Attorney General Anthony Brown announced Wednesday morning that Dr. Zainab Chaudry's temporary suspension is lifted.
Chaudry, the Executive Director of the Maryland Office of CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations), was temporarily suspended from the Commission late last month after some personal Facebook posts "had [been] deemed disruptive to the work and mission of the Commission."
However, on Wednesday, in a release the Attorney General's office said the AG lacked the authority from the legislation creating the commission to remove or suspend a Commissioner during their 4-year term of service.
The Maryland Commission on Hate Crime Response and Prevention had its first meeting in September and has yet to create guidelines for its Commissioners, something that will be addressed before its next meeting.
"Prior to the Commission's next meeting on December 13, the Attorney General will distribute draft operating guidelines to members which include personal communications and how to balance the members' right to freedom of speech and their roles as Commissioners for their review and feedback," a news release said.
The Office of the Attorney General goes on to write, "In accepting these positions, appointees assume an obligation to put their own interests aside when coming to the table to serve as advisors on matters of such great public importance."
CAIR is a legislatively mandated organization to be included on the Commission.
The National CAIR office and Chaudry shared the following statement on Wednesday's update:
"We welcome Attorney General Anthony Brown's decision to reinstate the appointment. We also appreciate the productive conversations we have held with Attorney General Brown and his staff over the past few weeks. We agree that it is important for the commission to collaboratively develop additional guidelines and we look forward to upholding those guidelines, which must apply consistently to all commissioners.
"We thank the thousands of community members, leaders, students and allies who contacted Attorney General Brown urging him to reverse this decision. CAIR's Maryland Director Zainab Chaudry looks forward to continuing the critical work of representing the state's Muslim communities and addressing hate bias, including both Islamophobia and antisemitism, while also advocating justice for all communities here and abroad.
"The anti-Muslim threats and other harassment directed at Dr. Chaudry last month were defamatory, dangerous, and, sadly, a very small taste of what many other American Muslims have experienced in recent months. From the murder of a 6-year-old Palestinian Muslim boy in Chicago to the shooting of three Palestinian students in Vermont to threats, doxxing and harassment aimed at Muslims and Palestinians here in Maryland, anti-Muslim bigotry and anti-Palestinian racism are spinning out of control."
"It is more important than ever for the State of Maryland to counter Islamophobia, antisemitism, anti-Palestinian racism and other forms of hate that threaten Maryland communities."
-CAIR Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell
Howard Libit, the Executive Director of the Baltimore Jewish Council, an organization also represented on the Commission, gave WMAR-2 News the following statement:
"While we understand that legal technicalities are tying the Attorney General's hands, it's incredibly disturbing that someone who has posted such hateful, anti-Jewish things on social media is back on a commission intended to fight hate crimes in Maryland. To deny the brutal killings of so many Jewish children, and to use so many hateful references to the Holocaust, suggests that this member of the commission is more focused on promoting hate than fighting against it."
-Howard Libit, Executive Director of The Baltimore Jewish Council
Meredith Weisel, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) DC Regional Director and also the ADL's representative on the Hate Crimes Commission, sent WMAR-2 News the following statement:
“While I understand the Attorney General has determined that the law which established the commission does not have the authority currently to remove or suspend a member, my original concerns about the many troubling social media posts made by CAIR’s Maryland Director still stand. Unfortunately, the past two months we have seen this pattern denying the larger Jewish communities suffering after the brutal massacre on October 7th. This unprovoked war has had a great impact throughout the world, resulting in an over 300% rise in antisemitic incidents throughout the U.S., including a number of troubling incidents in Maryland.
"As commissioners who are supposed to be showing leadership in the fight against hate, it’s disappointing and concerning that inflammatory rhetoric is being used instead of finding ways to bring people together. We may have disagreements on the policies in Israel and Gaza, but to make posts like 'disrupting the Zionist agenda has become a favorite hobby' or calling Hamas terrorists 'Palestinian Freedom Fighters' and using Holocaust distortion is downright dismissive of the majority of American Jews.”
-Meredith Weisel, ADL DC Regional Director and member of the Hate Crimes Commission
Delegate Joe Vogel, who is also running for the Democratic nomination for the Maryland 6th Congressional district, said he plans to draft legislation to give the Attorney General the Authority to suspend and remove members of the Commission.
He added that "until this authority is granted to the Attorney General, it is my position that this commission should delay any further meetings."
Vogel was the primary sponsor of the legislation that created the Hate Crimes Commission.
We reached out to the Office of the Attorney General to see if they had a response to Vogel's position to delay any meetings, and they sent us the following response:
"We will review any bill that is introduced during the next legislative session and work with the General Assembly to ensure that the Commission can continue the critical work and mission that it was established to perform. The meeting on December 13 will proceed as planned. It is our obligation to address the issues necessary to prevent and respond to hate crimes and hate bias incidents, no matter how difficult or challenging the work might be."
-Jennifer Donnelan, Director of Communications, Office of the Attorney General
