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Well-known member
Imam bedevils Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa in libel case
BY Scott Shifrel
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Friday, October 9th 2009, 4:00 AM
Egan-Chin/News and Lombard for News
Imam Siraj Wahhaj charges Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa said his mosque ran guns.
Related News
On the docket in Brooklyn Supreme Court: the imam vs. the angel.
A controversial Muslim leader squared off against Curtis Sliwa on Thursday in a big-bucks libel trial.
Siraj Wahhaj says the red-jacketed Guardian Angels founder falsely proclaimed on TV that his mosque ran guns to Canada.
As the case began, the atmosphere was a bit strained and strange.
"Curtis," a smiling Wahhaj called out as he entered the courthouse and hugged a surprised Sliwa. "He's my hero. Well, he used to be my hero."
Wahhaj - once listed as an unindicted co-conspirator linked to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing - clearly enjoyed Sliwa's discomfort.
But he insisted he still likes the radio host he's suing for $5million.
"Upstairs is fake," he said. "This is real, at least on my part."
In the courtroom, there were no hugs as the imam told jurors how Sliwa's words on an obscure public affairs show hurt him.
"I have never trafficked guns," he testified.
"I felt a sense of outrage. I felt embarrassed that someone would say that about me."
Sliwa's lawyer, Paul Siegert, contends that when Sliwa spoke about the guns, he was referring to mosque members caught with firearms in the 1980s when crackhouses flooded their Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.
Sliwa said he took the suit personally because his Guardian Angels helped the mosque fight the crack epidemic, and he had invited Wahhaj to be a guest on his radio show.
"You call when you needed our help, but then somebody tells you I said something and you sue me?" Sliwa fumed.
"He didn't even bother to pick up the phone and call."
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/200...ngels_founder_curtis_sliwa.html#ixzz0U1EFCxGK
BY Scott Shifrel
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Friday, October 9th 2009, 4:00 AM
Imam Siraj Wahhaj charges Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa said his mosque ran guns.
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On the docket in Brooklyn Supreme Court: the imam vs. the angel.
A controversial Muslim leader squared off against Curtis Sliwa on Thursday in a big-bucks libel trial.
Siraj Wahhaj says the red-jacketed Guardian Angels founder falsely proclaimed on TV that his mosque ran guns to Canada.
As the case began, the atmosphere was a bit strained and strange.
"Curtis," a smiling Wahhaj called out as he entered the courthouse and hugged a surprised Sliwa. "He's my hero. Well, he used to be my hero."
Wahhaj - once listed as an unindicted co-conspirator linked to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing - clearly enjoyed Sliwa's discomfort.
But he insisted he still likes the radio host he's suing for $5million.
"Upstairs is fake," he said. "This is real, at least on my part."
In the courtroom, there were no hugs as the imam told jurors how Sliwa's words on an obscure public affairs show hurt him.
"I have never trafficked guns," he testified.
"I felt a sense of outrage. I felt embarrassed that someone would say that about me."
Sliwa's lawyer, Paul Siegert, contends that when Sliwa spoke about the guns, he was referring to mosque members caught with firearms in the 1980s when crackhouses flooded their Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.
Sliwa said he took the suit personally because his Guardian Angels helped the mosque fight the crack epidemic, and he had invited Wahhaj to be a guest on his radio show.
"You call when you needed our help, but then somebody tells you I said something and you sue me?" Sliwa fumed.
"He didn't even bother to pick up the phone and call."
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/200...ngels_founder_curtis_sliwa.html#ixzz0U1EFCxGK