Traitors. “Muslim Americans challenge ‘no fly’ list in appeals court,” by Teresa Carson for Reuters, May 11 (thanks to Larry):
(Reuters) – Lawyers for 15 Muslims in the United States placed on a U.S. “no-fly” list barring them from commercial air travel asked a federal appeals court on Friday to reinstate their constitutional challenge of the anti-terrorism measure.
The plaintiffs, who are U.S. citizens or permanent legal residents, said they learned of their “no-fly” status when they were blocked from boarding a commercial flight without prior notice, and were later denied any effective means of petitioning the government to be removed from the list.
“The government has created this secret list and the people on the list have no way of defending themselves,” Nusrat Choudhury, an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawyer who is representing the group, said before the hearing. The group originally filed its lawsuit against the U.S. government in June 2010.
The “no-fly” list, established in 2003 and administered by the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center, includes some 20,000 people identified by the agency as known to have or reasonably suspected of having ties to terrorism. About 500 of them are U.S. citizens, according to an agency spokesman.
The plaintiffs, who are residents of Oregon and other states and include four veterans of the U.S. armed forces, deny any links to terrorism. “None of the plaintiffs pose any threat to airline security,” Choudhury said….
The suit was originally filed in Portland because only one plaintiff – Mohamed Kariye, an imam at a large Portland mosque – was in the United States at the time. He has been prevented from leaving the country to visit his daughter in Dubai or other relatives in Somalia….
Who is Mohamed Kariye? According to Discover the Networks, he “was a co-founder of the Global Relief Foundation (GRF), which the U.S. government shut down in December 2001 because of its ties to terrorism….Since the mid-1980″s, Kariye was active with the Islamic Center of Portland (Oregon), a.k.a. Masjed As-Saber, which is one of the most radical mosques in the country.” Prosecutors also charged that “Kariye funded a trip to Afghanistan for a group of would-be terrorists, all of whom were worshipers at the Islamic Center of Portland. In an FBI affidavit, it was stated that Kariye gave six persons (known as the Portland Six) $2000 each, for the purpose of financing their travels to Afghanistan, where they were to join al Qaeda and Taliban forces in their fight against American troops.”
Also, “a federal prosecutor in Portland said Sheik Kariye did not pay taxes in recent years and claimed to make little money “” yet often traveled to the Middle East. A source told the Trib that the imam claimed in a financial statement to earn only $24,000 a year, but often had ‘lots of cash’ on hand.”
Then there is this gem:
In fact, in an interview with WW on Wednesday, July 30, he was asked if it was OK to kill gays. “Yes,” he said, “our teachings say it’s OK.”
The next day, when this reporter read him back his quotes, he said the reporter had misunderstood his words.
Thanks to Larry for all links.