(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/5/23) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today announced that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear this term the case of Yonas Fikre, a Muslim man who the FBI attempted to pressure into becoming their informant, tortured and imprisoned in the United Arab Emirates at the behest of US officials, and then stranded in Sweden because of his status on the No Fly List.
CAIR and co-counsel Brandon Mayfield sued in 2012, and after four years of litigation, the FBI removed Fikre from the No Fly List without explanation. The FBI now seeks a decision from the Supreme Court that would, in effect, permanently insulate the FBI’s secret list from judicial scrutiny.
SEE Bloomberg Law: Supreme Court Takes FBI’s Fight Against No Fly List Lawsuit
[NOTE: The question before the Supreme Court, available in full here, is whether Yonas’s lawsuit against the No Fly List can continue, even after the government has removed him from it. Brandon Mayfield, Jenner and Block, and CAIR represent Fikre at the Supreme Court.]
CAIR has represented dozens of Muslims whose watchlist status the FBI altered after being sued, in what CAIR believes is an obvious attempt to avoid federal courts that have, at times, threatened the FBI’s authority to maintain their secret lists.
SEE Washington Post: Muslims Suing Over Watchlist Status Say US Tactics Block Scrutiny
SEE Associated Press: US Judge: Terror Watchlist Violates Constitutional Rights
A recently leaked copy of the watchlist reviewed by CAIR demonstrated that the FBI’s secret list is basically just a list of Muslim names. CAIR estimates that Muslim names fill over 98 percent of entries on the FBI’s lists—almost 1.5 million total entries.
SEE Arab American News: FBI’s Secret Watchlist Revealed 98 Percent of Names are Muslim
“The government should not be allowed to duck responsibility for their unconstitutional actions,” said CAIR Attorney Hannah Mullen. “As the Ninth Circuit correctly held, Mr. Fikre deserves his day in court.”
“This case will have reverberations for all who challenge government conduct,” said CAIR Attorney Justin Sadowsky. “If the government prevails, then all government actors will have a roadmap to avoid judicial scrutiny of their actions.”
“The Biden administration can stop using the FBI’s secret list today, if it wanted to,” said CAIR Attorney Gadeir Abbas. “Rather than wait for the Supreme Court, the Biden administration ought to stop using the FBI’s secret list of Muslims for any purpose.”
Last month, CAIR filed a lawsuit in Boston on behalf of a dozen Muslims placed on the watchlist, including New Jersey Mayor Mohamed Khairullah, who has been an elected official in New Jersey for more than a decade.
The federal government denied Mayor Khairullah entry to the White House earlier this year, despite having been invited by the Biden Administration to attend a dinner to mark the end of Ramadan, because of a watchlist status the FBI previously assigned him, demonstrating that some of the effects of the FBI’s decision to assign someone a secret watchlist status are intended to be permanent.
SEE: Lawsuit by Islamic Rights Group Says US Terror Watchlist Woes Continue Even After Names Removed
In June, CAIR released a report, titled “Twenty Years Too Many, A Call to Stop the FBI’s Secret Watchlist,” which details the FBI’s use of the Terrorism Screening Database to target Muslims, and found that all of the top 50 most frequently appearing names on the FBI’s watchlists were Muslim names.
READ THE FULL REPORT
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
Become a Fan of CAIR on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/CAIRNational
Subscribe to CAIR’s Email List
https://action.cair.com/a/newsletters
Subscribe to CAIR’s Twitter Feed
http://twitter.com/cairnational
Subscribe to CAIR’s YouTube Channel
Follow CAIR on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/cair_national/
Donate to CAIR
https://action.cair.com/a/donate
Do you like reading CAIR press releases and taking part in our action alerts? You can help contribute to CAIR’s work of defending civil rights and empowering American Muslims across the country by making a one-time contribution or becoming a monthly donor. Supporters like you make CAIR’s advocacy work possible and defeating Islamophobia an achievable goal. Click here to donate to CAIR.
If you would like to join CAIR’s media list, please sign up here: https://action.cair.com/a/newsletters — For more information, email: info@cair.com, CC ihooper@cair.com
END
CONTACT: CAIR Senior Litigation Attorney Gadeir Abbas, 720-251-0425, gabbas@cair.com; CAIR Trial Attorney Justin Sadowsky, 646-785-9154, jsadowsky@cair.com; CAIR Staff Attorney Hannah Mullen, 202-742-6420, hmullen@cair.com; CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com