The IIC News RSS Blog http://www.islamicinformationcenter.org Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:18:39 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.islamicinformationcenter.org/images/M_images/rss.png http://www.islamicinformationcenter.org The IIC News RSS Blog http://www.islamicinformationcenter.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=753&Itemid= PRESS RELEASE February 2nd, 2012Joint Statement on NYPD Surveillance of Tri-State Mosques Recent reports indicate that the New York Police Department (NYPD) has been conducting covert surveillance of mosques in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The targeted mosques, highlighted in the secret NYPD document dated May 15, 2006 released by the Associated Press, are largely focused on the Shi’a Muslim community. The activities of the NYPD have raised grave concerns within the broader American Muslim community and, in this particular instance, among Shi’a Muslims. The confidential 10-page document outlines a systematic plan to investigate ties between local mosques, Iran, and other groups that the NYPD perceives as threats. The report specifically documents efforts by the NYPD to monitor 15 different mosques throughout the Tri-State Area. This is despite the fact that no illegal, or even suspicious activity, has ever been reported at these religious centers. This news comes at the heels of the recent controversy around the training of NYPD officers through racially charged and bigoted videos such as “The Third Jihad.”Through excessive stop and frisk practices, overzealous surveillance measures, and a complete lack of transparency, the NYPD has blatantly violated civil rights and destroyed the trust necessary for effective policing. Such acts of surveillance undermine trust between the Muslim community and the NYPD. These measures are merely the latest in the well-documented history of NYPD’s targeting of communities of color through discriminatory policing practices. The NYPD’s use of widespread ethnic, racial, and religious profiling is a threat to all Americans’ constitutional rights and freedoms. This behavior creates distrust and suspicion among all vulnerable communities and sends the message that law enforcement is not accountable for upholding the right of all Americans to be free from unwarranted police scrutiny. The NYPD should be focused on tracking down actual threats, not targeting innocent Americans for invasive investigations and surveillance.We, a broad coalition of civil liberties, human rights, Muslim, and interfaith organizations, call for the NYPD to acknowledge this wrongdoing, immediately cease all such activities, and create more transparency. Furthermore, we demand an external investigation of the policies and practices employed by law enforcement, the development of an independent oversight mechanism over the NYPD, and the immediate resignation of NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who has demonstrated a complete lack of accountability, total disregard of jurisdictional limitations, and an inability to protect and serve members of his constituency.Signed,Ahlul Bayt Student Association at Rutgers UniversityAl-Awda NY American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)Arab Muslim American FederationArab American Association of New YorkAsian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) Association of Muslim American Lawyers (AMAL)Black Agenda ReportCenter for Constitutional Rights (CCR)CODEPINK NYCouncil on American-Islamic Relations - New York (CAIR-NY)Council of Shia ProfessionalsCreating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility (CLEAR)Desis Rising Up Moving (DRUM)Fellowship of Reconciliation USAImam-a-Zamana Foundation of North AmericaIndependent ViewpointsIslamic Circle of North America - New YorkIslamic Information Center (IIC)Jafria Association of North America (JANA)Jersey City Peace MovementLabor for PalestineMajlis Ash-Shura (Islamic Leadership Council) of Greater New YorkMiddle East Crisis Committee, CTMuslim Alliance in North America (MANA)Muslim American Civil Liberties Coalition (MACLC)Muslim American Society (MAS)Muslim Bar Association of New York (MuBANY)Muslim CongressMuslim Consultative NetworkMuslim Foundation Inc.Muslim Law Students Association of Brooklyn LawMuslim Law Students Association at Fordham Law SchoolMuslim Leaders of New York Muslim Progressive Traditionalist AllianceMuslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)Muslims for Peace, Inc.New York City Labor Against the WarNew York Community of Muslim ProgressivesNew York Committee to Stop FBI RepressionNJ Labor Against WarNJ State Industrial Union CouncilNYC Coalition to Stop IslamophobiaPakistan Solidarity NetworkProgressive Muslim MeetupRabbis for Human Rights-North AmericaShia Association of North AmericaTurning Point for Women and FamiliesUnited National Antiwar CoalitionUniversal Muslim Association of America (UMAA)WESPAC FoundationWorld Can't Wait Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:59:18 +0100 http://www.islamicinformationcenter.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=752&Itemid= On December 15, 2011, IIC, along with 40 other Muslim and South Asian organizations, signed on to a letter to President Obama, urging him to veto the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Here is an excerpt from the letter: The NDAA, as currently drafted, will endanger the fundamental civil rights and libertiesupon which this country was founded. Subsection D of the NDAA may be read to authorize theindefinite military detention of U.S. citizens or other persons seized within the United Stateswhenever the executive believes that they are “affiliated” with al Qaeda. Even more alarmingly,we fear it will be interpreted to require such detention in many cases. Whereas Article III of ourConstitution remits similarly serious charges to the federal courts and installs stringentevidentiary rules, the NDAA allows for mere allegation to strip a citizen or lawful permanentresident of core constitutional rights, including (but not limited to) the right to remain silent, theright to a jury trial, the right to counsel, the right against self-incrimination, and the right toconfront witnesses. Another section of the NDAA turns this option into a mandate—perhapsforcing the executive to treat suspicion as sufficient to snuff out constitutional rights.This bill places all Americans at risk. But the burden of these provisions will bepredictably felt by a discrete minority – American Muslims. This is not the first time since theterrible events of 9/11 that lawmakers have reacted to the threat of a small group of violentextremists by imposing systematic and onerous deprivations of core American liberties on allAmericans and all members of a community based on their religion. The NDAA opens thegateway to indefinite detention without official charges, allegations, or the guarantee of a trial.Accordingly, provisions of the bill flout the basic principles of both liberty and equality uponwhich the Constitution rests. Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:30:24 +0100