A Muslim leader offered to bury Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, but his proposal was met with opposition from the Colorado Muslim Society which says either Tsarnaev's family or Boston Muslims should decide where he is buried.
Chairman of the Colorado Muslim Society, Khaled Hamideh, said that Sheikh Abu Omar Almubarac proposed the idea to bury Tsarnaev in one of two Muslim cemeteries in the Denver area over the weekend.
"I offered to bury the person when I heard the so-called Muslims of Boston, they refused to bury him," Almubarac told CBS4.
Almubarac does not hold an official position with the Denver mosque, but founded the organization that was behind its construction.
"Well, the cemetery is my organization, our organization, and we have to deal with it ourselves," Almubarac said.
But Hamideh says the council will not deal with the controversial issue of Tsarnaev's burial, as the responsibility rests on those closest to the body.
"It's not up to me that I have to fly 1,000 miles away and find a way to bury [Tsarnaev]," he said.
"There's a family or it's the obligation of the Muslims in the area. If none, then it's the next city, the next state."
Hamideh added that Almubarac's words do not represent the Colorado Muslim Society, but he does condemn Tsarnaev's alleged participation in the Boston bombings.
"The conduct of Tamerlan Tsarnaev is abhorrent and contrary to every principle and belief that underlies the purpose of the Colorado Muslim Society," the organization's board of directors said in a statement.
Almubarac said that his views are entirely his own.
"I don't give a damn about what he says, or what anyone else says. As far as I'm concerned, I speak for myself," he said.
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