TAMPA - A Muslim civil liberties group plans to denounce terrorism in a paid television commercial airing in the Tampa market this weekend to coincide with the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The 30-second spot, produced by the nonprofit Council on American-Islamic Relations, features two American Muslims, a man and a woman, denouncing violence in the name of Islam and vowing to "not to allow our faith to be hijacked by criminals."
The spot will run 105 times Thursday through Sunday on 13 cable channels in Tampa, including CNN, Fox Sports Net and the Weather Channel, according to CAIR's Florida office.
CAIR spokesman Ahmed Bedier said the spots were produced after the London bombings in July and distributed nationwide as public service announcements - stations could choose to air them or not. Research showed they were seen by as many as 5-million people.
Members of the Tampa chapter donated money to get the ads on as paid commercials in prime time in the local market this weekend, at a cost of more than $10,000, Bedier said. He said he didn't know of any other CAIR chapters airing the ads as paid commercials.
"We're basically piloting it to consider doing it in other markets," Bedier said. "We'll be following up and try to gauge the perception and see if there's positive feedback."
