The autopsy report on Imam Luqman Abdullah, who was gunned down in a Dearborn, Michigan warehouse, Wednesday, October 28, 2009, was finally released Monday, February 1, 2010. The details revealed by the report show why law enforcement authorities would try to suppress it. The Imam’s body was riddled with twenty-one bullets, including at least one to the back. He was handcuffed with his hands behind him. These details raise disturbing questions:

• How many bullets were actually fired? Was this a case of trigger-happy agents emptying their clips against an unsuspecting victim who had been lead into an ambush?

• Was Imam Luqman alive when he was handcuffed? If he was, why wasn’t he given medical attention? If he wasn’t, why was it necessary to handcuff him? What are the relevant procedures in such a scenario?

• Furthermore, was the shot to the back delivered while the Imam lay handcuffed face down on the ground? If so, was it the one that actually killed him? We know from the Oscar Grant murder in Oakland, California, New Year’s night, January 1, 2009, that it is not inconceivable that the seriously wounded Imam was handcuffed, placed face-down on the warehouse floor and then shot. Grant, whose murder was captured on cell phone cameras by BART passengers, was killed in that manner.

• Who killed Freddy, the police dog? The official story relates that Freddy was killed by Imam Luqman and the federal agents responded by opening fire on the Imam. However, if Imam Luqman’s body was struck by twenty-one bullets it is highly conceivable that far more shots were fired, as has been the case in other killings by law enforcement officers, such as Shawn Bell and Ahmadou Diallo. In the fusillade of lead unleashed against the Imam it is highly conceivable that a stray or ricocheting bullet fired by the agents actually killed Freddy. If that is established, the pretext for the agents opening fire against Imam Luqman is removed.

• Since his shooting is such an integral part of the government’s case against Imam Luqman, why wasn’t a necropsy performed on Freddy to definitively show the type and caliber of bullet that killed him? Furthermore, what is standard procedure in cases of this type?

In light of these and other serious questions, all people of conscience should support Congressman John Conyers in demanding that the Justice Department undertake a swift, complete, thorough investigation of the events surrounding the shooting of Imam Luqman Abdullah.