[JURIST] Hate crimes and civil rights violations against Muslims in the United States have reached their highest point since right after September 11, according to a report released Wednesday by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) [advocacy website]. As reasons for the recent surge [2005 CAIR press release] the report cites increasing political rhetoric used against Muslim figures and lingering hatred towards Muslims in the US. The Council reported 1,522 incidents of Muslim civil right violations in 2004, a 49 percent increase over 2003. The latest FBI hate crimes report [PDF text] pooling information from 11,900 law enforcement says that hate crimes against Muslims remained relatively the same in number from 2002 to 2004. AP has more.