DETROIT (AP) An Islamic civil rights group is asking for a federal investigation of anti-Islamic graffiti allegedly scrawled in the home of a man charged with trying to enter the country with $12 million in phony cashier's checks.
After Secret Service and FBI agents searched the home of Omar Shishani on Thursday, his brother, Abdallah Shishani, said he and his wife found the words ''Islam is Evil'' and ''Christ is King'' written on a Muslim prayer calendar on the refrigerator.
On Monday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations said it believed a federal agent scrawled the words, and asked Attorney General John Ashcroft to investigate.
''While law enforcement authorities have the right, and even the duty, to follow all legitimate leads in the search for those who would cause harm to our nation, they do not have the right to insult the religious beliefs of those they are questioning,'' the group said in a letter.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob Cares, who heads the Detroit area's terrorism task force, did not immediately return a call for comment. Gina Balaya, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Detroit, said Cares had been told about the allegation.
Abdallah Shishani and his wife, Petimat Magomadova, had been staying at his brother's home baby-sitting his twins since his arrest Wednesday.
A U.S. Customs inspector found the cashier's checks when Omar Shishani arrived at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on a flight from Indonesia, according to court documents.
The FBI is investigating whether Omar Shishani has ties to terrorist organizations although his name is not on the terrorist watch list, law enforcement officials have said.
Ashcroft had not yet replied to the letter.