From the article:
"Plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the FBI said Wednesday that the agency's use of a paid informant to infiltrate California mosques has left them and others Muslims with an enduring fear that their phones and e-mails are being screened and their physical whereabouts monitored.
"The claims came at a news conference announcing the lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and the Los Angeles office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The civil rights groups allege that former FBI informant Craig Monteilh violated Muslims' freedom of religion by conducting indiscriminate surveillance because of their faith.
"The former fitness instructor with a criminal past spied on Orange County mosques for the FBI for more than a year from 2006 to 2007, recording conversations and meetings with a device concealed on his key ring and a camera hidden in a shirt button.
"To know that he was targeting me simply because I was a Muslim, it's sad," said Ali Malik, one of three plaintiffs named in the suit. "I live in paranoia. ... I just wish the FBI didn't do this."
Like I wrote about in the book, this is happening everywhere.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ap_on_re_us/us_mosque_spy_lawsuit
This is just another example of how the government is using the USA PATRIOT Act to inappropriately surveillance U.S. citizens. They can infiltrate a mosque with no warrant, or a "sneak and peak" warrant, and try to get away with it. I believe that the only "significant purpose" the FBI had was that these were Muslims. To top it off, the FBI used a felon to do the spying. Now he is suing them.
ReplyDeleteThe FBI is treading on the the freedom of religion; one of the main goals of the founding of this nation. If this happened at a Catholic church, would it be more acceptable to more Americans? I don't think so. It would cause the nation to question the USA PATRIOT Act even more.
If more and more lawsuits are brought against spying on citizens collectively, then maybe the real terrorists will be spied on.