Akram Khozam was the former Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 Bureau chief of Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera is an independent broadcaster owned by the state of Qatar through the Qatar Media Corporation and headquartered in Doha, Qatar...

. He had occupied that position for 9 years until he was replaced by Amro Abdel-Hamid in late September 2005.http://www.akhbaruna.com/node/74

Anti-Muslim statements

Akram Khozam angered the Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 community in Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 in 2004 after he declared to a Russian TV channel that Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

 promotes terrorism

Terrorism

Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...

 and that the Qur'an

Qur'an

The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...

 incite violence. He also said that three of the Muslim Caliph

Caliph

The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word   which means "successor" or "representative"...

s were killed in internal terrorist conflicts. Mr. Geydar Dzhemal, the head of the Islamic Committee of Russia, asked Al Jazeera to fire Mr. Khozam. http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?idr=35&id=610306 Al Jazeera stated that the replacement of Akram Khozam in September 2005 was not related to the complaints raised by the Islamic Committee and was unrelated to Mr Khozam's statements.

Replaced as Moscow Bureau Chief

On the 20 September 2005 the news broke that Akram Khozam was being replaced as the Al Jazeera Moscow Bureau Chief. Initial reports incorrectly indicated that Mr. Khozam had been fired http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1495049,00050003.htm but the Arab

Arab

Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

ic site Akhbaruna confirmed that Mr. Khozam had just been moved into a different role.http://www.akhbaruna.com/node/74

It emerged that Al Jazeera had been concerned about the way the former Soviet bloc was being covered and wanted to invigorate its coverage by recruiting the widely acclaimed Russian Arab journalist Amro Abdel-Hamid to replace Akram Khozam. Mr. Abdel-Hamid was formerly the head of the Al-Arabiyya office in Moscow before joining Al Jazeera.