By Human Rights Watch
“The U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have targeted American Muslims in abusive counterterrorism “sting operations” based on religious and ethnic identity. Many of the more than 500 terrorism-related cases prosecuted in U.S. federal courts since September 11, 2001, have alienated the very communities that can help prevent terrorist crimes.”
–
See also: Preemptive Prosecutions: Report Spotlights How the US Government Manufactures ‘Terrorism’ Cases.
–
The report: Illusions of Justice: Human Rights Abuses In U.S. Terror Prosecutions.
Including a case we’re familiar with here:
“In other cases, government agents identified vulnerable young men and individuals with mental or intellectual disabilities, and exploited their vulnerabilities. In some of those cases, informants met young men in online chat rooms and engaged them in discussions, sometimes urging them down the perceived path toward radicalization, as occurred in the cases of Adel Daoud . . .
“While it is true that young men and individuals with mental or intellectual disabilities have, on occasion, been involved in terrorism, and therefore cannot be ruled out for investigation, there are special concerns when highly aggressive and invasive police tactics are used on such vulnerable people.”
*
“Adel Daoud was 17-years-old when undercover FBI employees began communicating with him through an online Islamic forum. At the time, Daoud was a reclusive student at an Islamic high school in a Chicago suburb, spending most of his time on the computer in his parents’ basement. He sought guidance from his parents about terms like jihad that he was reading about online; they told him jihad meant the struggle to be supportive of your
parents. Yet online, undercover FBI employees slowly cultivated a fake plot with Daoud to attack a bar in downtown Chicago. Daoud’s arrest in fall 2013 shocked his community and others in the Chicago area, prompting speculation about why the FBI deployed undercover agents to ensnare the teenager, rather than contact his parents or community leaders. ‘These kids don’t wake up one day and decide, I’m going to blow society up,’ a Muslim community advocate in Chicago told us, pointing out that just as some teenagers begin to turn to drugs, others may go online and start exploring extremist websites. Daoud’s trial is scheduled for November 2014.”
*
“The son of immigrants, Daoud was a 19-year-old student at his neighborhood Islamic high school at the time of his September 2012 arrest. His mother, Mona, said in an interview that Daoud required extra assistance in school, and was heavily dependent on her: ‘He’s not the person with a complete mind. He didn’t talk until five. He was the last one of my kids to talk. He doesn’t even talk Arabic . . . like the rest of our family, because he’s slow.’
“Without many friends at school, Daoud was socially isolated and took refuge in the Internet, his parents told us. According to the criminal complaint, Daoud came to the government’s attention when he posted ononline message boards and e-mailed material relating to violent jihad.
“In May 2012, less than six months after Daoud turned 18, two FBI online undercover employees began e-mailing with him. In July, Daoud met with an undercover FBI employee. In August, a member of Daoud’s mosque overheard him talking about jihad.
“The leader of Daoud’s mosque and his father told Daoud to stop talking about these topics, and another local imam told him that engaging in violent jihad was wrong.
“Daoud even discussed the topic of jihad with his mother at home, who told us: He asked ‘What [is] jihad?’ . . . We tried to explain there is no jihad here . . . I told him when you give money to the poor, this [is] jihad. When you stay with your mother and father who need you, this is jihad. And he was so convinced, he said, ‘I’ll stay with you mom.’
“At this point, Daoud hesitated about what was religiously proper, and sought further religious guidance from the undercover employee, asking if his sheikh overseas could issue a fatwah (religious decree) justifying attacks on Americans.
“The undercover employee told him his sheikh could not provide the fatwah and continued to plan the plot with Daoud.
“On September 14, 2012, the undercover employee drove Daoud to downtown Chicago, to a green jeep loaded with fake explosives. Daoud drove the jeep to the target location – a bar in downtown Chicago. Daoud exited the jeep and attempted to deto nate the device, after which he was taken into custody by the FBI.
“Mona Daoud expressed her confusion at the government’s pursuit of her son, contending that he would not have been capable of such a plot on his own: ‘They say that he went downtown. He’s never been downtown in his life . .. ‘Til now when I tell them how to go to Jewel [a grocery store less than a mile from the Daoud home], he gets lost. I have to tell his little sister to go with him.'”
–
Bonus: The Daoud case also involves the NSA, as we’ve previously noted.
* Chicago Federal Court Case Raises Questions About NSA Surveillance.
* Criminal Defendants Should Have Chance To Review FISA Materials.
* Daoud Lawyers Ask To See Redacted Transcript.
–
Daoud Lawyer On Secret Court Proceedings.
–
P.S.: The media enables the FBI. Remember the Sears Tower plot?
–
Comments welcome.
Posted on July 23, 2014