Head of Virginia Islamic School Arrested; Protesters Demand Shutdown

The director of a Saudi government-funded Islamic school has been arrested and charged with failing to report a child abuse allegation, adding to scrutiny of the northern Virginia academy as protesters came out Tuesday to call for a federal investigation of its teachings. Abdalla I. Al-Shabnan, director of the Islamic Saudi Academy, was also charged with obstruction of justice, according to a police report about the June 9 arrest. Al-Shabnan's arrest came after police claim he covered up an incident in which a 5-year-old girl attending the school reported to teachers that she was being sexually abused by her father.The teacher and the school's principal then reported the allegations to the school's director, Al-Shabnan, at the main campus in Alexandria (webnews) . Instead of calling police, Al-Shabnan called the little girl's father. Al-Shabnan told the father, "[it] could be embarrassing to both the parent and the school," and that the girl should be "withdrawn from attendance." But state law requires school authorities to report alleged child abuse within 72 hours of learning of the allegation. Al-Shabnan is free pending trial. Police said in court papers that Al-Shabnan ordered a written report about the girl's complaint, which had been prepared by other school officials, to be deleted from a school computer. Fairfax County (webnews) Residents were divided on what some say is just the latest of a string of incidents tainting the school's reputation."Put more attention into it because it's not normal for a five-year-old to go to their principal and tell them that they're being abused," said Imelda Sanchez.More than a dozen protesters lined up outside the school Tuesday, waving signs that read "Saudi hate is not an American family value" and "Islamic Shariah teaches violence and hate." The protesters, including the conservative Traditional Values Coalition, want the Justice and State departments to investigate the school. The State Department last year obtained copies of the school's textbooks but has so far refused to make them public. Andrea Lafferty, executive director of the coalition, said the arrest of Al-Shabnan is just further evidence of problems at the school. "The academy is a virtual one-stop shopping center for law enforcement," she said, citing the case of former school valedictorian Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, who was convicted of joining Al-Qaida after leaving the school and plotting to assassinate President Bush (webnewsbio) . Al-Shabnan has not returned repeated phone calls and e-mails from The Associated Press seeking comment over the last week. Last week, a federal commission issued a report detailing numerous troubling passages from school textbooks. A 12th-grade text on Quranic interpretation teaches students that it is permissible for Muslims to kill adulterers and converts from Islam, according to the investigation by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a panel created by Congress that monitors religious freedom rights around the world. Other passages in the school's textbooks state that "the Jews conspired against Islam and its people" and that Muslims are permitted to take the lives and property of those deemed "polytheists." The school issued a statement saying the textbooks had been mistranslated and misinterpreted and that some of the textbooks studied by the commission are no longer in use. But the statement offered no detailed explanation of the specific passages cited by the commission, and school officials have not returned calls seeking comment. Generally, the school has said in the past that some of the textbooks it uses come from Saudi Arabia (webnews) and contain harsh language inappropriate for use in the United States. The school has said it revises the textbooks as needed. Indeed, the commission found evidence that individual passages were removed from individual textbooks, sometimes covered up with correction fluid. But John Cosgrove of Springfield, Va., one of the protesters outside the school, said the revisions are even more troubling given the passages cited in the commission's report that were not deleted. "It stands to reason that the material they left in is material they think is acceptable," Cosgrove said. The commission and other critics of the school say the State Department ought to take a more assertive role in regulating the school because it functions as an arm of the Saudi embassy. Also, the school's lease with Fairfax County specifically gives the State Department the right to intervene if it has concerns about the academy. Protesters also criticized the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for voting unanimously last month to extend the school's lease. County officials conducted their own review of the textbooks and said they didn't find any serious problems. The board's chairman - Gerry Connolly, the Democratic nominee for Congress in Virginia's 11th District - offered a strong defense of the school and accused critics of slander during the meeting in which the lease was approved. Connolly did not return calls seeking comment Tuesday. But Keith Fimian, his Republican opponent for the congressional seat, said that because the school is on public land, taxpapers have the right to ensure that the curriculum meets certain criteria. "From what I know, the board was wrong to renew the lease, Fimian said.
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