An Islamic nonprofit in Washington DC has been evacuated after an anthrax scare

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a nonprofit that advocates for the equal treatment of Muslims in the US, was evacuated from its Washington DC office today after white powder was found in a suspicious piece of mail.

A CAIR spokesperson told the Washington Post that a staff member noticed the powder while opening an envelope. Preliminary testing suggests the substance found in the letter is not dangerous, according to updates from CAIR’s social media accounts. The letter has been taken by the FBI for further investigations.

“We receive hate messages daily because of our advocacy on behalf of the American Muslim community,” Maha Sayed, a CAIR staff attorney, said in a statement the group posted on Facebook. “It’s frightening to experience the hate manifest itself to such a real level. This will not deter us from continuing to protect the civil rights and liberties of all Americans.”

CAIR, which is based in DC and has chapters in more than two dozen cities, has been called the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the US.