The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Texas) strongly urges Tarrant County prosecutors to drop the hate-crime enhancements filed against Raunaq Alam and Afsheen Khan, who are charged in connection with graffiti reading “F**k Israel” spray-painted on the wall of a non-denominational church in Euless, Texas, in 2024. 

SEE: North Texas Activists Face Hate Crime Charges, Prison Time for Anti-Israel Graffiti

Both originally faced misdemeanor graffiti charges for damage under $750. However, prosecutors have elevated both cases to third-degree felonies by applying Texas’s hate-crime statute — each now facing potential sentences of 2 to 10 years in prison. Alam’s trial begins September 8, and Khan’s is scheduled September 30.

SEE: Alarm in Texas as activist faces hate-crimes trial over anti-Israel graffiti 

CAIR-Texas condemns vandalism of religious sites, including the repeated desecration of mosques with Islamophobic graffiti. Such acts cause real harm to communities of faith. At the same time, applying hate-crime enhancements to graffiti that criticizes a foreign government misapplies the law. Texas’s hate-crime statute was written to protect individuals based on religion, race, nationality, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability, not to shield a government from political criticism.

“Although we strongly condemn the vandalism of this church and believe that those responsible should be held accountable for this crime, Texas prosecutors are going beyond the law attempting to criminalize political speech by conflating criticism of the Israeli government with religious hatred,” said Mustafaa Carroll, Executive Director of CAIR-Texas DFW. “Our state’s hate crime laws were meant to protect vulnerable communities, not shield foreign governments from critique. We can and should condemn the vandalism of a house of worship without criminalizing speech.”

“Vandalizing a church property goes against the tenants of Islam; however, manipulating Texas’ hate crime laws to punish criticism of a foreign government will further erode public confidence in expressing their freedom of speech: a lose-lose for all Americans,” said Imran Ghani, Director of Operations of CAIR-Texas Houston. 

CAIR-Texas warns that this conflation, where criticism of a country is equated with religious hatred, could lead to absurd and dangerous applications. For example, criticizing Russia could then conceivably be interpreted as anti-Russian hate, mirroring what the law now threatens to do with Israel. 

CAIR-Texas encourages community members to attend the trials in solidarity and call on prosecutors to drop the hate-crime charges.

• Raunaq Alam’s trial: Monday, September 8, 2025, at the Tarrant County Courthouse, 401 W Belknap St, Fort Worth, TX 76102
• Afsheen Khan’s trial: Tuesday, September 30, 2025, same courthouse

CONTACT: Mustafaa Carroll, CAIR-TX, DFW Executive Director, mcarroll@cair.com, (832) 549-1042