: I Spy For The FBI: Suspicions Lead To Arrests and Anxiety

Amateur sleuths had a field day this week, tipping off US federal authorities to the actions of nine American Muslim men in two different cases (New York and Florida). In the post-September 11th-anniversary “orange” alert climate (possibly downgraded to chartreuse by now), the cases were a media sensation, causing “Smokey and the Bandit”-style police overkill, raising hopes for those who wanted to see terrorists caught (or confirming their worst fears), and shocking families who felt their arrested sons had done nothing wrong.

In the first case, a group of three Muslims (two US citizens and one resident) were overheard talking about Americans being “sad on 9/13” and mumbling about getting “enough to bring it down” (whatever “it” is) in a Shoney’s restaurant in Georgia. The waitress who did the snooping, Eunice Stone (careful about those “southern hick” thoughts – prejudice goes both ways), phoned her tips (and license plate numbers) to the FBI, who responded by sending “hundreds” of police cars speeding after them and eventually shutting down a 20+ mile stretch of “Alligator Alley,” a southern Florida freeway.

After 17 hours, the men were released after robots had picked through the car’s contents and checked for explosives. During the interrogation, it turned out the three were only medical students on their way to start an internship at a Miami hospital. Still, the police soon inferred that the three had made a “stupid joke,” a claim that, although quickly retracted, lingered around long enough to tarnish the mens’ reputation. Although the three have made several public appearances to clear their names, the hospital soon banned the students from attending. “Our primary objective is to take care of patients,” said Dr. Jack Michel, president and chief executive officer of Larkin Community Hospital. “I don’t know how that could be done with all this media coverage.”

Media coverage wasn’t the only issue, however, as Michel cited “hundreds” of e-mails (some of them threats) expressing anger at the school. Altaf Ali, of the Florida office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, at said the group was considering legal action against the hospital for violating the students’ civil rights, but decided to wait until he and Michel met to discuss the issue. “I implored him to not make a hasty decision yet,” Ali said. “I reiterated to him we cannot succumb to pressure based on hate. If he is receiving hate and hostile e-mails, we can’t succumb to that kind of intimidation.” Those delicate discussions will take place amidst the hypervigilance that still continues in South Florida (home to controversial professor Sami Al-Arian and flight schools used by suspected terrorists) and other instances of collateral damage in the war on civil liberties (whoops… I mean terror).

The second case, in the Lackawanna suburb of Buffalo, NY, also involved tips to the FBI about middle eastern men engaging in suspicious activities, but with one notable exception – the folks who alerted authorities were members of the local Muslim community. Khalid Qazi, president of the American Muslim Council of Western New York, said he was told that the investigation started when federal authorities were alerted to five young men of Yemeni descent – all US citizens – who travelled to Pakistan (and allegedly to an Afghan camp visited by Osama bin Laden) in the summer of 2001. FBI monitoring of the group began that summer and continued after the September 11th attacks.

FBI agents were blunt in their accusations. r’an clearly states that death is not a punishment for adultery, but that didn’t seem to matter to Nigeria’s tribal implementation of Islamic law. The man she fingered as her child’s father was discharged for lack of evidence (how convenient for him), but the presence of Amina’s 8-month old baby implicated her in the act. While various forms of Islamic law are practiced throughout the Muslim world, few implement hadd punishments such as stoning mainly because the evidentiary requirements are extremely high (for example, four witnesses to the actual act). “When the judge said I was guilty and passed the sentence, I broke down in tears,” said Lawal. “It is because I am poor, my family is poor, and I am a woman.” The execution has been delayed until Lawal weans her child in 18 months. The introduction of Shari’a law in Nigeria has sparked clashes between the country’s Muslims and Christians (to whom the laws do not apply), and has drawn worldwide attention, including appeals from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Backers of Shari’a in Nigeria cite the lowered crime rate in areas where Islamic law has been implemented, although Muslim/Christian riots, such as the one in Kano last October that claimed 200 lives, have erupted at the same time.

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.