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2008: Another Difficult Year for American Muslims

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The Holy Land Foundation

American Muslim community was shocked when, the Holy Land Foundation, once a leading American Muslim charitable organization and five of its former officials were convicted, in November, on criminal charges related to humanitarian aid given to Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. The verdict came after a series of legal twists, secret evidence and questionable witness of Israeli intelligence agents. The defendants said they were engaged in legitimate relief work, while the government claimed that work benefited terrorists. During the trial, defense attorneys accused the government of bending to Israeli pressure to prosecute the charity, and of relying on old evidence. But jurors agreed with the government's contention that at least $12 million raised in the U.S. had been illegally funneled to Hamas after that organization was banned as a terrorist group by the federal government in 1995. Prosecutors spent more time in the second trial explaining the complexities of the case and painting a clearer picture of the money trail. Interestingly, following the mistrial, prosecutors streamlined their case and eliminated almost 100 charges against the remaining defendants.

According to defense Attorney Greg Westfall, the case was based mainly on guilt by association, he said, including associations with groups that have never been proven to be "terrorists" or supporters of terrorism. The attorney said the government also produced items from a search warrant of someone’s home in Virginia, and went so far as to present documents, seized in a military operation, that the defense was not allowed to see. "We were barred from seeing them or an index of what was there, and [the prosecution] introduced them through an unnamed Israeli soldier who was not present when the documents were seized," he said. In addition, there were other "unsigned and unauthorized" documents retrieved in a raid of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and introduced as evidence, he said. "It was all tied together by an Israeli secret agent who didn’t have to give his name," Westfall said. "He testified as an expert — was allowed to testify at length without us knowing who he was.

Another legal entanglement created by this trial is an 11-page list of "unindicted co-conspirators" which was leaked by the Department of Justice to the media.  More than 300 individuals and American Muslim organizations are named as “unindicted co-conspirators.” The ACLU, has filed a motion which argued that the due-process rights of the named individuals and organizations were violated, because they were listed without having the right to defend themselves.

Racial profiling

Profiling has been institutionalized in the post-9/11 America. State and federal agencies, under the guise of fighting terrorism, have expanded the use of this degrading, discriminatory and dangerous practice.

American Muslim community was alarmed by the proposed Justice Department policy change that would allow the FBI to investigate Americans without evidence of wrongdoing, relying instead on a terrorist profile that could single out Muslims and Arabs. Under the new guidelines, which are expected to be implemented later this year, the FBI would be permitted to consider race and ethnicity when opening an investigation, according to an Associated Press report.

Agents would also be allowed to ask open-ended questions about the activities of American Muslims and Arab-Americans, and could initiate an investigation if a person's employment or background is labeled as "suspect" by government analysts looking at public records and other information.

The Justice Department profiling proposals followed a November 2007 Los Angeles Police Department program to “Map” (read profile) Muslim communities in southern California. There are estimated 500,000 Muslims living in the greater Los Angeles area, including Orange and Riverside Counties, which make its concentration of Muslims the second largest in the United States, after New York City. The profiling plan was abandoned after an uproar by Muslim and civil rights groups.

In short, more than seven years and three months after 9/11, Muslims in America remained at the receiving end with assault on their civil rights and their faith in the name of “war on terror.” Muslims are the prime targets of the post 9/11 reconfiguration of American laws, policies, and priorities. Defending civil rights remains the single most important challenge before the seven million-strong American Muslim community as the consequences of the 9/11 tragic terrorist attacks continue to unfold seven years after the ghastly tragedy. The government initiatives have reshaped public attitudes about racial profiling and created a harsh backlash against the Muslim community.

According to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) “Report on Hate Crimes and Discrimination Against Arab Americans” announced on December 4, Arab Americans continue to face higher rates of employment discrimination in both the public and private sectors and continuing challenges associated with government watch lists, immigration enforcement and other actions.

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Abdus Sattar Ghazali Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Author and journalist. Author of Islamic Pakistan: Illusions & Reality; Islam in the Post-Cold War Era; Islam & Modernism; Islam & Muslims in the Post-9/11 America. Currently working as free lance journalist. Executive Editor of American (more...)
 
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