In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Council on American-Islamic Relations

Greater Los Angeles Area Chapter
2180 W. Crescent Ave, Suite F, Anaheim, Ca 92801
Tel: 714.776.1847 Fax: 714.776.8340 socal@cair.com

The FBIs use of Informants, Recruitment and Intimidation within

Muslim Communities
_______________________________________

Annotated Source List: News Articles and Cases Reported to CAIR*

Treating Muslims as Suspect:

The FBI has been monitoring individual Muslims, mosques and Islamic organizations, questioning
individuals at their homes or at work, and even pursuing individuals families and friends, often
without evidence that these individuals or institutions are involved in illicit activity. The result is that
Muslims are increasingly afraid to go to their houses of worship, to speak freely or become involved
in Islamic organizations and events. They are pursued, harassed and presumed suspect solely
because they are Muslim. In most cases, no charges are ever made. When charges are made, they
fall under immigration or document fraud, tax evasion, and lying to federal officers, though the cases
are often touted as victories against terrorism. Such ethno-religious profiling appears to have been
institutionalized when the Department of Justices agency guidelines, which took effect on December
1, 2008, lowered the threshold for beginning investigations on individuals and allowed race and
ethnicity to be factors in opening investigations.

Use of Informants
Inf ormants and Agents
Agents Provocateurs:
The FBI has used informants and agents provocateurs to infiltrate mosques, befriend and provoke
worshippers into making incriminating statements, or induce vulnerable Muslims into discussing illicit
activity. Informants are both Muslims hired to spy within mosques and community organizations, as
well as people with criminal backgrounds posing as Muslims. They are paid and/or rewarded based
on the amount of information they produce; therefore, these informants are inclined to exaggerate,
instigate and fabricate cases of a terrorist nature.

Agency Recruitment
Recruitment of Muslims as Informants and Retaliation:
The FBI has recruited and attempted to recruit Muslims to work as informants within the Muslim
community. They may use secondary questioning by Customs and Border Protection, reports made to
FBI by law abiding Muslims trying to help law enforcement, or contacts made through fishing
expeditions to recruit Muslims. In doing so, they have often used threats of prosecution or
deportation or promises of large payoffs to get Muslims to spy on their own community. For some
individuals who have refused recruitment, there is startling evidence that the FBI has actually
retaliated against them.

*
Case details are based on reports made to CAIR by complainants. Full details of the cases are kept with
CAIR to protect the identity of the people involved.
 Council on American-Islamic RelationsGreater Los Angeles Area
The FBIs use of Informants, Recruitment and Intimidation within Muslim Communities

Contents
Treating Muslims as Suspect ....................................................................................................................... 3
Articles ..................................................................................................................................................... 3
Cases........................................................................................................................................................ 4
Use of Informants and Agents Provocateurs ............................................................................................. 6
Articles ..................................................................................................................................................... 6
Cases........................................................................................................................................................ 7
Agency Recruitment of Muslims as Informants and Retaliation ............................................................... 7
Articles ..................................................................................................................................................... 7
Cases........................................................................................................................................................ 9

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 Council on American-Islamic Relations Greater Los Angeles Area
The FBIs use of Informants, Recruitment and Intimidation within Muslim Communities

Treating Muslims as Suspect

______________________________________

Articles

OC Muslims say FBI Surveillance Has a Chilling Effect

By Teresa Watanabe and Paloma Esquivel
Los Angeles Times
March 1, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-muslim1-2009mar01,0,1456958.story

This article discusses the FBIs intrusion into mosques in Southern California. Since it creates
a climate of fear, many refrain from attending the mosque as frequently as they may have in
the past. Also, many give fewer contributions, out of fear that the charitable organization
might come under scrutiny of the FBI.

Is Big Brother at Your Mosque?

By Abdussalam Mohamed
InFocus News
March 2009
http://www.infocusnews.net/content/view/15942/135/

This article deals with the fear and suspicion in Muslim communities after various cases of FBI
intrusion have come to light. Local Muslim leaders discuss the discrepancy between law
enforcement and FBI agents wanting to work with the community and their spreading fear
and undermining the positive work of Muslims.

FBI Creates Climate of Fear

Editorial
Orange County Register
March 22, 2009
http://headlines.ocregister.com/articles/fbi_18893___article.html/mosques_fear.html

This editorial outlines the danger of the FBIs sending informants to infiltrate mosques and to
entrap Muslims, and the danger of presuming the entire Muslim community as naturally
suspect. The editor states that, while he understands law enforcements need to utilize
undercover agents, he cannot fathom the justification for fishing expeditions and
entrapment. The result is that law-abiding Muslims are discouraged from engaging in
constitutionally-protected activities for fear of who may be listening. The editor further
recommends that the FBI should supposedly work with American Muslims in the event of a
terrorist threat, not treat them as adversaries by creating fear of surveillance within
mosques.

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 Council on American-Islamic RelationsGreater Los Angeles Area
The FBIs use of Informants, Recruitment and Intimidation within Muslim Communities

A Muslim's Choice: Turn U.S. Informant or Risk Losing Visa

By Peter Waldman
Wall Street Journal
July 11, 2006
http://www.legalsanctuary.org/doc/article13970.pdf

The article mentions how the FBI was questioning donors to Islamic charities nationwide.
They came to one Muslims house and questioned him about his donations to the local
mosque. This began a relationship in which the Muslim man was eventually asked to become
an informant for the FBI.

How the Bush Administration Recruits Muslim Informers?

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
American Muslim Perspective
August 8, 2006
http://www.archives2006.ghazali.net/html/muslim_informers.html

According to this article, FBI agents sent an informant to gather information on the Lodi
mosque imams. The FBI apparently became interested in the mosque after the informants
wild claim that he had seen an al-Qaeda executive there, though the executive was known to
not have been in the country for years. The imams were never charged with any crime
though they were deported for immigration violations.

New Intelligence Guidelines Encourage Racial Profiling, Dems Say

By Penny Starr
CNS News
Friday, September 12, 2008
http://www.cnsnews.com/Public/Content/article.aspx?RsrcID=35551

This article describes the new Justice Department guidelines that went into effect Dec. 1,
2008 and that gave FBI investigators broader authority to open terrorism investigations
without evidence of wrongdoing. Civil rights groups and legislators argued that these
guidelines would encourage racial profiling against Muslims, Arabs, and other groups and
would target innocent people.

Cases

An imam (prayer leader) was detained on immigration grounds. There was overwhelming
support from the community and many people wrote personal support letters, which the
attorneys submitted as part of the imams parole request. A week later, the support letter
writers were all contacted by the FBI and asked about their associations with the imam.
Many people felt intimidated by this contact.

A Muslim civil rights activist has confirmation of being listed on the FBIs Violent Gang and
Terrorist Organization File (VGTOF) and being listed in the Terrorist Screening Centers
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 Council on American-Islamic Relations Greater Los Angeles Area
The FBIs use of Informants, Recruitment and Intimidation within Muslim Communities

Database. Prior to learning this, the activist had been assisting the FBI with its anti-hate
crimes work. The activist complained to the local FBI field office only to be told that the FBI
headquarters was in charge of this.

The FBI approached a man on a commuter train on his way to work. He was taken to a hotel
and questioned about someone they believed was a terrorist. He was told he would have to
answer questions to avoid jail time.

FBI agents visited a man at home, asking him questions including why he came from Syria
(complainant had never been to Syria), if he knew any mujahedeens, and what websites he
was visiting. He was accused of encouraging someone in Sweden to do a suicide bombing.

A woman was contacted by an FBI agents asking about her familial ties with Hezbollah. The
agents seized her drivers license and computer for 24 hours. One agent returned and
interrogated her aggressively about the alleged ties. He further requested that she show him
her arm so he could see if shes doing drugs. She explained she could not show her arm to a
male for religious reasons, but he insisted. He told her she has to take a lie detector test and
if she does not they will come to her home and take her.

A mosque community reports being harassed by the FBI after the arrest of a mosque leader,
whose crimes the judge later described to be white collar. They reported being asked
about their contributions to the mosque, political views of sermon givers, how often they
attend the mosque. Mosque-goers then became fearful to attend and contribute to the
mosque.

A Somali Muslim was questioned by FBI agents on Inauguration Day. He states that he was
shown pictures of people and asked if he knew them and if he knew of any Somali people
going to the inauguration. The complainant feels that he was profiled because of his
ethnicity.

Complainant was on a road trip with friends and took many pictures, including several near a
nuclear power plant. The complainant was later contacted by the FBI. The complainants
mother spoke to the agents, and while the agents failed to disclose the purpose of the
meeting, they asked the complainants mother what the complainant does for a living and
where he was at the moment.

A Pakistani-American was contacted on various occasions by FBI agents, accusing him of

being affiliated with Al-Qaeda and sending large sums of money to Pakistan.

FBI agents approached a woman several times at home about her husband, asking about
people her husband might know. The agents asked about the couples marital problems, and
hinted at wanting to build a case against her husband.

Members of the Somali community report feeling collectively pressured by the FBI, who
appear to be following mosque-goers and young Somalis at universities.

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 Council on American-Islamic RelationsGreater Los Angeles Area
The FBIs use of Informants, Recruitment and Intimidation within Muslim Communities

Students at a California university reported being followed by the FBI during a week of
activities protesting Israeli aggression against Palestinians. When one student attempted to
approach a vehicle that had been following him he was almost run over by the vehicle. It
was determined later that the vehicle belonged to an FBI agent.

Use of Informants and Agents Agents Provocateurs

______________________________________

Articles

Informants in Counterterrorism Investigations

By Taylor Valor
PBS Frontline, The Enemy Within
October 10, 2006
http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:-
nNSfIqgL9QJ:www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/enemywithin/reality/informant.html+lodi+informant+fbi+mos
que&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

This article describes the use of informants by the FBI and the inherent problems of using
informants who accept these positions because of money, ideology, as a compromise, or to
satisfy their ego. It also discusses the Lodi, Calif. case and how the informants credibility was
questionable because he lied about seeing an Al-Qaeda terrorist in the Lodi Mosque and
because he was paid over $230,000 over the course of the investigation. A former FBI agent
also stated that it appeared that the informant entrapped Hayat into attending the training
camp.

The Informer: Behind the Scenes, or Setting the Stage?

By Robin Shulman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 29, 2007; C01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/28/AR2007052801401.html

This article is mainly about Osama Eldawoody, who joined the New York City Police
Department as an informant infiltrating New York City mosques. He came into contact with
a 21-year-old Muslim man Shahawar Siraj, who people described as a young, ignorant,
emotional kid. Eldawoody manufactured a terrorist plot to set off bombs within the New
York Subway system, and coaxed Siraj to help identify points within the Subway system to
plant the explosives. Siraj was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment.

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 Council on American-Islamic Relations Greater Los Angeles Area
The FBIs use of Informants, Recruitment and Intimidation within Muslim Communities

Cases

An informant posing as friend of distant relation of Pakistani Muslim couple comes to their
home and convinces husband to take tourist trip with him to the San Francisco Bay Area.
After driving up from southern California, the informant and the husband spend about five
minutes at the San Francisco Bridge, and the informant insists on returning to Southern
California. On the drive back, the informant advocates extremist and anti-American views to
the husband, who refuses to discuss such issues. Weeks later, the couple is visited by four FBI
agents who show them a picture of husband at the bridge.

An informant who has a criminal history including theft and fraud posed as a new convert to
Islam and was sent to infiltrate Southern California mosques. After frightening mosque-
goers with extremist talk, the mosque applied for and received a restraining order against
him. One individual who reported the informant as an extremist to the FBI, subsequently
came under FBI investigation.

The FBI made a deal with an informant to get a lighter sentence for criminal convictions if he
worked in the office of a Muslim accountant who had many Muslim clients. The informant
tried to provoke the accountant by encouraging him to send money to specific groups or
individuals in Palestine. The FBI conducted an overly-broad warranted search of the
accountants office seized numerous records of Muslims businesses. The accountant was
convicted of criminal racketeering and fraud.

A man posing as a convert to Islam worked for a Muslim charity and a civil rights attorney.
He received $300,000 for his work with the FBI, which included searching for military assault
weapons online while at the charity and discussing the need for Muslims to go do something
about Iraq. The government thereafter pursued cases against both the charity and the
attorney.

Agency Recruitment of Muslims as Informants and Retaliation

______________________________________
______________________________________

Articles

Lawyer: Client refused to be FBI informant

By Milton J. Valencia
Boston Globe
November 19, 2008
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/11/19/lawyer_client_refused_to_be_fbi_informant

This article describes the recent case of a Muslim man who was first questioned by FBI
agents about a range of activities in 2005. In April 2008, he was approached by FBI and
informed that they had built a case against him based on an alleged lie he told them in 2006,
and that if he did not help the agents, that they would pursue the case that they had built
against him. He refused to become an informant, and months later he was arrested for
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 Council on American-Islamic RelationsGreater Los Angeles Area
The FBIs use of Informants, Recruitment and Intimidation within Muslim Communities

telling federal agents that an old acquaintance was in Egypt when he allegedly knew the man
to be in Somalia training for terrorist activities.

A Muslim's Choice: Turn U.S. Informant or Risk Losing Visa

By Peter Waldman
Wall Street Journal
July 11, 2006
http://www.legalsanctuary.org/doc/article13970.pdf

This article deals with the FBIs attempt to recruit Yassine Ouassif as an informant for San
Francisco mosques. Border agents took away his green card at the Canadian border, and he
was told to call an FBI agent in the U.S. The agent said he could help Ouassif if he became
an informant and relayed information about Ouassifs friends, their activities, and
conversations in the San Francisco area. FBI agents continued their attempted recruitment
of and threats of retaliation against Ouassif. FBI agents were present at Mr. Ouassifs
immigration interview to regain his green card. After the interview, Ouassif was detained for
deportation. Counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, however, refused to sign the
detention order due to lack of evidence. Mr. Ouassif eventually got his green card back.

Also discussed is Walid Mustafa, a Palestinian kung fu instructor who was told by an FBI
agent that they could help him if he became an informant. Mustafa sought help from an FBI
agent, who had first questioned Mustafa regarding his donations to Islamic charities and
about his brothers ex-wife selling off of their property and absconding with the proceeds.
The agent involved said that he would help Mustafa if Mustafa helped him spy on the Muslim
community.

Spy or Risk Green Card: How the Bush Administration Recruits Muslim Informants
Interview with Amy Goodman
Democracy Now
Thursday, July 13, 2006
http://www.democracynow.org/2006/7/13/spy_or_risk_green_card_how

This is an interview with Yassine Ouassifs lawyer, Banafsheh Akhlaghi who discusses how the
FBI tried to recruit her client. She relays the story of how her clients green card was taken
away at the U.S./Canadian border. Mr. Ouassif was allowed to enter the United States,
though told to call someone named Dan when he got back. Ouassif called and met with
what turned out to be an FBI agent. The agent told Ouassif that he could help him to stay in
the US, as well as bring his wife into the country from Morocco if he became an agent in San
Francisco. If he refused, the agent said he would do everything he could to get Ouassif
deported.

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 Council on American-Islamic Relations Greater Los Angeles Area
The FBIs use of Informants, Recruitment and Intimidation within Muslim Communities

Cases

A Muslim white male who is a 20-year veteran of state Air National Guard, an Operation
Desert Storm veteran, and a firefighter, wrote letters to the editor about Israeli aggression
and U.S. Middle East policy. He began having serious problems at the border, including being
strip searched. At one search, agents put newspaper on a desk and said what are these
pointing to his letters to the editor. The FBI then approached him to be an informant,
indicating they would help with his watch list issues. He refused.

A Muslim engineer, who had a new wife and baby, was approached by FBI to be an
informant. He refused, and was stripped of his visa. He lost his job and had to leave the
country.

An Indian man who applied for a visa was approached by the FBI to become an informant,
which he refused to do.

A Pakistani man was approached by the FBI to look at pictures. Almost every week since
then, an FBI agent has called the man early in the week and then met with him again on
Fridays. He reported he was coerced to go to mosques, internet cafes, etc. and report back
to the agents because the agents were holding up his immigration papers and had
threatened to deport him. He does not want to cooperate with the FBI anymore, but is afraid
of their power over his immigration case.

A woman was one of many in a community questioned about her religious and political views
after a local Muslim leader was arrested and charged with immigration fraud and tax
evasion. She was asked to become an informant on her own community.

A Muslim individual states that he was picked up by an FBI agent when he was leaving a class
at a community college in his area. He went to the office with the agents and was asked by
FBI agents to work with them. He was cursed at, yelled at and his family threatened when he
refused to be an informant. The FBI has since tracked his transactions that have been sent to
Somalia and contacted a previous employer asking questions about checks that were cashed.

An informant posing as friend of distant relation of Pakistani Muslim couple came to their
home and convinced the husband to take tourist trip with him to the San Francisco Bay
Area [see case above under Informants]. FBI agents offered the couple to work with the
FBI, and said that they can help the couple with any immigration help they might ever need.
The husband said he would think about it. Weeks later, the husbands permanent residency
was revoked.

A Muslim Southeast Asian man, a U.S. citizen, was approached at his workplace by an ICE
agent and an unidentified agent (later identified as FBI) who wanted to follow up on
Customs questioning of the man that occurred the last time he had returned to U.S. At the
end of the interview, which included questions on religious and political beliefs and on family,
the agents said they would like to refer him to FBI to help them work against terrorism.

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The FBIs use of Informants, Recruitment and Intimidation within Muslim Communities

A Southern California Muslim man was approached to become an informant, and told that if
he didnt cooperate, his life would be made a living hell. Months after the offer, the FBI
raided his home and the same agent who made the offer told him that the agent had told
him so, and that now he gets it. The Muslim man is now facing charges of document and
immigration fraud.

A board member of an Islamic center was approached by the FBI on a few occasions and was
asked about his practices as a Muslim, his prayers, whether he knew particular people, and
his political views. On each visit, the agents were much more intrusive and aggressive than
the previous visit. On one visit they blatantly asked him to be an informant. Their tone was
threatening, and they said they were aware that he was up for citizenship. He declined
their offer, and his citizenship was later denied on very minor grounds.

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