{"id":78516,"date":"2025-12-10T15:23:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T15:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/78516\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T15:23:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T15:23:06","slug":"muslim-group-says-desantis-order-defamatory-tallahassee-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/78516\/","title":{"rendered":"Muslim Group Says DeSantis Order \u2018Defamatory\u2019 \u2013 Tallahassee Reports"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The News Service of Florida<\/p>\n

The Council on American-Islamic Relations said Tuesday it will go to court to challenge an executive order issued by Gov. Ron DeSantis that designated the group as a \u201cterrorist\u201d organization. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs you know, your designation has no basis in law or fact,\u201d the group, commonly known as CAIR, said in a letter to DeSantis. \u201cYou do not have the constitutional authority to unilaterally declare any Americans or American institutions foreign terrorist groups, nor is there any basis to level this smear against our organization.\u201d <\/p>\n

The letter, signed by Edward Ahmed Mitchell, the organization\u2019s national deputy director, described the executive order as \u201cdefamatory\u201d and said, \u201cWe look forward to seeing you in a court of law, where facts and the law still matter. CAIR-Florida will in the meantime, God willing, continue serving the people of Florida, pursuing justice for all, and protecting the Constitution\u2019s guarantees of free speech and religious freedom.\u201d <\/p>\n

The executive order, issued Monday, designated CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations. During an appearance Tuesday at Florida International University, DeSantis said the Legislature is working on changes that would follow a Texas law about terrorist organizations. He called the Texas law \u201ca little bit more robust\u201d than what is on Florida\u2019s books. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think you\u2019re going to see statutory codification of how we handle different terror designations,\u201d DeSantis said. \u201cBut I welcome the lawsuit, because what will happen is that will give the state of Florida discovery rights to be able to subpoena (CAIR\u2019s) bank records.\u201d <\/p>\n

In part, the executive order alleged that people associated with CAIR \u201chave been convicted of providing, and conspiring to provide, material support to designated terrorist organizations.\u201d But in the letter to DeSantis, CAIR said the \u201cclaim that CAIR supports terrorism is ludicrous and provably false.\u201d It added that the \u201creal reason anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian politicians obsessively target CAIR and other American Muslim institutions is because of our steadfast advocacy for Palestinian rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

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