Aziz Junejo, TV-show host of 'Focus on Islam'

STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES "As an American, it horrified me. I can't believe that my own country does something like this when we are trying to talk about justice and to instill democracy and human rights."

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"I think Muslims are horrified," he says. "At a mosque I went to, the imam was talking about how horrible it was for Muslims to see this, how Muslims could never do something like this because it's against Islam."

The prison abuses spurred Junejo to organize a rally Friday in front of the Federal Building in downtown Seattle, calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Iraq.

"As an American, it horrified me," he says of the abuses. "I can't believe that my own country does something like this when we are trying to talk about justice and to instill democracy and human rights."

At the mosque Aziz attended Friday, there was also talk about the beheading last week of an American.

Junejo takes issue with calling the beheaders "Islamic militants."

"I would never call David Koresh a 'Christian fanatic,' " he says by way of comparison.

Those at the mosque talked about how people who committed the beheading were not true Muslims. "It says in the Quran: If you take the life of one innocent person, God considers it as you have killed every human — all humanity," Junejo says. "And that's how you'll be punished."

In any case, Junejo doesn't see the Iraq conflict in terms of religion.

"This is not a war of religions and cultures," he says. "This is an isolated occupation, and I think we need to get out of it as soon as possible."

— Janet I. Tu

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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