Arab groups website hacked in Dearborn. American Human Rights Council website hacked by radical extremists. Hate group suspected in Internet attack. Police are investigating
By Ray Hanania
The American Arab civil rights group “American Human Rights Council” (AHRC) reported on Friday that it’s website was hacked by an extremist group and replaced, at least briefly, with a message of hate believed conncted to ISIS (daesh).
The AHRC was founded in 2015 to defend the rights of all individuals as defined in the U.S. Constitution and by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
AHRC Executive Director Imad Hamad said, “We are surprised that we were attacked by these hackers. However, this attack does not intimidate us at all. If you work for promotion of human rights, it is natural that you would be hated and attacked by radical terrorists who hate human rights and the advocates of human rights.
Several other website of American Arab and Muslim groups based in Dearborn using the same webhost, Novocon, were also targeted and hacked. Their websites were replaced with messages of hate and Novocon officials said the hack was conducted by an extremist and radical Islamic based group, though not named.
Hamad said the American Human Rights Council (AHRC) is dedicated to defending and protecting human rights as outlined in the U.S. Constitution and the United Nations 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The AHRC was formed to protect these rights and advocate for anyone whose rights are being violated or denied. To that end, the AHRC will build a tenacious, objective, and carefully guided advocacy program that will serve to defend individual human rights, whenever and wherever they are being infringed upon.
The hack occurred on Thursday, September 15, 2016, a day that marks the International Day for Democracy,
Hamad said the American Human Rights Council’s (AHRC) website was subject to hacking attack by a radical and extremist unknown entity that posted a hateful message on its homepage, specifically attacking the work of AHRC. The authorities were notified and they are investigating the matter.
AHRC-USA commends Dearborn Police Department and the FBI Detroit Field office for their swift action pursing an investigation in an effort to reveal those behind this cybercrime. The webhost Novocan managed to restore the website. Novocan issued a statement on the matter that read in part: “Yesterday afternoon one of our servers came under a sustained attack by a radical Islamist group. The target of the attack was a human rights organization; however the attack was sophisticated and well planned. The hackers managed to gain access to one of the servers and remove 49 websites; those websites were then replaced with a radical propaganda message.”
As a result of AHRC-USA website being the prime target, other websites for business and two other community organizations the American Muslim Leadership Council (AMLC) and the Arab and Muslim American Political Action Committee (AAPAC) were completely shut-down. Even though other organizations were targeted, it is apparent that AHRC was the key target since the hateful message rhetoric attacked human rights and human rights advocacy. Human rights advocacy is the mission of AHRC.
AHRC-USA reiterates and affirms that it will continue its human rights work. AHRC-USA recognizes that extremists are on the losing side of human history and are desperate to use such fear tactics to advance their message of hate. AHRC-USA will continue its work in creating a culture of respect of human rights that counters hate and terrorism.
The AHRC has been widely praised for its consistent message of supporting the Rule of Law, Civil Rights, Human Rights for all peoples regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality or any other character. It is one of the most effective civil rights organizations fighting for Arab and Muslim rights in the United States.
The Detroit News story:
Link to WXYZ story on the hacking:
Link to MILive News story:
http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2016/09/cyberattack_replaces_website_h.html
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Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
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