Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, July 2009, pages 55-56

Muslim-American Activism

Muslims Unite to Oppose FBI Abuse

Following an April 19 meeting in Washington, DC, the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT), a national coalition of major Islamic organizations, issued a statement re-affirming its opposition to FBI tactics and government policies targeting the Muslim community.

Representatives from the 10-member umbrella organization, which includes the American Muslim Alliance (AMA) and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), as well as their two observer organizations, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), took part in the meeting or were later briefed by phone.

The two observer organizations, which had differed with other national groups as Muslims considered suspending ties with the FBI, have since closed ranks with the rest of the community. “This shows increased maturity of community organizations and leadership,” said community activist Dr. Muhammad Ashraf Toor.

National Muslim organizations asked for “a good faith effort by the Obama administration to stop the use of abusive tactics by the law enforcement agencies.” Muslim leaders also asked Attorney General Eric Holder for a meeting in order “to find a mutually satisfactory solution to the simmering problems.”

The AMT statement reads:

We reaffirm our commitment to being full partners in the defense, development and prosperity of our homeland, the United States.

We also reiterate our determination to continue to work for greater unity and mutual cooperation among ourselves and with like-minded fellow Americans. We recognize that we may have different approaches to the varied challenges facing our community and country, yet our resolve to advocate on behalf of our community remains solid.

We are fully united in asking the Obama administration to address the following issues:

1. Infiltration of mosques and systematic manipulation of Muslim religious affairs;
2. Use of agents provocateurs to trap unsuspecting Muslim youth;
3. Unfair targeting and deliberate vilification of CAIR, a national Muslim civil rights organization;
4. Use of McCarthy-era tactics, most notably dissemination of Islamophobic analysis by federally-funded “fusion centers” to local law enforcement agencies.

“This new consensus was necessitated by the denial of our constitutional rights, our religious freedoms and our equal status as citizens,” said Dr. Agha Saeed, AMT national chair. Those people who are attempting to take the issue of Palestine out of Muslim politics in the United States “are burning down the bridges that both the citizens and law enforcement agencies need,” Saeed said.

The growing despair of the Muslim community about the violation of all aspects of their First Amendment rights—freedom of religion, speech, and petition—is beginning to receive a wide swath of national and international media coverage. So far, The Washington Post, CNN, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor and San Francisco Chronicle, as well as Al-Jazeerah, Al Arabia, and AlAhram, have covered the subject.

—Hazem Kira

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