Hizb ut-Tahrir America Conference Venue Cancels

By Madeleine Gruen

The Aqsa School is unwilling to play host to Hizb ut-Tahrir America's (HTA) Khilafah Conference, according to an announcement that has been posted on HTA's Khilafah Conference 2009 web site. The event was scheduled for Sunday, July 19th.

The Aqsa School, an Islamic school located in Bridgeview, Illinois, was announced as the conference venue in the promotional video that was released by HTA earlier this month. The HTA conference web site provides no further explanation for the cancellation. The Aqsa School web site does not mention the Khilfafah Conference-- officially titled "Fall of Capitalism and Rise of Islam"-- or the subsequent cancellation.

It is possible that the school did not welcome the association with HTA, which adheres to extremist Islamist ideology. It is also possible that the board and administrators of the school anticipated unwelcome attention from the public and government officials as a result of hosting the conference.

HTA intends to find a new venue in which to hold the conference, according to the conference web site. Now that HTA has come out publicly, and is thus openly linked to the Khilafah Conference concept, it may be difficult for it to find a venue willing to host the event.

To read more about HTA's history, and its transition from covert to public operating status, please see my recent post on the Counterterrorism Blog.