Suspect in Mosque Stabbing Arrested Again for Emails Threatening to Kill and Castrate Director of Mu

Suspect in Mosque Stabbing Arrested Again for Emails Threatening to Kill and Castrate Director of Muslim Group

Anna Merlan

A Queens man awaiting trial for allegedly stabbing a Muslim man in 2012 has been arrested again. Bernhard Laufer, 56, was arrested on Saturday after an investigation by the FBI's Civil Rights Squad revealed that he sent a series of emails threatening the director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil liberties organization based in Washington D.C.

Laufer is awaiting trial for allegedly lying in wait outside a Flushing mosque at 5 a.m. on November 18, 2012, then stabbing 57-year-old Bashir Ahmad six times when Ahmad arrived to unlock the mosque for morning prayers. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a press release at the time that Laufer had yelled "I'll kill you Muslim [expletive redacted]" at Ahmad as the attack continued. Ahmad told the Daily News that Laufer stabbed him six times in the back, cut his head and thumb, and bit the tip of his nose.

Laufer wasn't identified in the attack until June of 2013. In the meantime, he appears to have been busy: in a federal complaint, the FBI says that Laufer began sending threats to CAIR about ten months after the attack, in October of 2013.

Laufer faces a laundry list of charges, including attempted murder, which carries between five and 25 years in prison. District Attorney Brown also said the attack would be treated as a hate crime.

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2014/06/bernhard_laufer_nihad_awad_council_on_american-islamic_relations_stabbing_mosque.php