[wvns] Californian Muslims sue FBI
Californian Muslims sue FBI
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-09/19/content_6754094.htm
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Muslims in Southern California
sued the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Tuesday, saying the
agency has been unresponsive to their Freedom of Information Act requests.
The lawsuit was filed in the federal court in Los Angeles by 11
groups and individuals, but it will be assigned to a judge in the U.S.
District Court in Santa Ana in the Los Angeles area.
This followed claims by the Islamic Shura Council that the FBI
failed to respond sufficiently to requests made on May 15, 2006, for
information about the surveillance of Muslim leaders.
The council represents 60 mosques in Southern California with
about 500,000 worshippers.
"The agency released only four pages of documents and claims it
could not locate any additional responsive documents," the lawsuit states.
The four pages, said Michael Soller of the American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU) in Southern California, were on two subjects: a
report the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, made to the
FBI about a threatening caller, and a report on a conversation an
agent had with Hussam Ayloush, the head of CAIR.
The ACLU is supplying lawyers on behalf of the plaintiffs.
FBI agents in Los Angeles referred calls to the Justice Department
in Washington, D.C., where spokesman Andrew Ames said the lawsuit
would be reviewed and, once served, "we will make a determination how
to respond in court."
As a matter of policy, the bureau does not comment on pending
litigation.
Soller said the FBI should have an interest in soothing fears
about the illegal surveillance of U.S. Muslims and should help to
reassure Muslims "that their rights are not being violated."
Ayloush said he felt it "important to point out that I'm very
involved with law enforcement" as a founding member of a multiethnic
advisory committee to the FBI.
"Like all Muslims, we greatly value (national security) and
deserve freedom from intimidation at the same level," he said, adding
that the purpose of the lawsuit was to find out why some Muslims are
"being harassed, for instance when they travel."
He vowed to fight "tooth and nail" for his First Amendment rights.
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