamatory statements regarding Plaintiff on CAN’s official website, and Attorney’s fees and cost.
STATEMENT OF FACTS
Plaintiff and its congregation are the victims of relentless and pernicious defamation by defendants through the use of the CAN website and the publication of Twilight.
Prior to its official formation, Plaintiff was a Muslim congregation situated within the heart of inner city communities and exposed to all of their horrors and devastating effects. In an attempt to remove and protect itself from the immoral effect and pitfalls of this worsening environment, Plaintiff invested in 60 acres of rural property in Hancock, New York for the purpose of providing a safe haven for American Muslims to raise families while establishing a peaceful community free from harmful elements such as those occurring in the inner cities in the 19805.
Plaintiff’s members currently live throughout North America including in twelve rural communities located in Georgia, Michigan, New York, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Texas, Canada, and Trinidad. 14. Plaintiffs owns two parcels of land in New York.
At all-time herein Plaintiff has counseled and encouraged its members and residents of its villages to abide by the laws of the United States and avoid criminal, immoral, and anti-social behavior. Members of the plaintiffs congregation are well educated and successful. Among the community there are lawyers, physicians, engineers, nurse practitioners, educators, tradesmen, farmers and business people.
All locations hold regular events which are opened to the public. The events include workshops, seminars, children’s activities and interfaith outreach. One of the most widely attended events takes place annually and celebrates the commonality between Muslims and Christians. MOA has launched an initiative called the United Muslim Christian Forum.
Defendants Mawyer and CAN have devoted the past decade to waging excessive divisive and intolerable attacks against Plaintiff. These nefarious, malicious, and systematic attacks perpetrated against Plaintiff were supported through the use of media, including documentaries, books, and the internet. Upon information and belief since the early 2000s, Defendants have systemically engaged in a series of harassing behaviors toward the plaintiff including but not limited to:
a.) During November of 2006, Mawyer unsuccessfully launched a hostile and inflamed protest against the naming of the private road leading onto property where members of MOA lived in Red House, VA.b.) During this same period defendants Mawyer and CAN arranged for bundles of 2,500 leaflets titled “Get Rid of Sheikh Gilani lane” to be dropped from a low flying airplane onto the Red House, Virginia property of one of Plaintiffs members.The materials were produced by CAN. It did so without regard for the safety of the children who were playing in their yards. Mawyer further claimed in a press release that ” …any group thatwill dare drop 2,500 fliers over a terrorist compound is not backing down anytime soon.
Defendants escalated its conduct and by 2009 Mawyer released the so-called documentary, Homegrown Jihad: Terrorist camps Around U.S. This publication signaled a surge in focus by Mawyer and CAN who continued their attack against Islam in the United States and against Plaintiff in particular. The basis of Defendants Mawyer and CAN’s attacks against Plaintiff center on their bold, public and false campaign alleging that plaintiff is a murdering, thieving terror organization and runs terror training camps.
To date, Defendant Mawyer has appeared on The O’Reilly Factor, Hannity, Larry King Live, Pat Robertson’s 700 Club, NBC’s Today Show, Entertainment Tonight and Fox and Friends where he continues spreading various sensational, erroneous theories and presents them as fact.
Twilight is a 293-page book authored by Mawyer and co-authored by Pierucci. Twilight’s cover page is a picture containing a backdrop of a cloudy sky with Arabic wording at the top of the page and an eerie splattering of blood across the Arabic. Superimposed in oversized font is the title “Twilight in America” with subtitle in traditional font: ”The Untold Story of Islamic Terrorist Training camps Inside America”. The names of the authors hang over a sliver of the American flag. Please see annexed hereto “Exhibit A.” The deliberate use of the phrase “terrorist training camps in America” in the sub-title of Twilight and on its cover is a calculating reference to property owned by plaintiffs.
The defendants repeatedly accuse the plaintiffs of being “home grown” terrorists or engaging in acts of terrorist. Terror activities are violations of New York State law and the federal code.
New York State Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001 Article 490 § 490.25 states that a person is guilty of a crime of terrorism when with intent to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence the potency of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion, or affect the conduct of a unit of government by murder, assassination or kidnapping, he or she commits a specified offense.
That 18 USC §2331 defines domestic terrorism as activities that (A)involve acts dangerous to human life; that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State; (B)appear to be intended: (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; {ii)to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; (Hi)or to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and (C)occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.
Through the cunning use of semantics, Defendants proliferate Twilight with abundant defamatory inferences in the form of “protected opinion”. However, the plaintiff has identified the following comments as exemplars of the publications plaintiff finds actionable:
“Also maddening is the fact that Al Fuqra/MOA had been listed on the StateDepartment’s list of terrorist groups but was removed in the year 2000 after what appeared to be a period of inactivity.” Twilight pg. 230. Please see annexed hereto “Exhibit C”. Plaintiff was never listed on the State Departments list of terrorist groups.
“In the privacy of Muslim compounds across our land they are preparing our own citizens to wage a holy war – jihad – against America. As many state and federal authorities turn a blind eye, these Islamic extremists convert our own citizens, then teach them how to kill.” This entire statement is false and defamatory.
“The women suffer a dismal fate, enslaved to their men forced into polygamous marriages, forced to have as many children as possible, sometimes beaten and raped, all under the banner of religious submission to Islam and the stifling rules of MOA that women must endure.” This entire statement is false and defamatory. In fact, women are treated with honor and respect. The women are well educated and intelligent leaders in their community. The men are not rapists and the women are not raped.
“[Gilani] has created an independent army of jihadists who have been killing their own countrymen for decades.” This statement is false and defamatory. No such “independent army of jihadists” exists and no such thing has ever occurred.
That Defendants stated as fact regarding York County, South Carolina, ….. [That] a 36 acre MOA compound is located, which hosted an array of notorious characters in the jihadist world.” Twilight, pg.236. Please see annexed hereto “Exhibit G”. This entire allegation is defamatory and false.
“My book details the nearly 30-year history of MOA in America with its crimes, its acts of terrorism and its bold claim to establish Islamic guerilla warfare training camps across the country.” Emphasis added. Article from Martin Mawyer published on CAN website. MOA does not have and has never established Islamic guerrilla warfare training camps across the country.
“The U.S. State Department has sounded the alarm about this group for years, calling MOA an Islamic group that wants to “purify Islam through violence.” Please see annexed hereto “Exhibit I”. On information and belief, there has been no such proclamation by the U.S. State Department. Defendants attempt to link the Imam of MOA to Daniel Pearl, though the Imam was exonerated of any connection.
Defendants attempt to draw a connection between the notorious so-called DC beltway sniper and the plaintiff. “But to really understand why [DC shooter] recruited the young and impressionable Malvo and then went on his murderous rampage, it’s important to explore his earlier life and, most of all, why he walked into the welcoming arms of the Muslims of the Americas:’ See Twilight pg.84 annexed hereto as “Exhibit J”. There is no connection whatsoever to this criminal and his actions.
Defendants repeatedly refer to plaintiff as a terrorist organization engaging in terrorist acts and running terrorist training camps in the United States. Defendants bolster their claims through the use of intentionally misleading documents and sources in order to deceive and mislead the public about Plaintiff. In committing the acts herein alleged, the defendants acted willfully, with malice in conscious disregard for the truth or falsity of the above statements. In committing the acts herein alleged, the defendants acted willfully with malice.
In the same above post Mawyer misinforms the American public by daring them to visit Plaintiffs property by stating: “There will be doubters of course. People who will not believe the Town of Islamberg actually exists. And they’ll have to go see it for themselves. The address is above for those doubters. Just remember, you doubters, whoever you are: You were warned. Stay away.”
That the above mentioned Islamberg is property belonging to Plaintiff that is home to approximately thirty families consisting of innocent men, women, and children.
By publishing the statements, Defendant intended to provoke the public to fear, paranoia, hatred, and anger, while simultaneously encouraging vigilantism and violence against Plaintiff and putting the safety, wellbeing, and life of every single member of MOA in imminent danger. Families are afraid to allow their children to play in their yards. Women are afraid to travel for fear of being attacked by a deranged zealot or his sympathizers.
The statements, individually and taken as a whole in context of the writings in which they appear, are defamatory per se because they falsely impute to Plaintiff, the commission of criminal offenses, in a manner ruinous to the reputation of plaintiff, locally, nationally and internationally.
