Today: CAIR, 80+ U.S. Muslim Groups to Call on DOJ to Probe Anti-Muslim Hate Group's Effort to Infiltrate and Spy on American Muslim Community

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Later today (Tuesday, Feb. 1 at 3 p.m. ET), the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) plans to join other American Muslim organizations and houses of worship at a news conference to call on the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate whether an anti-Muslim hate group violated federal laws by using paid spies to infiltrate, record and undermine Muslim organizations, houses of worship and leaders, including then-Rep. Keith Ellison, for the benefit of a foreign government. 

Yesterday, 82 Muslim civil society organizations and mosques sent a joint community letter to the Justice Department urging it to investigate the actions of The Investigative Project (IPT), an anti-Muslim hate group founded by Steven Emerson, who has been described as an "anti-Muslim activist" by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

DOWNLOAD: American Muslim Community Letter to the Justice Department

WHEN: Tuesday, February 1, 3 p.m. ET 
WHERE: LIVESTREAM: https://www.facebook.com/CAIRNational 
[NOTE: Reporters who wish to ask questions during the event can email [email protected] for an access link].

In December 2021, CAIR-Ohio announced that its director, Romin Iqbal, had been terminated for passing information about CAIR's civil rights work to IPT.

CAIR has released a statement from the IPT whistleblower, a statement from the Virginia Muslim who once worked as a paid spy for IPT, a tax form showing that Emerson's for-profit corporation paid that individual over $30,000 for one of his years of spying, an excerpt from a dossier that the hate group compiled on former Rep. Keith Ellison, and an excerpt of an IPT transcript of a private meeting that national Muslim leaders held to discuss the Park51 controversy in 2010.

CAIR previously released evidence showing that IPT was communicating, collaborating with and providing assistance to Israeli intelligence officials.

NOTE: CAIR also today welcomed a report by Amnesty International detailing the Israeli government's decades-long human rights abuses against the Palestinian people.

CAIR's mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.        

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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected]

SOURCE Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)