WASHINGTON

The Texas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Texas) on Wednesday slammed Governor Greg Abbott’s “increasingly desperate and deranged” demand to investigate alleged “sharia courts,” a claim the group described as a longstanding anti-Muslim conspiracy theory.

The group said in its statement that trying to ban “sharia” would be no different than banning Jewish halacha or Catholic canon law, calling the governor’s move a “direct assault” on religious freedom.

“Greg Abbott’s disregard for the First Amendment, his obsession with Texas Muslims and his dedication to protecting the Israeli government from criticism apparently knows no bounds,” CAIR-Texas said in the statement.

It added that Abbott’s latest directive follows a series of failed attempts to penalize Texans who criticized the Israeli government or refused to sign pro-Israel pledges.

“Now, the day after issuing an unconstitutional and error-riddled proclamation targeting the state’s largest Muslim civil rights group, he is ordering Texas district attorneys to investigate imaginary ‘sharia courts,’” the group said.

It accused Abbott of promoting “debunked conspiracy theories” and vowed to continue defending Texas Muslims from what it called his “desperate” attempts to undermine the First Amendment.

Abbott’s order accused unnamed “Sharia tribunals” in North Texas of “masquerading” as legal courts and claimed they were issuing orders that circumvent US law.

His directive came shortly after he issued a proclamation declaring CAIR as a “foreign terrorist organization.”