SAO PAULO—Brazil’s Islamic community supports police actions against a group of people suspected of planning attacks during the Olympics as long as the investigations are conducted in a transparent way, a Brazilian Muslim leader said Friday.
Sheik Jihad Hassan Hammadeh, president of the Ethics Committee of the Sao Paulo-based National Union of Islamic Entities, told reporters the community is concerned with the Thursday arrest of 10 Brazilians police said had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS) and discussed on social media the possibility of staging attacks during next month’s Olympics.
He said the National Union of Islamic Entities supports the Federal Police Department’s investigation. But he said there must be concrete evidence and transparency to ensure citizens or groups are not unjustly persecuted.
“The arrest of the 10 should have been announced in a more cautious way and with proof,” he said.
“The way the arrests were announced frightened the population and could lead to anti-Muslim discrimination,” he said, adding that “prejudice against Islam is growing in Brazil and today Muslim women are scared to go out on the street wearing hijabs.”
