PERSON: Mahdi Bray

Wright Mahdi Bray (born “Wright Bray” in 1950), a Black American convert to Islam, is a civil and human rights activist who serves as Executive Director of the Muslim American Society’s Freedom Foundation (MAS Freedom) based in Washington, DC. The foundation supports Muslim activists and religious leaders who have been arrested. A former Baptist who converted to Islam in 1976, Bray describes himself as a “long time civil and human rights activist” and has held positions as the political director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) and president of the Coordinating Council of Muslim Organizations (CCMO). He served as executive director of the Muslim American Society (MAS) Freedom Foundation until suffering a stroke in late 2010. MAS announced the Freedom Foundation would close in June 2011.

In his past roles, Bray defended terrorists and those alleged to be supporting them. For instance, in March 2004, he declared the Israeli assassination of Hamas spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin as “an unlawful, cowardly and dangerous act of state-sponsored terrorism.”