String of high-profile hate crimes against Muslims had nothing to do with religion: investigation

Muslim civil rights groups are quick to label shootings, book burnings and harassment incidents as Islamophobic hate crimes, using them to raise their profiles and funds.However, once the full evidence comes to light, such incidents are often revealed to have no religious motive at all, something the groups or liberal media outlets don’t always clarify, watchdogs point out.A Post investigation has found four incidents where this has been the case.Weeks after Hamas launched terrorist strikes on Israel on October 7, 2023, a man wearing Muslim robes was shot outside a mosque in Providence, Rhode Island, where he was selling Islamic books.The 52-year-old victim was shot in the buttocks and released from hospital two hours later, claiming he was the victim of a hate crime, a police report shows.The incident drew international headlines and the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil rights group in America, urged Providence police to investigate the incident as a “bias” crime.“Because we have witnessed an unprecedented spike in anti-Muslim incidents nationwide in recent weeks, we urge local, state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate a possible bias motive for this attack,” said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper on the group’s website at the time.An investigation by Real Clear Investigations recently found the victim — Dean Scott Mustafa Ramos — was not targeted in a hate crime.“It was absolutely not a hate crime,” said Major David Lapatin, commanding officer of the Investigative Division of the Providence Police Department. Court records revealed Ramos is a convicted drug dealer who served five years in prison for manufacturing and distributing drugs.The suspect in the shooting, Nasir Dupont, is a Muslim convert and recidivist criminal, with a history that includes illegal gun possession, robbery and drug-related crimes.

He is currently in prison awaiting trial on drug a...