FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award given to Zuhdi Jasser

MEDIA ADVISORY Phoenix Field Office Federal Bureau of Investigation For Immediate Release Contacts: SA Manuel Johnson DATE: January 14, 2008 FBI – Phoenix (602) 650-3201 PRESS CONFERENCE WHEN: Friday, January 18, 2008, at 1:00 p.m. WHERE: Federal Bureau of Investigation, 201 E Indianola, Phoenix, Arizona WHO: FBI Special Agent in Charge, John E. Lewis, Phoenix Division Recipient of the Directorﾒs Community Leadership Award, 2007, M.Zuhdi Jasser, MD DETAILS: To announce the recipient of the Directorﾒs Community Leadership Award for 2007. This award is given to an individual or organization whose achievements in the terrorism, crime, drug, gang, violence prevention/education field have had exemplary impact on the community. The 2007, Directorﾒs Community Leadership Award recipient is M. Zuhdi Jasser, MD. Dr. Jasser is a former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander. He is the founder and Chairman of the Board of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD), based in Phoenix, Arizona. AIFD seeks to address the central ideological conflict in the war on terror. Dr. Jasser believes that it is essential for devotional Muslims to lead the ideological war against militant Islamism by separating the spiritual from the political in Islam. This Muslim led effort seeks to establish the synergy of Americanism and our Constitutional democracy with a pluralistic Islam. Dr. Jasser is a respected physician currently in private practice in Phoenix, Arizona, specializing in internal medicine and nuclear cardiology. He recently served as the President of the Arizona Medical Association (ArMA) until June 2007. As ArMA President in early 2007, Dr. Jasser formed and now chairs a statewide Disaster Preparedness Task Force whose primary mission has been to inform and engage all Arizona physicians in disaster preparedness. Dr. Jasser chairs the bioethics committee and teaches nuclear cardiology in a major Phoenix hospital. He has been active in a number of interfaith efforts in Arizona including the founding of a Jewish-Muslim dialogue group in 2000 called the Children of Abraham. Dr. Jasser is a regular columnist and contributing editor for FamilySecurityMatters.org and a frequent columnist on Islamic affairs for the Arizona Republic. He is a CNN Contributor appearing regularly on the Glenn Beck Show of CNN Headline News and also, appears frequently on Fox News. Dr. Jasser is a graduate of the 2007, Phoenix FBIﾒs Citizensﾒ Academy. ##### ###