Posted on 03/27/2012 9:50:30 PM PDT by nickcarraway
FBI visits were more business than friendly drop-ins.
The amplified voice rang out across the halls of the Mosque at the Muslim Community Association in Santa Clara. A call to prayer. The voice set-off the shuffle of shoeless men lining up in their socks for the 1:30 pm prayer.
For years, this growing Muslim community has increasingly opened its doors to the outside community, especially in a post 9/11 climate that found Muslim’s targeted for hate. In an effort to build trust and transparency, the center held open houses and tours where the public could visit. It even invited the F.B.I.
“We have outreach programs where we’ve invited the FBI and other law enforcement,” said Isa Shaw, a member of the Muslim Community Association. “We participated in their outreach efforts as well.”
But now it appears the friendly F.B.I. visits were more business than previously thought. Through FBI documents obtained by the ACLU and other groups under the Freedom of Information Act, it appears agents were keeping tabs on its hosts.
“What we’ve learned is they were documenting people’s first amendment protected activities,” said Shaw, “their religious practices, their associations.”
The documents, recorded between 2004 and 2008, show dozens of visits to Mosques and Islamic centers throughout the Bay Area. At the Seaside Mosque, agents documented conversations about community concerns about flight delays, information about a newly purchased property, and where and when women and men would meet in the building.
“Date fruits were being sold after the service to members of the Mosque,” wrote one agent after a visit to Seaside in August of 2005. “The FBI sampled the fruit. ”
“What’s happening as shown in these documents is the FBI’s using the guise of community outreach to get into mosques,” said the ACLU’s Julia Hirumi Mass. “And then recording totally benign information about people who are practicing their religion.”
In a statement, the FBI assistant director Michael Kortan said “The 2004-2008 San Francisco FBI documents reflect that information was collected within the scope of the an authorized law enforcement activity.” Kortan also noted, “Since that time, the FBI has formalized its community relations program to emphasize a greater distinction between outreach and operation activities.
To Shaw, however, the breach of trust came like a smack in the face.
“We feel we have been betrayed by the FBI,” he said. “We opened our doors, we invited them in. and they were secretly collecting this information for what purpose we don’t know.”
Mass said language in the files shows the documents were passed on to agencies outside the FBI, possibly opening up the subjects for further investigation.
“It’s a system of targeting a religious community for surveillance without any evidence of criminal activity,” Mass said. “This is a real front to religious freedom.”
Some in the Muslim community said the revelations would cause a chill, even as relations between Muslims and law enforcement had begun to thaw.
Shafath Syed, past president of San Jose’s South Bay Islamic Association, said the community has always been happy to work with law enforcement in a spirit of cooperation. He said he expected the new documents would now damage that trust. “I think people are going to be a bit more cautious with what they say to the FBI,” said Syed.
Ping
What doesn’t offend Muslims....besides suicide bombers killing innocent women, children, bystanders and other Muslims, cutting off the heads of innocent people, honor killings, etc, etc.
muslims are always offended about something.
I wouldn’t worry about ones wearing the shalwar kamiz and
hijab and so on.
tons of them here in eastside king co. wa.
the mujahed would be passing as other, dressed western style and probably hitting the naughtier parts of Lynnwood.
Quick wrap your towels around yer head and go back to satanallahs sand box!!!!!!
Lynnwood has naughty parts?
I say too bad. Mussies should just go back to their sandbox.
Just because moose limbs are responsible for the very vast majority of the worlds terrorist activity is NO reason to keep an especially watchful eye on their activities now is it?
HELL YES it is.
Muslims offend me. I’m Spartacus.
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Despite what they say, what outreach they do, their religion is a disease of the human spirit. It breeds zealots and murderers in the midst of a sea of followers that obfuscate their religion’s true purpose.
This picture, and the widespread condemnation by Muslims here (sarc) afterwards are all we need to know about Islam.
Unforgettable scene I saw once @ the Campbell Home Depot parking lot:
Islamic guy in white robes all knelt down in a corner of the lot and facing Mecca
Not 50 feet away, a cluster of Mexican illegals watching him nervously.
What, exactly, doesn’t offend muslims?
The Bay Area Muslims offend me.
All that being said, it is perhaps worth noting that the last time I ran out of gas, who stopped to render aid but a Pakistani muslim on his way to Friday services at the Muslim Community Association in Santa Clara.
Go figure.
i use to work off Scott Avenue and that Moslem center was so annoying.
Several times a day it was difficult to drive the area as Moslems sent to the mosque, a former Hi-Tech building, to worship.
The streets were jammed with people walking every which way.
The next mosque should have their own parking with several ingress and egress points to ease traffic and pedestrians in the area.
I’m thinking the street should be able to accommodate ingress/egress from two sides like the parking garage in between 1st and San Pedro, in San Jose.
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