AG reinstates Chaudry to hate crimes commission following suspension for anti-Israel posts

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown reinstated American Muslim activist Zainab Chaudry to a state hate crimes commission on Wednesday, two weeks after suspending her for anti-Israel social media posts.

While Brown chairs the Maryland Commission on Hate Crimes Response and Prevention and is responsible for appointing its 22 members, he doesn’t have the authority to remove a commissioner before the end of their four-year term, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

Nor does Brown have the authority to suspend a commissioner. The 2023 law establishing the commission is “silent on the question of removal and suspension of members,” according to the Attorney General’s Office.

Chaudry, who is the Maryland office executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), has received blowback for multiple social media posts, including one comparing Israel to Nazi Germany with the comment, “That moment when you become what you hated most.”

In suspending Chaudry, Brown determined that several of her social media posts since early October had challenged the commission’s ability to do its work.

Chaudry could not be immediately reached for comment by email or through social media.

Edward Ahmed Mitchell, deputy director for CAIR, which is based in Washington, D.C., said in a statement that the council welcomed Chaudry’s reinstatement and appreciated conversations that its members have had with Brown and his staff.

Before the commission’s Dec. 13 meeting, Brown is expected to share a draft of guidelines for how members should balance their right to free speech with their role on the commission.

The attorney general said he expects that all commission members will comply with the guidelines once they’re finalized.

“I believe the commissioners recognize the commitment required to eradicate hate crimes and bias incidents in Maryland, including the rising tide of antisemitism and Islamophobia,” Brown said in a statement. “We must all put aside our differences, no matter how stark they may seem, and find common ground on ways to respond to and prevent hate crimes in our state.”

CAIR, Mitchell said, agreed with Brown that the commission’s actions should follow a new set of guidelines, which “must apply consistently to all commissioners.”

Shortly after Chaudry’s suspension, a group of Republican state lawmakers called for the attorney general to expel her, while CAIR orchestrated an online petition calling for her reinstatement.

The state delegates said in their letter that Chaudry has the right to express her “disgusting and dangerous” opinion, but she shouldn’t be allowed to remain on a state commission.

“Fomenting hate during the war going on in the Middle East is contrary to the mission of the commission and should be grounds for immediate dismissal,” Del. Kathy Szeliga of Baltimore County said in a statement included in the letter.

Following news of Chaudry’s reinstatement on Wednesday, Republican state Sen. Justin Ready wrote on the social media platform X that Brown’s decision and explanation were “incredibly … weak” and questioned why the attorney general couldn’t request that CAIR offer a different representative to serve on the commission.

The senator added that CAIR shouldn’t have representation on any hate crimes commission to begin with, considering the council’s alleged past support for the militant group Hamas, which the Biden administration has labeled a terrorist organization.

Meanwhile, Mitchell on Wednesday thanked the roughly 5,600 individuals and organizations who signed the council’s online petition.

The petition referred to Chaudry as a “widely respected civil rights activist and an important leader of the Maryland Muslim community” and accused the attorney general’s office of validating a “dishonest smear campaign” promoted by Fox News and “other bigoted voices.”

Following her suspension, Chaudry received anti-Muslim threats and other “defamatory” and “dangerous” harassment that represented “a very small taste of what many other American Muslims have experienced in recent months,” Mitchell said, alluding to the murder of a 6-year-old Muslim child in Chicago and the shooting of three Palestinian students in Vermont, as well as the various threats, doxing and harassment that Muslims and Palestinians have been facing.

“It is more important than ever,” Mitchell said in a statement, “for the state of Maryland to counter Islamophobia, antisemitism, anti-Palestinian racism and other forms of hate that threaten Maryland communities.”