Posted on 10/06/2020 11:58:06 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard the Trump administration’s appeal in a case involving three U.S. residents who FBI agents wrongly placed on the federal government’s “no fly list” as punishment for their refusal to spy on fellow Muslims.
The men seek to hold the agents personally responsible for what they allege was a pattern of harassment designed to coerce them into becoming government informants in violation of their religious beliefs.
The legal question at hand is whether a federal law that protects the free exercise of religion allows government agents to be sued for monetary damages.
The lawsuit arose in 2014 after FBI agents put Muhammad Tanvir, Jameel Algibhah and Naveed Shinwari on the government’s no fly list, without justification. The federal watchlist is designed to prohibit air travel from, to or over the United States, by suspected terrorists. It was established before the 9/11 attacks but became more widely used in subsequent years.
In Tanvir’s case, being on the list forced him to quit his job as a long-haul trucker because he was unable to fly home after completing long-distance deliveries. In addition to losing money on plane tickets he was barred from using, Tanvir was prevented from visiting his ailing mother in Pakistan for several years.
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
While government shouldn't coerce anyone to betray their faith, this raises questions about their loyalty to the US and Islam.
I think there is more to the story here.
If it looks like Musloid terrorists, sounds like Musloid terrorists and smells like Musloid terrorists, it might just BE Musloid terrorists...
In early February 2007, Mr. Tanvir was approached by the FBI at his workplace, a 99- cents store in the Bronx. FBI Special Agent Defendant FNU Tanzin and another FBI agent, Defendant “John Doe #1,” questioned Mr. Tanvir there for approximately thirty minutes. They asked him about an old acquaintance whom the FBI agents believed had attempted to enter the United States illegally. . .In July 2008, Mr. Tanvir visited his wife and family in Pakistan. In late December 2008, Mr. Tanvir returned to New York. At the airport, Mr. Tanvir was escorted by United States government agents off the airplane. Mr. Tanvir’s baggage was searched, and he was escorted by the agents to a waiting room where he waited for five hours before the agents confiscated his passport. Mr. Tanvir was eventually allowed to enter the United Case 1:13-cv-06951-RA Document 15 Filed 04/22/14 Page 18 of 58 19 States, but the government officials retained his passport and gave him a January 28, 2009 appointment with DHS to pick it up. . .At 26 Federal Plaza, Mr. Tanvir was brought into an interrogation room and questioned for approximately an hour. The FBI agents asked Mr. Tanvir about terrorist training camps near the village where he was raised, and whether he had any Taliban training. The agents also referred to the fact that at his previous job as a construction worker, Tanvir would rappel from higher floors while other workers would cheer him on. They asked him where he learned how to climb ropes. Mr. Tanvir responded that he never attended any training camps and did not know the whereabouts of any such camps. He also explained to the FBI agents that he grew up in a rural area, where he regularly climbed trees and developed rope-climbing skills. . .In July 2009, Mr. Tanvir traveled to Pakistan to visit his wife and parents. While Mr. Tanvir was abroad, Special Agents Tanzin and Defendant “John Doe #3” visited his sister at her workplace in Queens and questioned her about Mr. Tanvir’s travel. The FBI agents wanted to know why Mr. Tanvir had flown on Kuwait Airways instead of Pakistan International Airlines. Mr. Tanvir’s sister replied that Kuwait Airways was less expensive, and told the FBI agents that she was uncomfortable speaking with them. . .In October 2011, Mr. Tanvir purchased plane tickets to Pakistan for himself and his wife for travel on November 3, 2011. 99. On November 2, 2011, the day. . .
Mr. Algibhah came to the store to meet the agents, and at their request he accompanied them to their van, where they proceeded to ask him questions about his friends, his acquaintances, other Muslim students who attended his college, and the names of Muslim friends with whom he worked at a hospital library, one of several jobs he held as a college student. The agents also asked Mr. Algibhah where he worships on Fridays, and asked for additional personal information. . .On May 4, 2010, Mr. Algibhah learned that he had been placed on the No Fly List when he went to John F. Kennedy International Airport to check in with a travel companion for a flight to Yemen on Emirates Airlines. Mr. Algibhah intended to visit his wife and three daughters in Yemen. . . In January 2012, frustrated by the lack of response from the authorities through the TRIP process and by his continued inability to fly, Mr. Algibhah sought help from his elected representatives. The offices of United States Congressman Jose E. Serrano and Senator Charles Schumer each reached out to the TSA on Mr. Algibhah’s behalf. . .
On February 26, 2012, after getting married in Afghanistan, Mr. Shinwari was traveling with his mother, who is a United States citizen, back home to the United States. They flew from Kabul, Afghanistan to Dubai, United Arab Emirates en route to Omaha, Nebraska, where they were residing at the time. They flew from Kabul to Dubai but were then prevented from boarding their connecting Emirates Airlines flight to Houston, Texas. Airport security officials confiscated Mr. Shinwari’s Afghan passport and instructed him to wait in the terminal. After several hours of waiting, airport security officials returned the passport and told Mr. Shinwari that he needed to visit the United States embassy before he would be allowed to fly. That night, after Mr. Shinwari and his mother obtained temporary visas to stay in the United Arab Emirates and checked into a Dubai hotel, Mr. Shinwari received a phone call Case 1:13-cv-06951-RA Document 15 Filed 04/22/14 Page 36 of 58 37 from FBI Special Agent Steven LNU. Agent Steven LNU told Mr. Shinwari to meet him the next day at the United States consulate in Dubai. . .Agents Harley and Steven LNU asked Mr. Shinwari whether he had associated with any “bad guys” while in Afghanistan, whether he had visited any training camps, where he had stayed during his trip, and whether he had traveled to Pakistan. The agents also asked Mr. Shinwari about his religious activities, including which mosque he attends, and more general questions about his origin and background. . .
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