WASHINGTON, May 12 (UPI) -- The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations says hate crimes against Muslims in the United States jumped 52 percent in 2004.
A study by the nation's largest Islamic civil liberties group documented 1,522 incidents of anti-Muslim violence, discrimination and harassment in 2004, the highest number since the group began documenting after the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
The number of cases classified as hate crimes increased from 93 in 2003 to 141 in 2004. Ten states accounted for nearly 80 percent of all anti-Muslim incidents reported: California, New York, Arizona, Virginia, Texas, Florida, Ohio, Maryland, New Jersey and Illinois.
"These disturbing figures come as no surprise given growing Islamophobic sentiments and a general misperception of Islam and Muslims," said Arsalan Iftikhar, CAIR's legal director and author of the study "Unequal Protection."
Complaints of workplace discrimination dropped 5 percent last year.
CAIR called on Congress to hold hearings on anti-Muslim attitudes.
