June 3, 2008

In a meeting with the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, the Muslim Public Affairs Council raised objections to reported FBI surveillance of Southern California mosques. Agency officials issued a statement on Friday denying that monitoring had taken place.

The inquiry came following an article in the San Diego Union-Tribune which stated that a group of military reservists and law enforcement officers at Camp Pendleton had stolen "a massive number of" classified records, some of which "pertained to surveillance of Muslim communities in Southern California." Specifically, the newspaper reported that the Islamic Center of San Diego had been monitored as part of a "federal surveillance program targeting Muslim groups."

In response to MPAC's inquiry, FBI Assistant Director John Miller said, in part: "The FBI does not monitor the lawful activities of individuals in the United States, nor does the FBI have a surveillance program to monitor the constitutionally protected activities of houses of worship. We do not target or monitor legal activity of Muslim groups anywhere in the nation." In January 2006, similar reports surfaced of widespread surveillance and radiation monitoring of more than 100 Muslim American mosques, homes and businesses.

"Our objective is to clear the name of Muslim institutions like the Islamic Center of San Diego, which are working to serve their local communities," said MPAC Executive Director Salam Al-Marayati. "We will continue in our endeavor to protect the civil liberties of Muslim Americans and all Americans, through government engagement and in coalition with other civil rights groups. The Muslim American community will not tolerate being treated as suspects rather than partners."