US Muslim Group Seeks Federal Probe

Associated Press (AP) reports that undercover New York Police Department officers were sent into minority neighborhoods to monitor bookstores, bars, cafes and nightclubs. AP also reports that the police used informants to monitor sermons.

The report claims that the CIA was helping New York City police gather intelligence from mosques and minority neighborhoods.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) describes that this intelligence-gathering by the CIA and the police violates the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. Privacy Act of 1974 and a presidential order banning the CIA from spying on Americans.

Thomson Reuter quotes CAIR attorney Gadeir Abbas who has called for a federal investigation and Senate hearings into the AP report.

Reuter reports that CAIR was preparing a formal request for Senate hearings and a Justice Department probe that it would send out in the coming days.

Link to Reuter’s report:

http://newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com/Legal/News/2011/08_-_August/Muslim_group_seeks_federal_probe_of_New_York_police/