Lawsuit: US Agents Harassing Muslims at Border

By ED WHITE

Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) — Some Detroit-area Muslims have been held at gunpoint, handcuffed and repeatedly harassed about their religion when returning to the U.S. from Canada, according to a lawsuit that seeks to bar government agents from asking questions about religion.

The Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said border agents and the FBI are violating the First Amendment and a 1993 federal law that guarantees freedom to practice religion.

“Since the tragedy of 9/11, we have seen a steady erosion of civil liberties of Muslim-Americans,” CAIR director Dawud Walid said Friday, a day after a lawsuit was filed in federal court in Detroit.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection declined to comment on the allegations but said profiling based on race or religion is strictly prohibited. The lawsuit also names the FBI director and two agents. The FBI declined to comment.

Two of the four plaintiffs, Ali Suleiman Ali of Canton Township and Wissam Charafeddine of Dearborn, said they have been detained for hours on the U.S. side of the Detroit-Canada tunnel or at an international bridge in Port Huron, Mich. Agents, they said, wanted to know about their religious practices and where they worship.

Attorney Shereef Akeel said it’s hard to imagine a Jew crossing the border and being asked about the Sabbath or a Roman Catholic quizzed about praying the rosary.

“It’s really persecution. They’re targeting a group,” he said.

According to the lawsuit, Kheireddine Bouzid, 24, of Ypsilanti has been stopped at the border at least five times since 2008 by agents with their guns drawn.

Charafeddine, 35, described the interrogations as “psychological torture.” He said he hasn’t crossed the border since 2010 to spare his family and, as a result, has missed weddings and funerals.

The lawsuit asks U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn to bar the government from questioning Muslims about their faith.

Ali, a 64-year-old native of Ghana, is an imam, or Islamic spiritual leader, in suburban Detroit. He said he was last detained in December while returning to the U.S. from Toronto.

“I was shocked. Why do they handcuff me? I am not a criminal,” Ali said.

On Friday, April 13, the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) held a news conference in Detroit that announced the filing of a federal lawsuit against U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the FBI over the repeated detention and questioning of Muslims about their religious beliefs and practices by federal agents at and inside the United States-Canada border. CAIR-MI filed the lawsuit on behalf of four American citizens who reported that CBP and FBI agents detained and handcuffed them without evidence of wrongdoing and questioned them about their religious beliefs and worship habits. The lawsuit asserts that those actions violated the plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights.

Detroit— The local Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Michigan) has filed a lawsuit against the FBI and the Customs Border Patrol agencies for alleged “invasive religious questioning” and “prolonged detention” of Muslims at the U.S.-Canada border.

The line of questioning of Muslims reportedly included how many times a day they pray and who else prays in their mosques, according to CAIR-Michigan officials.

“Invasive religious questioning of American citizens without evidence of criminal activity is not only an affront to the Constitution but is also a waste of taxpayers’ dollars,” said CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid.

At a news conference Friday in front of the U.S. Eastern District courthouse on West Lafayette Boulevard downtown, Walid was joined by two plaintiffs in the case and other Muslim civil rights attorneys and an immigration activist.

“Since (Sept. 11), we have seen a steady invasion of the civil liberties of Muslims,” Walid said.

The lawsuit is being filed on behalf of four American citizens who complained that Customs and Border Patrol and the FBI violated their First Amendment rights by “detaining and handcuffing them without any evidence of wrongdoing and questioning them about their religious beliefs and worship habits,” said CAIR-Michigan officials.

Lena Masri, attorney for CAIR-Michigan, said the organization filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security but, to date, no action has been taken.

Imam Ali Suleiman Ali, a Wayne County resident and a native of Ghana, said he was detained for five hours when returning to the U.S. from Toronto. He said he also was detained and handcuffed at a border stop in Port Huron last year.

“I was very shocked,” said Ali on Friday. “I asked ‘Why are you handcuffing me. I’m not a criminal’.”

Another local man, Wissam Charafeddine, a 35-year-old Dearborn resident, said he has had to stop visiting family members in Montreal because of “being treated like a criminal” when he comes back across the border from Canada.

“It has caused me psychological torture,” Charafeddine said Friday at the news conference.

Both men said they were asked questions about their religion and worship habits.

Civil rights attorney Shereef Akeel, co-counsel on the lawsuit, said targeting a specific religion for questioning is against the law.

“You cross the line when you start to probe religious practices that have nothing to do with national security,” said Akeel.

“When Customs and Border Protection harasses Michiganders simply because of their religion, they are undermining both our religious liberties and our security. This agency needs to get their priorities straight; we need them to focus on good intelligence and police work, not discrimination,” said Ryan Bates, of the Alliance for Immigrants Rights.

bwilliams@detnews.com

(313) 222-2027

SOUTHFIELD  — The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR-MI, will hold a news conference Friday to announce the filing of a federal lawsuit against U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the FBI over the repeated detention and questioning of Muslims about their religious beliefs and practices by federal agents at and inside the United States-Canada border.

The press conference will take place 9:30 a.m. outside the Eastern District Federal Courthouse at 231 W. Lafayette Boulevard in Detroit. Executive Director Dawud Walid will be speaking along with Staff Attorney Lena Masri. 

News conference participants will include one of the plaintiffs as well as civil rights attorney Shereef Akeel and a representative of Alliance for Immigrants Rights. Akeel is co-counsel with CAIR attorneys on the lawsuit.

CAIR-MI is filing the lawsuit on behalf of four American citizens who reported that CBP and FBI agents detained and handcuffed them without evidence of wrongdoing and questioned them about their religious beliefs and worship habits. The lawsuit asserts that those actions violated the plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights.

“Invasive religious questioning of American citizens without evidence of criminal activity is not only an affront to the Constitution but is also a waste of limited resources,” said Walid.

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.

Stop Assad 2012. 

www.assad2012.com

It is time for us to take action and let the world know about Assad’s crimes. Help stop Assad’s killing today:

Sign the Petition to Bring Assad to Justice:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/arrest_syrias_torturers_e/

Donate humanitarian aid to poor Syrian families (all proceeds go to providing humanitarian aid; no money is used for weapons whatsoever):
https://www.syriansunrisefoundation.org/Default.aspx

Share this video. 

FACEBOOK PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/stopAssadnow

Check out this link: https://www.facebook.com/likeforsyria | Like for Syria

None of our work is possible without your generosity and your support. With your continued support and dedication, we will reach our goal of promoting justice and empowering the Muslim community.  

Please come and support us at our annual banquet on Sunday, March 25th at the Islamic Center of America at 1pm.

Visit http://www.cairmichigan.org/ to purchase tickets or go directly to
http://cair-mi2012banquet.eventbrite.com/

KONY 2012

February 20, 2012

KONY 2012 is a film and campaign by Invisible Children that aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice.

HOW TO HELP:
Visit: http://kony2012.com
Donate to Invisible Children