Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in #FBIvFazaga, a case brought by @cairGLA, @ACLU_SoCal and @UCLA_CILP on behalf of 3 California Muslims who were secretly spied on by the FBI. Read this thread to learn more about the ruling & what comes next in our fight for justice.
Sheikh Yassir Fazaga, Ali Malik and Yasser AbdelRahim were targeted for surveillance by the #FBI - not because of any real suspicion of wrongdoing, but simply because they were Muslim. Last November, they brought their case against the FBI to the Supreme Court.
Yesterday, #SCOTUS ruled that they can continue pursuing their claims that the FBI spied on them solely because of their faith.
Throughout the case, the FBI hasn't sought to prove they didn't engage in discriminatory spying. Instead, they've been trying to get the case dismissed by claiming it involves 'state secrets.' Alhamdulillah, the court rejected this claim.
The #SCOTUS ruling means that American Muslims can continue challenging the FBI's unconstitutional, discriminatory spying on our communities.
Stay tuned for more updates as we continue fighting for #civilrights and justice for American Muslims.
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Last night, an American citizen and Virginia man of Palestinian descent informed CAIR that his family home in Gaza was bombed in an Israeli attack on the Jabalia refugee camp. There were reportedly 15 people in the house, seven of them children, including the man’s mother, a lawful permanent resident of the United States. (1/4) cair.com/press_releases…
After the initial Israeli military strike on the family residence, the U.S. resident mother and an unknown number of relatives were reportedly injured but alive, trapped under the rubble. (2/4) cair.com/press_releases…
In an effort to rescue the survivors, the family contacted Israeli authorities, providing them with the residential address and GPS coordinates of their home to arrange for the safe passage of an ambulance. However, the Israeli military apparently used that information to bomb the house a second time and then targeted the ambulance as it attempted to rescue the survivors, killing the doctor and several children. Only a seven-year-old boy survived the incident. (3/4)
We are shocked and disturbed to learn that a landlord in Chicago expressing anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian views broke into a Muslim family's apartment and attacked them with a knife, injuring the mother and killing her 6-year-old son, Wadea Al-Fayoume. @cairchicago will hold a press conference this afternoon to share more details, God willing. The Islamophobic rhetoric and anti-Palestinian racism being spread by politicians, media outlets, and social media platforms must stop. Now. #Palestine #Israel #Islamophobia #Wadea
CAIR-Chicago's press conference with the father of the murdered boy, Wael, will be today at 3:30 central time, God willing. Please note that media reports describing him as 8 are incorrect. According to his family, he was 6. May God grant him the highest rank of Paradise, heal his mother and comfort the family.
The Sheriff's Department has confirmed to our Chicago chapter that the killer, Joseph Czuba, has now been charged with a hate crime for the murder of Wadea and attack on his mother. abc7chicago.com/plainfield-mur…
Here is the memo that Montgomery County Public Schools (@MCPS) kept secret for almost a year. In it, elementary school principals raised many of the same concerns that parents have been raising since the opt-out was cancelled. Read the thread 🧵for more. 1/10
In their memo, @MCPS principals questioned whether the school district was being honest with the public about both the purpose of the new curriculum and what was actually being taught to PreK - 5th grade students. 2/10
The principals also expressed concern that the content in some books was inappropriate for elementary school students and called on the district office to choose different books. 3/10
America's longest-serving Muslim mayor, @MayorKhairullah, was disinvited from the @WhiteHouse#Eid celebration just hours before it was set to begin b/c the @SecretService didn't grant him clearance. This insult against a respected Muslim official is totally unacceptable. 1/6
Only months ago, Mayor Khairullah was praised by elected officials across the state as one of the longest serving Muslim mayors in the country, and the longest in New Jersey. 2/6
Today, in an affront to the Muslim community and the American public at large, and in what may have been the use of the secret watchlist, the Secret Service denied Mayor Khairullah entry, on the basis that he was not cleared by security. 3/6
Bismillah. Today, we are releasing a statement to clarify how our civil rights group identifies #Islamophobia, how we address depictions of Prophet Muhammad (may peace be upon him), and how we view the controversy at @HamlineU. Read this thread or the full statement below. 1/12
Over the past 30 years, we never hesitated to call out #Islamophobia, a pervasive form of bigotry that impacts Muslims worldwide. But we never used the word as a catch-all term for anything offensive or irreligious. To identify it, we look at intent, acts & circumstances. 2/12
We have seen no evidence that a former @HamlineU professor acted with bigoted intent or engaged in Islamophobia when she analyzed a medieval painting depicting Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that was drawn hundreds of years after his passing by a Muslim artist. 3/12
We, @CAIR_GA & @ThePCJF today announced the filing of an opening brief in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in our lawsuit against #Georgia's anti-#BDS law on behalf of journalist @AbbyMartin.
Read this thread 🧵to learn more. 1/6
In 2020, @AbbyMartin was invited to speak at a conference at Georgia Southern University. Before the conference, she was asked to sign a pledge not to boycott Israel. The reason for this ludicrous request? Georgia's anti-#BDS law. 2/6
.@AbbyMartin refused to sign the anti-free speech pledge, and the conference was cancelled. Following this incident, we, @CAIR_GA, and @ThePCJF filed suit on her behalf against the state of Georgia and its unconstitutional law. 3/6