Date Posted: Wednesday, July 26, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Mahdi Bray: (202) 496-1288

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Muslim American Society's Freedom Foundation (MAS Freedom) and a coalition of U.S. Peace groups will be holding a press conference on Thursday, July 27, at 1:00 PM, in the Murrow Room of the National Press Club at 529 14th St., NW., 13th Floor, Washington, D.C. to announce plans for a massive National Emergency March on Washington, Saturday, August 12 to protest the U.S.-Israeli war against the people of Palestine and Lebanon.

According to Mahdi Bray, MAS Freedom Foundation Executive Director, the rally will be used not only to focus on issues adversely affecting Muslims in the Middle East but also attacks on American Muslim civil rights here at home, especially the inability of Homeland Security civil rights and civil liberties division to protect American Muslim constitutional rights.

The August 12 event will be the largest mobilization to date within the United States to oppose the latest U.S.-Israeli war drive against Lebanon and Gaza, according to the initiating organizations.

The press conference will discuss plans for August 12, the situation regarding rally and march permits, and outline a nationwide campaign to mobilize the U.S. antiwar movement, the Arab-American and Muslim community, and all people of conscience to oppose what the organizers call "the criminal war that has already killed hundreds of civilians and displaced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes."

The press conference will also include direct eyewitness testimony from Dr. Mounzer Sleiman who has just returned from war-torn Lebanon.  Dr. Sleiman is an independent analyst on national security affairs who appears frequently as a commentator on a number of Arab TV networks and radio outlets.

Speakers will include:

·         Dr. Mounzer Sleiman, National Council of Arab Americans, Independent Military and Political Analyst who just returned from Lebanon;

·         Mara Verheyden-Hillard, Co-Founder Partnership for Civil Justice;

·         Mahdi Bray, Director, Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation;

·         Brian Becker, National Coordinator, A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition;

·         Rev. Graylan Hagler, Senior Pastor, Plymouth Congregational Church, President of Ministers for Social and Economic Justice; and

·         Ramsey Clark, Former U.S. Attorney General.

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The Freedom Foundation is the public affairs arm of the Muslim American Society (MAS), a national grassroots religious, social, and educational organization. MAS is America’s largest grassroots Muslim organization with over 50 chapters nationwide. Learn more at www.masnet.org. Support our work at MAS Freedom Foundation.  Make a donation here: http://www.masnet.org/donate.asp.

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MAS Freedom Foundation

1050 17th Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, D.C.  20036

Tel:  (202) 496-1288 - Fax:  (202) 463-0686

URL:  http://www.masnet.org/index_publicaffairs.asp