ISLAMOPHOBES INVADE WIKIPEDIA

MAHDI BRAY BIO FALSELY ALTERED

WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 17, 2008) – MAS Freedom (MASF), as the civic and human rights advocacy entity of the Muslim American Society (MAS), was alerted at the end of March to the apparent invasion of Wikipedia by Islamophobes falsely altering a page bearing his name and biographical information, maliciously asserting its Executive Director, Mahdi Bray, to falsely be an 'avid supporter of Hamas'. After initial reversal edits correcting the villainous allegation were made, the Mahdi Bray Wikipedia page continued to be monitored, however, the anonymous citizen editor(s) – identifiable only as an IP address – persisted in attacking its content. On April 15 MAS Freedom wrote to Wikimedia Foundation requesting implementation of Wikipedia's oversight policy. The Mahdi Bray Wikipedia page is now inaccessible to unregistered users and will continue to be monitored by both MAS Freedom and Wikipedia. Contrary to the claims of Islamophobes and right-wing groups attempting to characterize Bray, and an entire audience of rally attendees, as supporters of Hamas (based on the a video-clip from a pro-Palestinian rally that has been grossly and negligently taken out of context), Bray is not now, nor has he ever been, a supporter of Hamas. However, Bray does unequivocally embrace the right of Palestinians for a home land and self-determination. Additional details not attributed to the brief biographical statement found on the Mahdi Bray Wikipedia page, addressing recent allegations that before his involvement with MAS Bray had no prior history as a civil and human rights activist, are set out in more detail in the Official Biography of Mahdi Bray found on the MAS website and on The Crescent Report blog.