Via LA Times:

The call about the missing man — and the massacre — came in the early afternoon to the front desk of the office in Anaheim.

Farhan Khan told Hussam Ayloush, the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ executive director in Los Angeles, that his brother-in-law, Syed Rizwan Farook, could not be accounted for after someone barged into a meeting at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino and opened fire, killing and wounding scores of people. Khan feared that his wife’s brother was among the dead.

Less than an hour later, after Ayloush had urged him to remain calm, Khan called back. Farook was not a victim of the mass shooting, but the suspected author of it, Khan said.

Later that day, Ayloush and CAIR took a step the group had never taken before: It would advise the family of a suspected mass shooter and terrorist. Soon, Khan spoke to a ring of reporters at a news conference organized by CAIR.

The organization received angry calls and critical coverage from conservative media, including Breitbart, which ran a headline asking, “Why is CAIR helping San Bernardino terrorists after the fact?” Others wondered why CAIR was getting involved before it was clear whether others — possibly even other family members — had known of the attacks before they occurred.

Almost half a year after the deadliest attack on American soil since 9/11, Ayloush said CAIR does not regret the decision.

“It is not about what is popular or convenient,” Ayloush said. “We wanted to make sure no one is punished for the sins of others.”

For years, CAIR, which has 30 chapters in the U.S., has acted to condemn terrorist attacks and educate the public about Islam at a time when anti-Muslim sentiment was high. But it also has been a polarizing organization, reviled by critics who accuse it of being linked with radical Islam, terrorism and groups such as Hamas.

In 2007, CAIR, along with hundreds of other organizations and individuals, was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in a case against the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation, a charity prosecutors accused of supporting Hamas. The Holy Land Foundation and several of its officers were convicted in November 2008.

CAIR was not accused of wrongdoing. Still, the FBI suspended relations with the council. Critics also pointed to the organization’s sometimes contentious relationship with law enforcement, including the council’s battle with the FBI over surveillance of Muslims in U.S. mosques.