July, 09 2014, 01:24pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
CAIR Department to Monitor and Combat Islamophobia Director Corey Saylor, 202-384-8857, csaylor@cair.com
CAIR Staff Attorney Gadeir Abbas, 202-742-6410, 720-251-0425, gabbas@cair.com
CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com
Broad Coalition Urges 'Full Public Accounting' for Government Surveillance of U.S. Muslim Leaders
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization, today joined with a broad-based coalition of 45 organizations, led by the ACLU, in https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001hBuo_SncUL4WXOLSy9huM3CP0538dRJGIzlUWlBD...
WASHINGTON
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization, today joined with a broad-based coalition of 45 organizations, led by the ACLU, in insisting that President Obama "provide a full public accounting" of surveillance practices of American Muslim leaders.
According to new revelations by journalists Glenn Greenwald and Murtaza Hussain, CAIR's national executive director was among those reported to be targeted for surveillance. Addressing that apparent targeting, CAIR said: "This is an outrageous continuation of civil rights era surveillance of minority community leadership by government elements who see threats in all patriotic dissent."
In a letter to President Obama, the coalition wrote in part:
"The First Look report is troubling because it arises in this broader context of abuse. Documents obtained through an American Civil Liberties Union Freedom of Information Act request show that the FBI has been mapping a broad spectrum of communities, including American Muslim communities, the African American community and Latino American communities, without any basis for individualized suspicion. Under the guise of community outreach, the FBI targeted mosques and Muslim community organizations for intelligence gathering. It has pressured law-abiding American Muslims to become informants against their own communities, often in coercive circumstances. It has also stigmatized innocent Muslims by placing them on the No Fly List and other watch lists. In short, the government's domestic counterterrorism policies treat entire minority communities as suspect, and American Muslims have borne the brunt of government suspicion, stigma and abuse.
"These practices hurt not only American Muslims, but all communities that expect law enforcement to serve and protect America's diverse population equally, without discrimination. They strike the bedrock of democracy: that no one should grow up fearful of law enforcement, scared to exercise the rights to freedom of speech, association and worship."
Signatories to the coalition letter include:
Access
American Civil Liberties Union
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
Amnesty International
Arab American Institute
Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus
Brennan Center for Justice
Center for Community Change
Center for Constitutional Rights
Council on American-Islamic Relations
Defending Dissent Foundation
Free Press
Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders
Human Rights Campaign
Human Rights Watch
Interfaith Alliance
Islamic Society of North America
Lambda Legal
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
Muslim Advocates
Muslim League Fund of America
Muslim Public Affairs Council
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Legal Defense Fund
National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Center for Transgender Equality
National Coalition on Black Civic Participation
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
National Immigration Law Center
National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild
National Lawyers Guild
National Network for Arab American Communities
National Religious Campaign Against Torture
National Security Network
National Urban League
New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute
New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good
Partnership for Civil Justice Fund
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund
The Sikh Coalition
South Asian Americans Leading Together
Transgender Law Center
T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries
In its own statement CAIR added:
"The Obama administration continues to allow some government agencies to treat all Americans as objects of suspicion. It is time for a full public accounting regarding surveillance of American minorities. This includes explaining the use of the blatantly prejudiced 'Mohammad Raghead' as a placeholder in a document describing how to properly format surveillance justification."
This past weekend the Washington Postrevealed that the vast majority of the information in a cache of NSA intercepted communications contained within the Snowden documents were not from intended surveillance targets. Among the files were "medical records sent from one family member to another, resumes from job hunters and academic transcripts of school children."
Other groups have issued statements independent of the coalition letter:
Access
The NSA revelations continue to shock
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
ADC Responds to Glenn Greenwald's NSA Revelations
Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR)
NSA Surveillance of Muslim Leader Fits Same Pattern as FBI Spying on MLK, Say Civil Rights Attorneys
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
EFF Statement on Intercept Article Revealing Surveillance of Muslim Activists
Muslim Advocates (MA)
Statement on Report by Glenn Greenwald on NSA Spying
Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)
MPAC Condemns New Revelations of NSA, FBI Spying on Muslim Leaders
CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is a grassroots civil rights and advocacy group. CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
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Republican U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas on Tuesday again blocked the passage of House-approved bipartisan legislation meant to shield journalists and telecommunications companies from being compelled to disclose sources and other information to federal authorities.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) brought the Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying (PRESS) Act—which would prohibit the federal government from forcing journalists and telecom companies to disclose certain information, with exceptions for terroristic or violent threats—for a unanimous consent vote.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) argued Tuesday that passing the PRESS Act is "more important now than ever before when we've heard some in the previous administration talk about going after the press in one way or another," a reference to Republican President-elect Donald Trump's threats to jail journalists who refuse to reveal the sources of leaks. Trump, who has referred to the press as the "enemy of the people," repeatedly urged Senate Republicans to "kill this bill."
Cotton, who blocked a vote on the legislation in December 2022, again objected to the bill, a move that thwarted its speedy passage. The Republican called the legislation a "threat to national security" and "the biggest giveaway to the liberal press in American history."
The advocacy group Defending Rights and Dissent lamented that "Congress has abdicated their responsibility to take substantive steps to protect the constitutional right to a free press."
However, Seth Stern, director of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, noted ways in which Senate Democrats can still pass the PRESS Act before Republicans gain control of the upper chamber next month:
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While Liu was celebrating the preliminary injunction from Oregon-based U.S. District Court Judge Adrienne Nelson, later Tuesday, King County Superior Court Judge Marshall Ferguson released a ruling that blocked the merger in Washington state.
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Advocacy groups applauding the decisions also pointed to the high cost of groceries and the anticipated impact of Kroger buying Albertsons—a $24.6 billion deal first announced in October 2022.
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Trump has picked Harmeet Dhillon as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. She has stated that it must be "made unsafe" for hospitals to provide trans care, and frequently shares Libs of TikTok posts. She intends to target trans people in blue states. Subscribe to support my journalism.
[image or embed]
— Erin Reed (@erininthemorning.com) December 10, 2024 at 8:14 AM
Reed continued:
Dhillon's most prominent work includes founding the Center for American Liberty, a legal organization that focuses heavily on anti-transgender cases in blue states. The organization's "featured cases" section highlights several lawsuits, such as Chloe Cole's case against Kaiser Permanente; a lawsuit challenging a Colorado school's use of a transgender student's preferred name; a case against a California school district seeking to implement policies that would forcibly out transgender students; and a lawsuit against Vermont for denying a foster care license to a family unwilling to comply with nondiscrimination policies regarding transgender youth.
Reed also highlighted Dhillon's attacks on state laws protecting transgender people, as well as her expression of "extreme anti-trans views" on social media—including calling gender-affirming healthcare for trans children "child abuse."
Last year, The Guardian's Jason Wilson reported that the Center for American Liberty made a six-figure payment to a public relations firm that represented Dhillion in both "her capacity as head of her own for-profit law firm and Republican activist."
Writing for the voting rights platform Democracy Docket, Matt Cohen on Tuesday accused Dhillon of being "one of the leading legal figures working to roll back voting rights across the country."
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As Maya Wiley, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said in a statement Tuesday, "The Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division has the critical responsibility of enforcing our nation's federal civil rights laws and ensuring equal justice under the law on behalf of all of our communities."
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