LOS ANGELES, Aug 27: Muslim civil rights and advocacy groups in the United States on Monday said the arrest of a Seminole, Florida, man on suspicion of planning attacks on 50 Florida mosques and Islamic centres, may be linked to the rising tide of anti-Muslim rhetoric by right-wing commentators and religious leaders.

“The American public is being subjected to a daily barrage of right-wing anti-Muslim rhetoric that is largely unchallenged by mainstream religious and political leaders. The incessant defamatory portrayal of Islam as an evil and violent faith inevitably leads a small minority of bigoted individuals to turn hate-filled words into violent actions,” CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said.